County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd April. Taunton.

Jack Leach, (knee injury) and Tom Abell (hamstring) were unavailable.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M. Pretorius, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, W.A. Young, J.M. Clarke (w), M. Montgomery, J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, L.J. Fletcher, D. Paterson.

Overnight. Nottinghamshire 193. Somerset 116 for 1. Somerset trail by 77 runs.

Second day 20^th April – Overton and Pretorius take the breath away

In the end, this proved to be a day of accelerating Somerset progress, at first gradual and then, like water unleashed by the lifting of a sluice gate, the runs gushed across most of the final session. The sun, as it did on the first day, shone all day, but the wind across the face of the elevated level of the Trescothick Pavilion continued with its unrelenting winter chill. The cricket held the attention across all three sessions, but in the intervals, the lack of access to the outfield at lunchtime and the closure of the Somerset Stand and the Brian Rose Gates still entered the conversation.

Somerset’s start was not auspicious. Sean Dickson, perhaps falling to the curse of having a good score overnight, soon found himself walking back to the Caddick Pavilion. Having added two to his overnight score, an ill-timed drive flew to cover where it was caught low down by Jack Haynes off Luke Fletcher. Somerset 126 for 2. Dickson 72. Deficit 67. Josh Davey, in from the evening before as nightwatch, was joined by Tom Lammonby. For the most part they played with care, scoring only occasionally and mainly in singles as the ball, as it had on the first morning, showed signs of movement. The curiosity of their partnership was a two-over flurry of five fours in the midst of the measured defence. Three of those fours came from Davey off Dane Paterson, two off an angled bat past the slips to the Hildreth Stand and one pulled with a flourish through midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary. He might have been a top order batter. In the next over, Lammonby drove Fletcher through the covers and straight back to the Trescothick Pavilion. The boundaries took Somerset to 158 for 2, just 35 behind, and sparked a rising sense of anticipation.

The anticipation was soon doused. Lammonby was leg before wicket to a ball from Hutton that swung in. Somerset 167 for 3. Lammonby 17. Then Lewis Goldsworthy was caught behind off Lyndon James by Joe Clarke. Somerset 170 for 4. Goldsworthy 3. Deficit 23. An edge of tenseness crept in as Tom Banton joined Davey, still at the wicket. Somerset still held an advantage, but those two wickets caused a re-examination around me of how great that advantage might be. The situation was not helped by Banton repeatedly playing and missing as the Nottinghamshire batters had on the first morning. April mornings are not the batter’s friend.

With rebuilding to do, Banton and Davey defended with care, Banton’s change of style from the pre-2024 cavalier very noticeable. He and Davey though did not eschew the boundary if the right ball presented itself. On his day, Davey had shown more strokes than might be expected from a nightwatch. His Achilles heel with the bat had been his inability to build on good starts. Here, a clip off his toes off Lyndon James and a hook off Brett Hutton, both for four, helped push Somerset along. Banton, was now finding the middle too. He clipped Hutton off his toes and drove Fletcher through extra cover to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. The pair took Somerset to lunch on 194 for 4, a lead of one run. “We need a hundred run lead,” someone said, although there was no indication of the rationale behind the calculation.

The afternoon began with the old Banton re-emerging. Three drives off Fletcher from successive balls. All three went through the covers and all three reached the Priory Bridge Road boundary. Another followed, with the minimum of bat movement, in Fletcher’s next over. It was a flying start, but the thought followed, how long would it last? Davey was finally bowled by Harrison’s leg-spin for 45 made in four minutes over two and a half hours. It had been a sterling effort, and he was applauded all the way off the field.

Enter James Rew, scorer of so many runs at critical points in 2023. After a brief inspection of the bowling, he played two back foot drives, one through backward point to Gimblett’s Hill off Harrison and one, square and spectacular through point to the Caddick Pavilion off James. Shot!” someone shouted with meaning. But the Rew of 2023 had not returned. A short ball from James struck the bat, rather than being struck by it, as Rew attempted either to hook or uppercut The ball ballooned towards square leg and was caught by Will Young moving in. Somerset 243 for 6. Rew 12. Lead 50. An over later, Lewis Gregory, so often in 2023 effective in giving Somerset a mid-innings lift with the bat, was pushed back onto his stumps by the leg-spin of Harrison and given out leg before wicket. Somerset 246 for 7. Gregory 1. Lead 53. Suddenly, prospects of that asked-for lead of a hundred were looking decidedly shaky.

What followed was anything but shaky as the nature of the day suddenly pivoted. Banton and Craig Overton and then Overton and Migael Pretorius took Somerset to tea at nearly five runs an over and well past that hundred run lead. Banton and Overton began slowly, concentrating on pushing singles and missing none. Once, Overton called, “Run, run, run,” as he drove Harrison through the off side and he and Pretorius scampered through just ahead of the returning ball. Their miss-nothing start set the scene for what followed when the new ball was taken. Fletcher opened with it from the Trescothick Pavilion End and Banton drove his first ball through the on side to the Ondaatje boundary. Overton pulled him behind square to the Priory Bridge Road boundary and then drove Hutton straight back to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. He then cut the next ball square for four to a shout of, “Craig O!”. In the next over, Banton drove Fletcher straight and through the on side, both for four, the second bringing up the once hoped-for hundred lead. “It must be one of those new balls that fly off the bat,” said one watcher.

When Hutton drifted to leg, Banton turned the ball behind square with the lightest of touches. It crossed the boundary by the Brian Rose Gates, perfectly bisecting the gap between the fine leg and deep square leg fielders. It registered the fifty partnership from 55 balls. The over ended with four singles as Somerset glided past 300 still seven down with still ten overs to tea. The flood of boundaries slowed as tea approached, but there was a steady flow of singles to supplement those that did come. The only setback for Somerset was the loss of Banton. He clipped Paterson waist-high to midwicket where he was caught by Liam Patterson-White the substitute fielder. It came as a complete surprise. Banton had looked in complete command. As the ball was caught, he was frozen in a state of shocked dejection before walking off to loud and long applause. Somerset 314 for 8. Banton 83 in six minutes over two and a half hours. Lead 121.

Pretorius joined Overton and showed his intent with a lofted off drive for four off Paterson and a square drive to the Somerset Stand off James. Overton clipped Harrison square for a quickly run two to register his fifty from 67 balls in three minutes over an hour and a quarter. That brought cheers and extended applause. For good measure, when James bowled the over before tea from the Trescothick Pavilion End, Overton pulled him over long leg, the ball clearing the Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard and landing in the car park behind. That it was the icing on the cake of an afternoon that had been decidedly Somerset could be gathered from the reaction of the crowd. The cheers and applause for the stroke were so loud and long, they sounded like the crest of the growing wave of cheers and applause that had swept across the afternoon from the point where Banton and Overton began to accelerate. Banton’s dismissal now seemed no more than a blip in Somerset’s progress, so smoothly had Overton and Pretorius picked up the baton. Tea. Somerset 347 for 8. Lead 154.

Then, the evening session. Overton and Pretorius let loose a cavalcade of boundaries. They flew to all parts supported by strings of singles dotted about with twos. The scoreboard was constantly on the move, every run was applauded until the applause grew again into cheers. The pair dominated the ground for an hour. No matter who bowled there was no respite for the constantly racing scoreboard, or for the clapping hands and cheering throats of spectators.

Two fours from Overton from successive balls from James brought up the fifty partnership in 50 balls to huge applause. The first was lofted over mid-on to the covers store end of the Ondaatje Stand, the second pulled, a better description might be swatted, to the other end. An over from Hutton, bowling from the River End, was punished to the extent of a pull which bisected the deep square leg and long leg fielders to cross the boundary in front of the Somerset Stand. Four singles off successive balls followed, each applauded as the crowd egged the two batters on. Then an over from James to Pretorius. A four bisected two cover fielders placed for the stroke. “Shot!” Cheers. Overton down the pitch to congratulate. Four driven through the off side to Gimblett’s Hill. “Shot!” Cheers. Ball change. Six. Straight to the Trescothick Pavilion. “Hooray!” Cheers. Laughter. “Should have kept the other ball.” Then three singles to bring everyone back down to earth and the cheers to applause.

And on it went. Harrison replaced Hutton and Fletcher replaced James. Overton and Pretorius changed the pace and began milking the bowling. In the next five overs there was only a single boundary but with the field scattered to the four corners by the earlier onslaught, 27 runs came, 15 of them in singles, five in one over. Somerset’s 400 was reached with a single, “Hooray!” and applause. The hundred partnership was passed in 95 balls with an on drive for a single from Overton. Pretorius reached his fifty in 52 balls with another on driven single. Ten runs came in an over from Fletcher including, as the batters began to hit out again, a four driven through the on side to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion by Pretorius. That was followed by 12 in an over from Harrison including a six from Pretorius which cleared the rope in front of the Ondaatje Stand followed by a four pulled to deep square leg.

It was dizzying stuff, and it had taken Overton into the 90s and Pretorius into the 70s. But it couldn’t last, and when Matthew Montgomery replaced Fletcher with his off-spin he persuaded a ball to turn and bowled Pretorius through a drive. Somerset 453 for 9. Pretorius 75. Partnership with Overton 139 in 15 overs, over nine runs an over. Lead 260. An over later, Shoaib Bashir attempted to slog sweep Harrison and was caught off a looping top edge by Haseeb Hameed at cover. Somerset 454 all out. Bashir 0. Overton 95 not out. Lead 261. “I bet Overton was pleased with that shot,” said the text from an online watcher.

Somerset’s innings, that had had the crowd soaring to the heights, left a buzz of astonished conversation from a wide-eyed crowd in its wake. It takes a while to process something so astonishing coming to an end as suddenly as it had. The total of 454 runs hastily written on scorecards by those who in 2024 still filled them in was the only tangible evidence of an astonishing hour of Somerset batting. The innings, built from careful, hard-fought beginnings through an assault on the bowling that took the breath away had left Somerset in total control of the match.

In the fizz of excitement which still reverberated around the ground, there seemed no way back for Nottinghamshire as their opening batters walked to the middle. Their start was not auspicious. The left-handed Ben Slater started brightly with a pair of boundaries off Davey, but then, trying for a third, he attempted to loft a pull towards the Priory Bridge Road boundary. The stroke was miscued, and the ball flew far above and then beyond Dickson at square leg. Dickson though set off after it the instant it left the bat, constantly watching it over his shoulder and into the sun until it was high above his head. From there, he marked pace with the ball as it fell before catching it directly in front of his face. It was as perfectly judged a running catch as you are likely to see, and it brought a huge cheer and extended applause. Nottinghamshire 8 for 1. Slater 8. Deficit 253.

That catch put the crowd back on the high it had ridden during the Overton-Pretorius partnership. Then, heads were thrown back in anguish as Hameed left a ball from Overton which barely missed the stumps. Hameed responded with a cover drive for four which brought a cry of, “Shot!” but it was the only scoring stroke in Overton’s first four overs as he applied the sort of pressure which had been Nottinghamshire’s undoing in their first innings. But Nottinghamshire were not to be restrained for long. Soon the fours were flowing. Two in an over from Davey, driven through midwicket to the Somerset Stand and straight to the Lord Ian Botham Stand by Will Young. Another, off Bashir pulled by Hameed to the Somerset Stand, and two more in an over, also from Hameed, this time off Pretorius, driven straight to the Trescothick Pavilion and square to the Somerset Stand. They were strokes of quality, and Nottinghamshire were beginning to find batting to be as easy as Overton and Pretorius had done.

The final over was a maiden, bowled by Bashir with four close fielders, their shadows, long and motionless and as sharp as they had been all day under the brightest of suns, though the breath of winter still blew across the evening face of the Trescothick Pavilion. The buzz of the Somerset innings still hung in the air, but the ease with which Nottinghamshire had batted after the fall of Slater could not help but play on the Somerset mind. Taunton has been known over the years for the flattening of its pitches on the third and fourth days. As I left the ground, someone said to me, “The way Overton and Pretorius batted, and that last half hour, makes me wonder how many they will get tomorrow.”

Close. Nottinghamshire 193 (M. Montgomery 48, C. Overton 3-57) and 38 for 1. Somerset 453 (C. Overton 95*, T. Banton 83, M. Pretorius 77, C.G. Harrison 4-93). Nottinghamshire trail by 222 runs with nine second innings wickets standing.