County Championship 2024. Division 1. Lancashire v Somerset 17^th, 18^th, 19^th and 20^th September. Old Trafford.

Tom Banton was unavailable due to an ankle injury.

Lancashire. K.K. Jennings (c), H.P.N. Singh, J.J. Bohannon, R. Flintoff, M.F. Hurst (w), L.W.P. Wells, G.J. Bell, G.P. Balderson, T.E. Bailey, A. Phillip, W.S.A. Williams.

Somerset. A.R.I. Umeed, A.M. Vaughan, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, B.G. Randell, M.J. Leach. 

Overnight. Lancashire 140 and 398. Somerset 146 and 204 for 6. Somerset need another 189 runs to win with four second innings wickets standing.

Final day 20^th September – Championship challenge over

In the end, it was over quickly. Lewis Gregory was gone almost before he arrived, and certainly before I arrived. It is a two-mile walk from my hotel to the ground and I still had a vicious cold. A few extra minutes in bed and a slightly slower walking pace found me halfway around the ground to where I had been sitting at the Statham End for most of the match when Gregory‘s innings ended. Whilst behind the player and media centre, directly opposite the Pavilion, where the players’ dressing rooms are, I heard what I thought was an appeal. It was in fact a cheer. “Lewis Gregory bowled by Luke Wells,” said the announcement and, with Gregory bowled through the gate, defeated by the googly, any remaining Somerset hopes of winning this match had, realistically, been ended.

An over later, Craig Overton, having just driven Wells through extra cover for four, causing the silly mid-off fielder to leap in the air in an act of self-preservation, was leg before wicket to Anderson Phillip to a ball which kept noticeably low. Lancashire cheers. Looks of resignation between myself and the old work colleague who had just joined me. Brett Randell defiant, or resigned. He pulled Wells three times in succession. The first two crossed the long leg boundary. The third, fuller, went through the stroke and upended his off stump. Somerset 220 for 9. Randell 9. James Rew cut Phillip through backward point for four, attempted to repeat the stroke off the next ball, another lowish bounce, and chopped it onto his off stump. The stump was knocked flat, lying beyond the leg stump with the leg bail still in place. The morning had lasted a little over half an hour and the nature of the dismissals of Overton and Rew suggested that, even with more wickets in hand, winning this match would probably have been beyond Somerset.

And so, Somerset’s Championship challenge was over for another year. It had in truth been a long odds bet. Once Surrey’s season was properly underway, they had always looked the most likely winners with Somerset and Essex trying to keep pace and Hampshire making a late run which, after this round of matches left them two points ahead of Somerset. Even after Somerset’s victory over Surrey the week before had brought Somerset close enough to give them hope, it had always looked an unlikely proposition, depending as it had, on Somerset producing two high-point wins and Surrey failing to win, possibly losing one of their final two matches. After this round of matches, the 1950s sprang to mind. Surrey were out of reach of everyone and confirmed as Champions for the third year in succession.

A look at the table showed Surrey had won eight matches to six by Essex, and five each by Somerset and Hampshire. Surrey had won every Championship match at The Oval in 2024 except the one against Somerset in the far distant days of April when Gregory had led a long final day rearguard action. All five of Somerset’s victories had come at Taunton, only one match there, against Nottinghamshire, being drawn, none lost, with one, against Hampshire, remaining. Somerset’s two defeats, both away, had been against Durham and now Lancashire. Surrey’s two defeats had both been away too, to Hampshire at Southampton, and to Somerset at Taunton, a match that now seemed a distant memory. And so, as that old Somerset cricket saying goes, it was a case of, ‘Next year. Next year …’

Result. Lancashire 140 (K.K. Jennings 56, C. Overton 4-32, L Gregory 4-50) and 398 (L.W.P. Wells 130, J.J. Bohannon 60, G.P. Balderson 47, M.J. Leach 3-57, B.G. Randell 3-71). Somerset 146 (T.E. Bailey 4-36, G.P. Balderson 4-50) and 224 (A.M. Vaughan 68, T.A. Lammonby 49, L.W.P. Wells 4-36, A. Phillip 3-81). Lancashire won by 168 runs. Lancashire 19 points. Somerset 3 points.