County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Hampshire 26^th, 27^th and 28^th September. Taunton.

Tom Banton was unavailable due to an ankle injury.

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

Hampshire. T.E. Albert, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, J.M. Vince (c), T.J. Prest, L.A. Dawson, F.S. Organ, B.C. Brown (w), J.K. Fuller, K.J. Abbott, Mohammad Abbas.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day 26^th September – A match intriguingly poised  

The defeat at Old Trafford and the consequent demise of Somerset’s Championship hopes had their effect on the crowd numbers for this match. A chill wind, if not as cold as some in 2024, and an indeterminate forecast probably had their impact too. I like to sit at the end of a row and made sure I arrived in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion at least half an hour before the start for the Surrey match. It proved to be a necessary precaution. When I arrived at the same time for the first day of this match, I was the only second person to reach the upper level. By the start, there were 20 of us up there and perhaps 500 in the rest of the ground, a third or less of a first-day crowd when something still hangs on a match and the weather is more clement.

With a 10.30 start so late in September, the announcement that Somerset had won the toss and would bat surprised many. The pitch though looked brown. Perhaps turn was expected, or at least hoped for, later in the match. Somerset’s team selection may have reflected that. There were three spinners in the side and only one experienced pace bowler, the captain, Lewis Gregory. Hampshire meanwhile had the destructive opening partnership of Kyle Abbott and Mohammad Abbas complemented by the experienced left arm spin of Liam Dawson. At half past ten on a cold September morning that, for the moment at least, seemed to give Hampshire the edge.

Abbott’s destructiveness was quickly apparent. Somerset’s ongoing merry-go-round of openers found Tom Lammonby being moved up from number three where he had had a largely successful summer. In the past as an opener, the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy apart, he had been only partially successful. The purpose seemed to be, from beyond the boundary, to give Andy Umeed an opportunity at three after he had been out first or second ball in three of his last four innings at the top of the order. Whatever the purpose of the change, Somerset soon found themselves struggling in the face of a typical Abbott opening burst. His fourth ball defeated Lammonby’s defensive push and struck the pads full in front of the stumps. His sixth ball shaved the edge of Umeed’s equally defensive bat and was caught by Ben Brown behind the stumps. Somerset 4 for 2 at the end of the second over.

With Abbott and Abbas each bowling to four slips, Tom Abell, so often Somerset’s rock when batting at four, never looked settled. There was a huge appeal for caught behind off Abbas, Abell’s first runs came from a thick edge, also off Abbas, which ran past fourth slip and then a leg before wicket appeal went unheeded. Eventually, Abell played around a ball from Abbas which cut in and bowled him. Abbas was ecstatic and roared at Abell as he followed through. Somerset were 29 for 3, with nine of Abell’s ten runs coming from edges of varying degrees of thickness. The chatter which followed could best be described as nervous.

Holding out among the mayhem was Archie Vaughan, in his fourth Somerset match, opening the innings and still only 18 years old, the latest product of Somerset’s burgeoning Academy. He had been beaten more than once by Abbas but had survived. His first ball from Abbott, coming after the loss of Lammonby and Umeed, was glanced confidently and fine towards the Lord Ian Botham Stand for three. A four off Abbott, through backward point to the Garner Gates had come off the back of the bat as he tried to turn the ball square, but the next ball he had driven through extra cover to the Brian Rose Gates for four. It was as smooth and as classical a drive as you will see, and the ghosts of the old Stragglers must have been drooling over their cider at the sight of it. The more Somerset supporters see of Vaughan, the more they ask if he is the opening batter the county has needed for so long.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in at five, began as he so often does, with a fusillade of boundaries. First, a drive through extra cover off Abbott, now into his sixth over, to a shout of, Shot,” the first I had heard. Then three fours came in one over from Abbas, all drives, the first, one-bounce over mid-on to the Hildreth Stand, the second, through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road boundary, “Shot!” again, and finally, an off drive to the gap between the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and the Lord Ian Botham Stand. Then Abbott, perhaps tiring in his seventh over, suffered again, driven straight to the Trescothick Pavilion. “All the way,” someone in the front row shouted as the ball disappeared from view to anyone further back. It was a breezy ten minutes from Kohler-Cadmore but it still left Somerset precariously placed at 52 for 3.

Then, before James Fuller could replace Abbas, the umpires directed the players from the field. Their departure caused confusion among some in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion with its wing roof. There was no confusion though in the Hildreth or Ondaatje Stands where umbrellas were going up in numbers. It was persistent rain, clearly visible against the copper beeches behind the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. It persisted long enough for lunch to be taken early, but with eight overs to be added at the end of the day and lunch absorbing some of the delay, only ten overs were lost from the day’s play.

There were 31 overs between lunch and tea, interrupted by another rain shower. The Hampshire bowlers, using a pitch perhaps more helpful for a first afternoon than its colour suggested, constantly harried the Somerset batters who struggled to make headway. If Abbott or Abbas bowled there were often three slips, sometimes four for a new batter. Dawson began with a single slip but in the end had two, sometimes three, close fielders. In short, Abbott and Abbas were on the rampage, Dawson on the prowl. The pressure on the Somerset batters was incessant.

Vaughan began the afternoon with another glance for four off Abbas’s second ball. He scored six more from the rest of the over, but from two thick edges. By the end of the next over, he was walking back to the Caddick Pavilion, leg before wicket playing back to Dawson. There was no doubt about the decision. “He was walking before the umpire put his finger up,” someone said. Somerset 63 for 4. Vaughan 29. An over later, James Rew followed him back to the Caddick Pavilion after edging a ball from Abbas low to Albert at second slip after it cut away. Somerset 64 for 5, Rew 0, the crowd quiet.

Eight overs and seven runs later, with Somerset focusing everything on keeping the ball out, Kasey Aldridge found himself following the others back to the Caddick Pavilion . ‘Pressure tells’ is an oft-quoted aphorism in cricket and Aldridge fell leg before wicket to Dawson trying to execute a monumental sweep towards the Caddick Pavilion, the longer of the two boundaries. He had faced 21 balls without scoring. Somerset 71 for 6 and the despond into which the crowd had fallen was palpable.

Gregory to the wicket to face the return of Abbott. In the main, Gregory was measured, pushing singles with Kohler-Cadmore who had battled to survive while wickets fell at the other end. Gregory did drive Abbott through the off side to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary, and again, after Abbott switched ends, through the covers to the Brian Rose Gates. But soon, he departed too, leg before wicket, beaten by Dawson’s arm ball playing defensively. Somerset 98 for 7. Gregory 16. Now, Jack Leach stayed with Kohler-Cadmore for eight overs, helping to stretch Somerset’s total by another 26 runs. Leach played with care, adding nine runs of his own, including a brutally whipped uppercut over third slip to where the Colin Atkinson Pavilion meets the Lord Ian Botham Stand. He looked secure enough but was out when he suddenly launched himself down the pitch at Dawson while attempting a huge drive. Had he connected as he intended, the ball might have clattered into the Lord Ian Botham Stand seating. As it was, it flew off the edge towards the face of James Vince at slip, one of three close fielders. Somerset 124 for 8.

The backbone of the Somerset innings had come from a studiously intense innings from Kohler-Cadmore who, after the flurry of boundaries with which he began, played a most un-Kohler-Cadmore-like innings. In the 31 overs between lunch and tea, he hit not a single four although he did pull Fuller over midwicket into the Ondaatje Stand for six. It was one of those curiosities of cricket, a random, cleanly hit six exploding from a desert of dot balls and singles. In those 31 overs, Kohler-Cadmore scored 32 runs, 18 of them in singles and three off a ball from Dawson, edged between the keeper and slip. The ball fell just beyond the slip’s grasping left hand. Close enough that an Overton might have caught it. Tea Somerset 128 for 8.

With Hampshire now having eight fielders on the boundary to Kohler-Cadmore he repeatedly declined singles as he tried to retain the strike. Once he scooped Abbas over fine leg for four, but it was just a lone breach of the ring of catchers and sweepers hugging the boundary. After Leach, Alfie Ogborne continued the pattern of the Somerset innings. Survival. Twenty-four balls for one run in his case. Eventually, Kohler-Cadmore succumbed, caught behind off Abbott driving, for 63 in nearly three hours, 40 of them from the 120 balls he faced after lunch. Three balls later Shoaib Bashir was leg before wicket to Abbot without scoring and Somerset were 136 all out. It was a total with a mournful look when it was posted at the bottom of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard.

It looked less mournful after Hampshire had begun their turn with the bat. They fared no better than Somerset, losing five wickets for 62 runs before the close. Their fifth wicket fell at 56, eight runs before Somerset’s fifth wicket had fallen. The main destroyer was Jack Leach, giving hope that with three spinners in the side Somerset might just have the bowling to outplay Hampshire. Whatever the prospects, those five wickets certainly brought the crowd back to life.

The first came as early as the second over, Fletcha Middleton edging Ogborne low to Gregory at second slip, the catch taken neatly between his ankles. Hampshire 0 for 1. It might have been 0 for 2 in the next over when Albert edged Gregory, waist high, straight into Aldridge’s hands at second slip, but the ball popped straight back out and fell to earth. Aldridge hid his head in his hands and Gregory winced before breaking into a wry smile as he walked back to his mark. By the seventh over, Hampshire had reached 13 for 1, but then, Gregory surprised Nick Gubbins with some lift. Gubbins edged the ball low to Abell’s left at first slip from where Abell, moving sharply, scooped it up. Hampshire 13 for 2, Gubbins 5, deficit 123 as the crowd began to sit up again in their seats.

James Vince began more assertively than most batters had thus far in the match, driving Gregory off the back foot through cover for four and slog-sweeping Vaughan, bowling a single over, into the third row of the Somerset Stand, the ball bouncing straight back out and past Kohler-Cadmore on the boundary. Vince had though been beaten by successive balls from Leach, now bowling because the light precluded pace bowling. When Vince attempted to attack Leach again with a ferocious lofted on drive, the ball flew off the outside edge and over backward point from where Abell set off and took a brilliantly judged running catch over his shoulder. Abell’s two catches emphasised what an asset his attacking fielding is. It is equally effective anywhere in the arc between midwicket and cover, close field or inner ring. Hampshire 28 for 3. Vince 13. Deficit 108.

Somerset were on the charge now, keeping Hampshire’s developing score within the bounds necessary if they were to defend their own 136. The crowd was responding, applauding balls which beat the bat and cheering wickets. Two overs later, another huge cheer. Tom Prest had driven Leach low to extra cover where Aldridge took a sharp catch diving to his left. Hampshire 34 for 4. Prest 0. Deficit 102. Each time a Hampshire wicket fell, the eye was drawn to the scoreboard, and the brain to calculating the Hampshire deficit. Somerset were neck and neck with Hampshire, perhaps a nose in front, although every time that 136 caught the eye, it looked worryingly vulnerable. The chatter was tense, expectant; the gaze intense and sharp, fixed on the middle as one teasing ball from Leach followed another.

Bashir was bowling with less control, perhaps giving the batters some respite, but causing the occasional problem too. Toby Albert, in from the start and surviving as Kohler-Cadmore had for Somerset, swept him fine to the Colin Atkinson boundary for four. He had though edged another sweep which just cleared the outstretched hands of the slip fielder before running towards the Hildreth Stand floodlight for three. But when the batters faced Leach, there was no escape from the grip of that nagging accuracy and varying pace and flight. Dawson, so often a thorn in Somerset’s side had joined Albert after the departure of Prest, but immediately looked insecure. Twice in succession, he attempted to sweep Bashir, and twice he missed, once resulting in a leg before wicket appeal. He was beaten too by Leach and eventually bowled by him between bat and pad to a special cheer reflecting the importance of his wicket. Hampshire 56 for 5, Dawson 5, Deficit 80, the crowd buzzing.

The only bright spot for Hampshire was the innings of Albert after he had been dropped on nought. He was still there at the close on 38 out of 62 for 5. In his 28 overs, he had scored just three boundaries, as indicative as Kohler-Cadmore’s single six in 31 overs of the difficulties which batters faced on the first day of this match. Two of Albert’s boundaries came from the reverse sweep and the third from the sweep, a stroke much in evidence throughout the day when runs were sought against the spinners. There had been a three too, also swept, which had just cleared the hands of a leaping Abell, in another of his attacking positions, at leg slip. It was not Albert’s only escape. Two twos came from thick edges off Ogborne against whose left arm pace he had not looked comfortable.

In the end, it was a day which held the attention. Fifteen wickets had fallen in the 82 overs bowled after the two rain stoppages, and only 198 runs had been scored, less than two and a half runs an over. It was though a day of intense, toe-to-toe cricket. Seven of the wickets had been taken by spinners on a pitch which was helpful to pace and spin but on which the ball did not spit, jag or rear. No batter, with the exception of Kohler-Cadmore, had looked comfortable, and his 63 had taken nearly three hours, and that after 20 of his runs had come in boundaries in three overs at the start of his innings. It was not a type of cricket which is commonly witnessed in these times, and yet, in the end, a gruelling day had seized the attention and left the match intriguingly poised. Hampshire were just short of halfway to matching Somerset’s 136 with half of their wickets gone. The crowd may have been small by Taunton standards, but it had made its presence felt and by the end of the day it had had more than its money’s worth.

Close. Somerset 136 (T. Kohler-Cadmore 63, L.A. Dawson 4-28, K.J. Abbott 4-37). Hampshire 62-5. Hampshire trail by 74 runs with five first innings wickets standing.