County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Durham 29^th, 30^th and 31^st August and 1^st September. Taunton.

This was the third match in 2024 in which the Kookaburra ball was used.

Somerset. A.R.I. Umeed, L.P. Goldsworthy, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M.J. Leach.

Durham. A.Z. Lees, B.S. McKinney, S.G. Borthwick (c), O.G. Robinson (w), A.J. Turner, B.F.W. de Leede, B.A. Carse, B.A. Raine, G.S. Drissell, C.F. Parkinson, D.M. Hogg.

Overnight. Somerset 395 for 6.

Second day 30^th August – An arm wrestle      

Justin Langer used to say that every match in the County Championship was an arm wrestle. The second day of this match, particularly the Durham innings, was just that. There was push and counter push. Half an hour after tea, Durham’s arm was leaning back, almost to the horizontal, but an unbroken seventh wicket partnership of 102 from Brydon Carse and Ben Raine kept their hopes alive. Before that, they had lost their first six wickets for 170 to some accurate, pressurising bowling from the Somerset spinners. At that point, Somerset’s lead was 325 with hopes among Somerset supporters of seeing Durham bat again before the close. By the close, Somerset’s lead had shrunk to 223. Durham, although still six wickets down, were also still a long way behind, but avoiding the follow-on, 74 runs away, was now a reasonable hope.

The day had begun with me in my seat at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion and Somerset, nearing 400 overnight, in a rush, led by James Rew. Twenty-two runs came in the first four overs. At the end of them, Somerset were well past 400 and Rew, 89 not out overnight, was back in the Caddick Pavilion. His first ball had been driven off Callum Parkinson through the covers for two to a shout of, “Come on Rewie!” In Brydon Carse’s second over, he drove the first ball sharply through the on side to the Gimblett’s Hill boundary. When he drove at the fourth ball, it flew off the edge, bisected the only slip and the keeper and ran to the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. The slip was standing at second slip. It would have been a relatively straightforward, if low, catch for an orthodox first slip. Instead, the crowd rose to its feet to applaud Rew’s century and someone said, “What a way to go to a hundred.”  Off the sixth ball, Rew drove again and edged again, but this time straight to Ashton Turner at slip. Somerset 417 for 7. Rew 103.

Kasey Aldridge, who had supported Rew on the previous evening, now played a key role in a partnership with Lewis Gregory. They continued to push hard, adding another 50 runs in 12 overs, Somerset’s second innings scoring rate of just over four runs an over being maintained. Each batter’s contribution to the partnership was 23. Each hit a six. Gregory, batting in glorious sun, had lifted Ben Raine high over midwicket. “He’s out!” someone shouted, misreading the flight of the ball which landed in an empty section of the Somerset Stand. Aldridge, for his part, drove Callum Parkinson straight over the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. Gregory also struck three fours, including two in succession off Raine, one turned to Gimblett’s Hill, the other driven to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. His six aside, Aldridge scored from positively pushed ones and twos. As Somerset raced, Durham slowed. Bowlers suddenly developed shoe problems, and the need for consultations on field placings became endemic.  

The partnership ended when Aldridge attempted to reverse sweep Parkinson. The ball caught the top edge, hit Aldridge’s shoulder, looped behind the stumps and was caught by Ollie Robinson. Somerset 467 for 8. Aldridge, a carefully constructed 44 in four minutes over two hours. The wicket brought Craig Overton to the crease. His first ball, from Parkinson, was driven over straight mid-off to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. “He isn’t going to hang about, is he?” someone said. Off the third ball of the next over, bowled by Drissell, Overton swung the bat straight at the Trescothick Pavilion. “Here it comes,” said someone as the ball began to rise, but the call was too soon. The ball was heading to the right of us and landed among the covers. The next ball was similarly driven, but this time it cleared the boundary on the other side of the Trescothick Pavilion. It couldn’t last of course, and in Drissell’s next over, Overton targeted the Trescothick Pavilion again, “It’s coming towards us,” the cry. This time it was, but it had been mishit and fell short to be caught by Carse. Somerset 492 for 9. Overton 19 from 15 balls. An over later, Gregory was caught at long on trying to hit another six. Somerset 492 all out. Gregory 31.

After the first over of the Durham innings, during which Ben McKinney drove Overton neatly through the on side to Gimblett’s Hill for four, someone said, “This looks like a draw. There is nothing in the pitch.” It was a brave call after one over of the innings, although Somerset’s 492 added weight to the suggestion. Soon though, Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan replaced Gregory and Overton as Somerset put their faith in spin. Faith brought reward. Vaughan pitched his fifth ball in first-class cricket on the left-handed McKinney’s leg stump. The ball turned a shade, beat McKinney’s defensive stroke and struck the pads squarely in front of middle stump. “He did him on the back leg,” the comment as the crowd cheered and the team engulfed Vaughan. Durham 25 for 1. McKinney 15. Deficit 467. At 29 for 1 the players walked off for lunch.

And then, slowly, hesitantly, people wandered onto the outfield. No one had heard an announcement but the gates at the River End had been opened and, after a minute or two of wondering, that was taken as an invitation. It was a joy to be back, and as always, people walked as if in slow motion, savouring the moment and taking in the views from the middle. It wasn’t quite as of old when no one minded if spectators wandered right up to the close-cut edge of the square. Now, as last year, coloured discs were placed around the square about five yards distant from it. But this year, a steward walked along them asking people to move another ten yards back causing a few shaking heads. Old traditions are deeply embedded in people’s psyches and they die hard.

But we were out there, and people made the most of it, looking up into the stands as they always had, talking to people they knew, peering at the pitch, although not with quite the intensity they had when allowed to stand next to the end of it. In those days, the sight of pairs of eyes gathered a couple of yards behind the stumps, peering inscrutably at the pitch as if with great wisdom, but probably, as with me, knowing absolutely nothing about pitches, was always a highlight of a visit to the middle.

The condition of the outfield though was exemplary. “As flat as a bowling green,” someone who plays cricket said. I had never seen it in better condition while walking on it in a cricketing aeon of lunch intervals, and many tea intervals too in years gone by. I saw one primary school-aged child crouching low to feel it with his hands, probably for the first time, as if in wonder, an experience he will remember for the rest of his life. A few other children were playing cricket, mainly with their fathers, another sight for sore eyes in an age where so often young children are seen in a triangular relationship between themselves, a parent and a smartphone. The ‘perambulation’, as the Club has chosen to call it, ended in a throwback to the not-so-distant ‘old days’. A steward, with a quiet word and a smile, gently coaxed us all back beyond the boundary. Tradition is a wonderful thing. In cricket, it helps bind a club together.

Back in my seat, I was greeted by a measured attack on Leach and Vaughan by the two left handers, Alex Lees and Scott Borthwick. Vaughan, running away from me, was turning the ball but someone commented, “He’s very slow isn’t he.” Slow he may have been, but his start lost nothing in comparison with Leach as the pair settled in for a long bowl. Leach’s first two balls were sent to the boundary by Lees, the first through the covers to the Somerset Stand and the second over wide mid-on to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. As Borthwick swept Vaughan behind square to the Garner Gates and pulled Leach square to the Caddick Pavilion the crowd became quieter. The fifty partnership was reached in 12 overs, the Durham scoring rate matching Somerset’s. Somerset had a battle on their hands.

The batters were not having it all their own way though as Somerset pushed back. Both spinners, Leach in particular, beat the bat and Leach struck the pads several times to loud appeals. Eventually, the scoring slowed as Leach and Vaughan tightened their grip. Then Borthwick came forward in defence to Leach, the ball turned a trace, took the edge, flew straight to Overton at slip and Overton does not miss those. “Hooray!” from a few seats away, cheers from everyone else and applause for Leach. Durham 86 for 2. Borthwick 35. Deficit 406.

As the Somerset spinners applied pressure, the Durham scoring dried up. Just 18 runs came in the ten overs either side of the wicket. When Lees, now joined by Ollie Robinson, cut Leach through point to the Caddick Pavilion boundary, someone said, “That was a bit short,” as if it were a ball out of line with the rest. But then, by way of variety, Vaughan was replaced at the Trescothick Pavilion End by Andy Umeed’s leg spin. The experiment lasted two overs and cost 16 runs as Durham immediately attacked. Thirteen of those runs came off Umeed’s second over, including three boundaries, two from Robinson, another left hander, one, a full toss, pulled over midwicket to the Ondaatje Stand. No quarter given in this match.

Experiment over, Lees went to his fifty with a single driven into the on side off Leach, and Robinson continued his assault by lofting Leach over mid-off to the gap between the Lord Ian Botham Stand and the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. But when Robinson attempted to defend Leach’s next ball, it turned, smoothly enough, but it turned, and Robinson edged it. The ball hit Rew’s gloves and flew straight to Overton at first slip. Durham 128 for 3. Robinson 26 from 28 balls. Deficit 364.

Leach was bowling beautifully now, walking in ball after ball, hopping the final step as is his style and depositing his parcel of worry at the batter’s feet. Aldridge replaced Umeed at the Trescothick Pavilion End and squeezed the scoring. The right handed Ashton Turner, Durham’s Australian overseas player, now faced Leach. He drove him straight back to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. Leach bowled again. Turner came forward to defend. The ball, angled in, pitched on off, straightened, and pushed the off stump back a few inches before being caught by Umeed at second slip. Durham 136 for 4. Turner 6. Deficit 356.

The crowd was buzzing now and loud applause from the Hildreth Stand greeted Leach as he approached it to field and then rippled around the ground. Now, as Somerset pushed, Aldridge began to test the batters with his pace and lift. “Come on Kasey,” someone shouted. There were gasps and applause when he beat the new batter, Bas de Leede. Applause too at the end of the over when he returned to field in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. De Leede did sweep Leach fine to Gimblett’s Hill for four, but there were sharp intakes of breath when Leach beat him with the next ball and louder applause than the norm when the players walked off for tea with Durham on 150 for 4. Lees, still battling, was on 59 with Durham still 342 behind.

A teatime meander found me talking to another Somerset supporter when the players returned. We watched from behind the cover store. Lewis Goldsworthy, Somerset’s second left arm spinner, opened the bowling from the River End. Bowling to Lees with more of a run to the wicket than Leach, he showed little sign of turning the ball. His fifth ball pitched well wide of the left-handed Lees’ off stump, Lees prodded and edged wide of Overton, the only slip. Overton moved to his left, stuck his hand out, down and back and caught the ball just as it looked as if it had escaped him. It was a brilliant, low catch, and looked all the more impressive because of the angle we were watching from. Durham 150 for 5. Lees 59. Deficit 342.

With Brydon Carse now at the wicket, De Leede was beaten by Leach. It was the first ball after I had regained my seat. There was a huge appeal for caught behind. The umpire was unmoved. “Oh, come on,” someone said. Before the over was out Carse was beaten again by the turning ball. In Leach’s next over, Carse pushed softly towards point, the batters set off for a single and de Leede suddenly found himself in a desperate rush towards the striker’s end as Abell ran hard from cover. Abell collected the ball and threw it into Rew’s gloves. With a flash, the bails were off with de Leede inches short of his ground. “Rew took that nicely,” the understatement of the day from along the row. Durham 170 for 6. De Leede 16. Deficit 322.

Raine joined Carse with Somerset on the cusp of an overwhelming first innings lead. Two hours later, Carse and Raine were still at the crease and the Durham deficit had been reduced to 220, 71 runs short of avoiding the follow-on. Carse and Raine, pulling Durham back into the match in the process, were both past 50. Durham had negotiated those two hours with a mixture of belligerence and calm. Within eight overs of Raine’s arrival, they had added 42 runs. Goldsworthy came in for particular punishment. Carse pulled and cut him for successive fours. When he switched to the Pavilion End, the left handed Raine lofted the ball into the old Legends Square and then into the churchyard. It was Goldsworthy’s last over of the day. Leach, although the ball was turning, was pulled by Raine to the Garner Gates and driven past long on to Gimblett’s Hill, both for four.

Then, in the final hour, things quietened. Thirty-seven runs came in 17 overs, 12 of those from two sixes. It was a curious period. From the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, the pitch, or the Kookaburra ball, or both, seemed to have lost life and the batters concentrated mainly on defence. Aldridge was tried again. He bowled three lively, accurate overs, beat the bat once but made no headway. Leach beat the bat several times, twice in one over and had two huge leg before wicket appeals and, with the new ball, another against Carse in the final over of the day. Vaughan beat Raine twice in succession. And yet, oddly, it never felt like a wicket would fall. At the end of the day long arm wrestle, as Durham’s arm lifted further above the horizontal, prospects of a win were drifting slowly away from Somerset.

Somerset 492 (T.B. Abell 124, J.E.K. Rew 103, T. Banton 73, C.F. Parkinson 4-136). Durham 272 for 6. Durham trail by 220 runs with four second innings wickets standing.