County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Kent v 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th May. Taunton.

Tom Abell (hamstring) was unavailable.

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

Kent. B.G. Compton, Z. Crawley, D.J. Bell-Drummond (c), M.K. O’Riordan, J.L. Denly, H.Z. Finch (w), J.D.M. Evison, B. Swanepoel, G. Stewart, N.N. Gilchrist, G.A. Garrett.

Overnight. Somerset 440 for 7.

Second day 18th May – Momentum to Somerset

Somerset played their first innings in this match at warp speed. There were 440 runs on the board by the end of the first day and 99 more were added in the hour and a half possible before lunch on the second. Twenty of those runs came in the first two overs. Migael Pretorius found the boundary three times including with an on-driven four which brought up Somerset’s 450 and their fifth batting point to a comment of, “That was a lovely stroke.” He was though soon caught off a leaden-footed drive by Marcus O’Riordan off Grant Stewart for 19 from 13 balls, O’Riordan diving hard to his left from a wide second slip because there was no first, Kent stretched in defence. Somerset 460 for 8. Josh Davey continued Somerset’s charge with a drive off Stewart square to the Caddick Pavilion before the umpires took the players off to the sound of rain falling on the roof of the Trescothick Pavilion.

When play resumed, the day had been extended by half an hour with an over lost. That no early declaration was intended became clear when Lewis Gregory, not out overnight, and Davey began to push for singles with the field in retreat. The singles though came at a rate that gave Kent no rest. The score was boosted too by an occasional four, including one from Gregory dismissively lofted over midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary off Beyers Swanepoel. The 500 was soon reached when Davey quietly turned Evison past the square leg umpire and he and Gregory ambled a single.

That single was the signal for boundaries to flow again, and with four fielders on the boundary, there was no let-up in the flow of singles. The bowlers pitched full, and Gregory and Davey drove hard, Davey driving Swanepoel straight to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary and Gregory driving Evison so hard into the ground that the ball flew like a stone expertly skimmed off a wave. It cleared the mid-off fielder’s head and raced unimpeded to Gimblett’s Hill. A flat batted swing sent a ball from Stewart to the Priory Bridge Road boundary before, three balls later, Gregory stepped down the pitch to chip a ball straight back over Stewart’s head for four more. The loss of Davey for 27 at 517 for 9, caught by Ben Compton off Evison at mid-off, did nothing to slow Somerset. Jack Leach, back in the side after his long injury lay-off after his Test match injury in the winter, brought the lesson of Bazball with him, namely, the importance of relentlessly keeping the pressure on the opposition. His third ball, from Stewart, he drove emphatically through the covers to the Somerset Stand for four. His ninth, from Evison, he cut, over point and straight into the Temporary Stand. His unbeaten 21 came from 25 balls. It was a far cry from the studious, defensive Jack Leach of old. He may bat at eleven, but since Bazball, he had provided the proverbial sting in Somerset’s tail, and a sharp one at that.

Gregory was last out, well caught, low down on the long leg boundary by Zak Crawley off Evison for 77. Gregory had come to the wicket with the score on 377 for 5 and stayed while 177 runs were scored. Primarily a bowler, Gregory had always come over as a batter with a classical technique and an ability to improvise when the classical did not suffice. He had in the past tended to promise more than he delivered. Not in 2024. In 2024 his batting had all the old classicism mixed with improvisation but delivered with the consistency and impact that it had so often promised. He was now captaining Somerset too with a quiet effectiveness and the team was performing across the piece with a determination which was shaping rather than responding to the shape of matches. As Gregory walked off, Somerset had totalled 554 with two days and two sessions remaining in which to bowl Kent out twice.

The lunch interval was spent with the old school friend whom I meet two or three times a season at the cricket, home or away. It is not an uncommon occurrence at Championship matches for lifelong friends to meet, often for their only meetings of the year. For many, the day is a social as well as a sporting event. Cricket, of course, forms a major focus of the discussion. Cricket current and past from Bill Alley and Peter Wight to Tom Abell and James Rew, and questions like, “Do you remember Abbas Ali Baig?” Talk of old school friends too, some no longer with us, and the days we all spent together. And, of course, we could not part without putting the world to rights, well knowing we would only have to put it right again the next time we met.

And then, back to the cricket. Somerset had sustained considerable momentum throughout their innings. They carried it straight into the Kent innings, and by the end of the day had ripped the heart out of it despite a two-and-a-half-hour rain break. The first two overs were a microcosm of what was to follow. Ben Compton edged the first ball of the innings, from Davey, two feet short of second slip. The second ball, Compton edged wide of third slip, the ball running to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary. To the third ball, there was a loud leg before wicket appeal. The fourth, the left-handed Compton finally connected with the middle and drove the ball past mid-on to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary. The first ball of the second over, bowled by Overton to four slips, homed in on Zak Crawley’s leg stump, struck the pad and Kent were 8 for 1. Four balls later, momentum confirmed, rain took the players from the field.

The already small crowd, the forecast was not encouraging, shrank as the delay lengthened. Eventually though, with tea taken and the floodlights on, the players returned, Overton beating Daniel Bell-Drummond with the remaining ball of his long-interrupted over. Despite the small crowd, the tension was palpable as the Somerset bowlers probed away. The batters were in less difficulty than before the rain, but one ball from Davey to Compton moved in and passed so close to the stumps as Compton left it that mouths opened and eyes closed. He and Bell-Drummond then began to move the score along at four an over, three boundaries, all played into the leg side, helping. But when Bell-Drummond attempted to drive Overton hard and straight, the ball flew off the edge, Rew took off, dived across the slips and took a flying catch as he approached the line of first slip before landing between first and second. It was a spectacular catch, but no less clinical for that. Such catches were fast becoming a Rew speciality. Kent 28 for 2. Bell-Drummond 4. Deficit 526.

Marcus O’Riordan joined Compton and attacked the bowling, mainly with the drive. He made progress, Davey being driven straight to the Lord Ian Botham Stand and Overton through the covers off the back foot to the Somerset Stand. But O’Riordan was beaten by Davey to applause and gasps of approval. Pretorius replaced Davey and he too was driven by O’Riordan, off the back foot through the covers to the T20 dugouts in front of the Caddick Pavilion. But Somerset were not to be denied. Each time Kent began to make progress, Somerset struck. This time, O’Riordan was late with a straight drive against Pretorius and the ball rattled his middle and off stumps. Kent 55 for 3. O’Riordan 20 in one minute under half an hour or 28 balls. Deficit 499.

The crowd may have been small, but there was a tense quiet as each ball was delivered. There were gasps followed by a hushed buzz of conversation when Joe Denly edged his first two balls, from Pretorius. Both fell short of and flew through the four slips to the boundary. Compton had thus far weathered the storm, scoring at half the rate of O’Riordan as he attempted to shore up the Kent innings. Now, Denly played in like fashion. The scoring rate dropped, at one point there were three successive maidens, although Compton drove the last ball of Pretorius’s spell through the covers for four. Denly though, edged again, this time off Gregory, the ball landing so close to Overton’s stretching hand it was impossible to tell from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion if it was a dropped catch. In any event, Overton had to leave the field for repair work and Denly was beaten again by the next ball.

As Somerset continued to pile on the pressure, Pretorius gave way to Jack Leach. Leach began with a maiden and then Kent attacked him. Compton drove him through the covers to the Somerset Stand for four and then three before Denly drove him back over his head into the bottom of the Lord Ian Botham Stand sight screen for six. An over later, Leach had his revenge. Compton, eschewing the care with which he had played most of his innings attempted to reverse sweep and edged straight into Rew’s gloves. Kent 94 for 4. Compton 43 from 70 balls. Deficit 460.

Harry Finch joined Denly and was beaten several times as he and Denly tried to get Kent’s flailing innings to the approaching close in deteriorating light. Pretorius returned and began moving the ball, but it was Leach who took the final wicket of the day. Finch played around a straight ball and was palpably leg before wicket. The raised finger brought huge cheers from all around the ground despite the small crowd. Warmth as well as excitement was evident in the cheers. Leach was back, and Kent were well and truly on the back foot. As the light closed in, Leach bowled the final over with a short mid-on and a short mid-off, and two days remained for Somerset to force a victory.

Close. Somerset 554 (T. Banton 133, J.E.K. Rew 114, L. Gregory 77, J.D.M. Evison 3-92, G. Stewart 3-129. Kent 108 for 5. Kent trail by 464 runs with five first innings wickets standing.