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 554. Kent 178 and 409 for 5. Kent lead by 33 runs with five second innings wickets standing.

Final day 20th May – “We’ll get ’em in singles”

At The Oval during the 1902 Ashes Test, when England’s ninth wicket fell in their second innings, they still needed 15 to win. When last man Wilfred Rhodes joined George Hirst, Hirst is reputed to have greeted him with, “We’ll get ’em in singles,” and get them they did, although not entirely in singles. The story of the greeting is probably apocryphal. Neither Hirst nor Rhodes remembered the words being spoken. The point though was the intent in their partnership. The intent, above all, to win the match. When they came together at the fall of Somerset’s second wicket in the final innings of this match, Matt Renshaw and Andy Umeed didn’t entirely get the 129 Somerset still needed to win in singles either, and neither is what they said to each other recorded. But a large proportion of the runs did come in singles, and the intently purposeful manner of their making created an overwhelming impression of masterfully controlled batting from two batters intent on ensuring a Somerset victory. Renshaw was at the heart of laying the foundations of many of Somerset’s innings in the first part of 2024, and he was not going to let this one out of his sight any more than George Hirst was going to let that Test match out of his sight in 1902.

But before the Somerset batters came the bowlers. There were still five Kent wickets to be taken as the umpires and players walked to the middle at 11 o’clock. Apart from during that mesmerising Somerset bowling performance in the Kent first innings, the pitch had not shown much indication that it was willing to give up 20 wickets to either side. Early on the fourth morning though there were signs of threat from the Somerset bowlers. The bats of Joe Denly and Harry Finch, the overnight batters, were beaten several times and both benefited from boundaries edged from drives. They drove nonetheless and some well-struck boundaries resulted, in particular Denly driving Pretorius through the off side and Finch driving Craig Overton straight back to the Trescothick Pavilion. Between the boundaries, they moved the score along with some deft placement and soft pushes between the fielders for ones and twos. A glance from Finch to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion off Gregory took Kent past 450, still their overnight five wickets down, and to a lead of 76. With 85 overs left in the day though, Somerset still had time to force a victory. But tension was beginning to bite because as the edges flew wide and the balls which beat the bat failed to find the edge, there was a realisation that if the Kent innings moved very far into the afternoon, the equation between runs required and overs remaining would quickly tighten.

Josh Davey had spent much of the third day off the field with an unpleasant bug. Now, apparently recovered, he returned to bowl at the River End. He looked a rejuvenated bowler after seeming to be bowling through injury at times in 2023. His run-up was full of purpose, and he powered in towards my seat in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion. His third ball moved away a shade, no more, but it was enough to shave the edge of Harry Finch’s defensive bat and fall into the hands of James Rew diving low to his right. Finch and Denly had consumed 12 overs and added 45 runs, but Somerset had their first wicket. Kent 455 for 6. Finch 20. Lead 81.

Now, Joey Evison joined Denly. Their partnership was more constrained. As they battled to keep Somerset out, they added 23 runs over the next ten overs. Twelve of those runs came in boundaries, all driven by Evison including one from Jack Leach’s second over of the morning, a powerful lofted off drive to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. Denly’s contribution was four singles as he demonstrated the ability to dig in, keep the ball out and consume overs despite Somerset, especially Davey, beating the bat. In one over, Davey beat Evison and then forced an edge which fell short of the slip fielder and ran away for two. In another, he beat Denly twice in succession, once to applause, but still Denly held on. Gregory was on the mark too. In successive balls, he beat Evison and then saw the ball pass excruciatingly close to the stumps as Evison left it. Gasps all around. Eventually, the pressure told. Davey was running in with such intent that he seemed to have grown six inches. He persuaded a ball to shade in off the pitch. It rushed Evison’s defensive stroke and struck the pad. Kent 480 for 7. Evison 17. Lead 104. Overs remaining 73. The raised finger brought a thunderous, expectant cheer from around the ground.

By the time Beyers Swanepoel, the new batter, walked out, the cheer had sunk back into a tense quiet. There was hope in the air. “Three wickets,” the thought that must have been on every Somerset supporter’s mind. With the bowlers sustaining the pressure, Swanepoel never looked secure. His third ball from Davey went for four, but it came off a thick outside edge from a frenetic drive and flew fine of backward point to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary. When, on the stroke of lunch, Swanepoel attempted to defend a ball from Pretorius pitched far enough outside off for a top-order batter to have left it, he edged it straight and low to Overton at second slip. Overton quietly bent down as if to field a slowly rolling ball and took the catch six inches above the ground. The crowd, perhaps 1,700 strong despite this being the final day of the match, roared, ‘cheered’ being an inadequate description. The day was moving Somerset’s way. Kent 494 for 8. Swanepoel 7. Lead 118. Overs remaining 69. Lunch.

The afternoon session had not been long underway before taut faces and anxious voices returned. The new batter, Grant Stewart, launched into a swashbuckling assault on the Somerset bowling despite the bat still being beaten. “Come on Josh!” someone shouted as Denly was beaten again, but Stewart took Kent to 500 for 8 with a drive off Davey just backward of point to the Ondaatje boundary and a single driven into the covers. Then, in two overs, he added another 23 runs while Denly found the boundary once. Successive fours came off Pretorius, although one was off the inside edge. Davey was driven off the back foot through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road boundary and twice pulled through wide mid-on to the Hildreth Stand. Six overs into the afternoon session Kent had added 39 runs and were 533 for 8, a lead of 157 with 64 overs remaining.

Gregory replaced Davey and he and Pretorius regained some control. Denly, facing Pretorius, survived a loud leg before wicket appeal and a leading edge which flew into the covers for two. When he found the boundary, it was off an edge which bounced a foot wide of Overton’s dive from the only slip now in place. The boundary took Denly to fifty in eight minutes over three hours from 110 balls and registered the fifty partnership in 53 balls. But the scoring rate was slowing and when Stewart attempted to pull Gregory, he chopped the ball onto his stumps. Kent 553 for 9. Stewart 37 from 41 balls. The cheer which erupted was one of relief as much as excitement, for Kent were now 177 runs ahead with 58 overs remaining. It was a timely wicket for Somerset. The partnership had lasted three quarters of an hour. Had it lasted much longer, the victory equation would have begun to tighten rapidly.

George Garrett walked out accompanied by a runner and into tension, or anticipation, you could have cut with a knife. Denly responded to the fall of the ninth wicket by finally launching his own attack. Overton was glanced to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and lofted over mid-off to Gimblett’s Hill, but when he attempted to hook Gregory he edged the ball to Rew. Kent 564. Denly 67. Somerset would need 189 to win with 54 overs remaining after the change of innings. As Denly approached the rope the applause which had begun for the end of the innings rose in volume in acknowledgement of his vigil which had lasted 11 minutes short of four hours. Then, a calculation which would once have been done in the head was now undertaken on a smartphone. Somerset would need three and a half runs an over to win.

One hundred and eighty-nine runs at three and a half runs an over was not as challenging a victory target as it would have been in times past, but it did demand that the batters keep the score moving, and early wickets might develop some pressure. There was an air of expectation as the start of the innings was awaited and cheers when Renshaw and Sean Dickson walked out. The atmosphere quietened as they picked their way carefully through the first three overs, scoring only in singles, putting seven on the board. In the fourth over, Renshaw opened the face to Swanepoel and steered the ball past backward point to Gimblett’s Hill. That brought the crowd to cheers. He repeated the stroke off the next ball. This time the deep backward point fielder, moved there from slip, set off in hot pursuit. It was as close a race between fielder and ball as you will see, and it was watched in pin-drop silence. That turned again to cheers as the ball just outran the fielder.

For the next three overs, Renshaw and Dickson returned to scoring solely in singles pushed into the gaps created by Kent having three fielders on the boundary. Eight more runs on the board, 166 more needed, 47 overs remaining. Then Dickson attempted to glance Swanepoel and was caught behind. Somerset 24 for 1. Dickson six runs in a tense half-hour. Tom Lammonby took a different view of the run-chase. Evison, bowling with one wide slip replaced Swanepoel and Lammonby drove him through the covers for four. “Shot!” Next, he took a two on each side of the wicket, and a four through point, courtesy of a thick edge. Twelve from the over. Another four from an open face off an O’Riordan off break evaded the slip fielder and brought more cheers as it outran the chasing fielder to Gimblett’s Hill. A miscued drive off the next ball looped over Zak Crawley at mid-off but Crawley completed a good catch running back. “Oh no!” the comment as Crawley took the catch. Somerset 60 for 2. Lammonby 30 from 24 balls in 23 minutes. The wicket took the players off to tea and Somerset needed another 129 in 40 overs.

Thought about quickly, it seemed a simple enough equation with the pitch not presenting too many problems, but cricket supporters are genetically riddled with anxiety when their team is chasing a total and someone, taut-faced, worried, “Are we going to do it?” Lammonby had given the score a quick boost, but Renshaw and Andy Umeed now played as if George Hirst himself had issued them with instructions. In the next ten overs, there were just two boundaries and a two. The overwhelming impression was of the runs coming in singles, 23 in total, pushed, turned, guided and occasionally edged into the gaps created as Kent fought to protect the boundaries. By the end of those ten overs, Somerset had reached 93 for 2, 96 needed from 30 overs, and every run was being applauded.

Now, Somerset pushed the tempo up a gear. There were four boundaries and 46 runs in the next ten overs, just 17 coming in singles, but every single was played with intent. Somerset 139 for 2, 50 needed, 20 overs remaining. One of the singles came from Renshaw, a pull off Stewart fielded on the Somerset Stand boundary. It brought up his fifty. His had been the steadying, guiding innings that Somerset needed and that was reflected in the extended applause which he received. The fifty partnership followed an over later as Umeed reverse swept O’Riordan for four, the ball disappearing under the covers. “Oh! What a shot!” the comment. As more singles pushed Somerset on, 11 came in three overs, every one was applauded and someone actually said, “We’ll get ‘em in singles.” The Kent inner field, thinned by the need for boundary fielders was repeatedly bisected.

With Denly now bowling opposite O’Riordan, perhaps an admission that the game was up for Kent, Umeed drove him gently through the covers for the single which brought up his fifty and Somerset’s target was down to 29. It was the signal for Umeed to push for the end. He lofted O’Riordan over mid-on to the Hildreth Stand for four. Two more fours and a six followed, all crossing the boundary between the Lord Ian Botham Stand sight screen and the Garner Gates. Finally, a four from Renshaw off Denly cut square to the Priory Bridge Road boundary and a six from Umeed to the Garner Gates off O’Riordan saw Somerset home.

It had been a model run chase, steered by Renshaw, and powered by Lammonby and Umeed. There had been 93 singles in the innings, 66 of them in the final partnership. How that compares with a normal ration I cannot say, but it was the intent with which they were played, with no opportunity to score missed, which created the impression of a run chase, if topped off by Umeed’s boundaries, built on singles. And for evoking those thoughts of Hirst and Rhodes, three ages and a century and a quarter ago, much thanks.

Result. Somerset 554 (T. Banton 133, J.E.K. Rew 114, L. Gregory 77, J.D.M. Evison 3-92, G. Stewart 3-129.) and 194 for 2 (M.T. Renshaw 82, A.R.I. Umeed 73). Kent 178 (f/o) (J.L. Denly 61, C. Overton 3-38, M. Pretorius 3-52) and 564 (Z. Crawley 238, J.L. Denly 67, B.G. Compton 65, M. Pretorius 3-110). Somerset won by eight wickets. Somerset 24 points. Kent 2 points.