County Championship 2024. Division 1. Warwickshire v Somerset 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th August. Edgbaston.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable due to a groin injury. Craig Overton captained the Somerset side. Migael Pretorius had left the Club at the end of his contract.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (c), W.M.H. Rhodes, H. Shaikh, J.G. Bethell, E.G. Barnard, D.R. Mousley, M.G.K. Burgess (w), M.D. Rae, C. Rushworth, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

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

Toss. Somerset. Elected to field.

First day 22nd August – A day of three halves

If this had been a football match, one of the managers might have said, “This was a day of three halves.” The morning went Warwickshire’s way, or at least the half of it that was played did, the afternoon was Somerset’s, and the evening Warwickshire’s. The first half of the morning belonged to the weather, an hour being lost to rain. The players were off early for bad light at the end of the day too, the fingers of autumn beginning to stretch into the evenings of the cricket season. The rain was a stop-start affair. A half past eleven start was announced. And then rain fell again. Play was delayed. Then the sun came out. Summer.

It was not the first delay of the day. I had begun with my perennial wait for disappearing buses outside the Bullring. Disappearing because they are inclined to suddenly disappear from the destination indicator board shortly before they are due to arrive. It was the classic story of waiting half an hour for an every-ten-minute bus. “This bus service has gone to the dogs,” said one disgruntled local. But eventually, the bus rolled into view, and all was right again with everyone’s world.

Eventually, with me safely in my seat, high and square in the Hollies Stand, the covers came off. From my seat, the pitch, set as close as it probably could be to the Hollies Stand, looked light brown. In my experience, that tends to mean a good batting pitch. The question which immediately jumped into my mind was: why had Somerset opted to field when they won the toss? The delay at least gave me and the old work colleague and Somerset supporter I sometimes sit with at Somerset matches the time to come to no firm conclusion on that and to put the cricket world, and the rest of the world, to rights. Again. It is a perpetual occupation of ours when we are at the cricket. Looking around the ground, by my rough count, there were perhaps 300 people in the stands, probably mostly doing the same. At Edgbaston there are large bars at each end of the ground with panoramic views of the cricket, and so the total attendance might have been 500, perhaps a few more.

As we awaited the start, a Warwickshire supporter nearby, one of perhaps a dozen in the Hollies Stand, said to his friend, “Surrey have won the toss and put Lancashire in. They are 30 odd for 2.” My colleague and I listened as avidly as the friend. After Somerset’s victory over Warwickshire in the last Championship match at Taunton, Somerset had moved into second place in the table, 23 points behind Surrey. At the other end of the table, Warwickshire were one place above the relegation zone and Lancashire one place above them. Two fixtures with the fortunes of the four participating teams intertwined was an interesting prospect.

With the sun now shining brightly, the left-handed Robert Yates and the right-handed Alex Davies walked out to face Josh Davey, bowling from the Pavilion End. Davies lofted Davey’s third ball through extra cover to the vertiginous West Stand on the far side of the ground from the Hollies Stand for four. From the Hollies Stand, the West Stand looks virtually upright as if spectators using it might need to be secured to their seat by Velcro. For Championship matches it is empty, the only stand in the ground closed to spectators. Davies’ stroke looked ominously solid to a Somerset supporter. Beaten bats followed from Davey and Overton, but without effect and Somerset reduced their four slips to three.

“Come on boys!” shouted Tom Abell, but a cut behind square from Yates off Davey and a perfectly placed steer inside the gully fielder from Davies off Overton, both for four, added to the doubts in the Somerset mind about the decision to insert Warwickshire. “We are missing Pretorius,” said my text to the online watcher when Yates drove Jake Ball spectacularly off the back foot through the covers to the Hollies Stand. Four more, cut square by Yates was just as spectacular and indicative of the ease with which Warwickshire seemed to be batting. When Davies tried to cut Kasey Aldridge, in the penultimate over before lunch, and was caught behind for 27 it was, to this Somerset supporter, a surprise and a relief at the same time. But a four pulled with ease by Yates off Ball in the next over, and the pace at which Warwickshire had scored suggested it was the Warwickshire batting rather than the Somerset bowling that held the upper hand. Warwickshire 56 for 1 from 15 overs as the players walked off for lunch.

With now perhaps 400 people in the stands, my lunchtime chats with Somerset supporters began with the performances of Somerset’s young 50-over side. “Brilliant, gelling really well,” summed up the general view. Somerset had topped their group and won an exhilarating semi-final against Leicestershire at Taunton which evoked the great days of the Gillette Cup 60-over knock-out competition of half a century before. Some of the economy measures at Taunton still rankled and the decision to ask Warwickshire to bat with, as one person put it, “No grass on the pitch,” caused a few raised eyebrows. Who would be the person responsible for making the decision at the toss? “Lancashire 98 for 3,” the slightly more encouraging score from the Warwickshire supporter, for Somerset supporters at least.

Twenty minutes into the afternoon session, the doubts about the toss decision seemed to have been justified. Warwickshire had rattled along at nearly six runs an over since lunch, with nothing going past the bat. The left-handed Will Rhodes was to the fore. He began against the first ball of the afternoon, from Aldridge, glanced perfectly for four. Aldridge suffered again when Rhodes struck him for three fours in an over, a pull to the Hollies Stand crossing the boundary beneath my old work colleague and I, an off drive prompting Aldridge, unsuccessfully, to request a ball change, and a back foot cover drive, the latter two strokes going to the long boundary. From a Somerset perspective, batting was looking all too easy and my old work colleague asked, “Is Aldridge having one of his off matches? He seems to alternate, one on, one off.”

And then, with the cloud beginning to close in again, the tempo of the innings suddenly changed. After 28 runs in five overs, the next five overs produced just five, four of them from a single stroke, and a wicket. The boundary was an on drive from Rhodes off Overton. It was quickly followed by a request from Overton for a change of ball, successful because the ball would not pass through the gauge. Two balls later, Overton angled a ball in from around the wicket, Rhodes seemed to play around it, and the ball hit his off stump. Warwickshire 94 for 2. Rhodes 22.

With the spectators in the stands now approaching 500, I am an inveterate counter of Championship crowds, Abell shouted, “Come on Craig O!” as Overton prepared to resume the attack. Yates responded by attacking again. He cut and pulled Overton to the boundary, the cut registering his fifty from 92 balls in eight minutes over two hours. He and the new batter, Hamza Shaikh, were though being beaten, and although they were moving the score along, it was not without some help from the edge of the bat, the Somerset fielders becoming more vociferous as Overton and Ball probed away.

With pressure on the batters building, Ball pitched full, a foot and a half wide of off stump, Shaikh attempted to drive through the covers with his foot moving towards the pitch of the ball and a full, if stretched, flow of the bat. Another edge. This time the ball flew low to Tom Lammonby at backward point where he caught it ankle high. Warwickshire 125 for 3. Shaikh 8. Just seven runs followed in the next five overs with Somerset’s fielding now very sharp. A bat was beaten, there was a leg before wicket appeal, and the new batter, the left-handed Jacob Bethell, edged Ball short of third slip. With Somerset pushing, on the edge of taking a wicket it felt, Yates counter attacked. Davey was pulled and cut square, both for four. But then, Yates attacked Davey once too often. He cut, bottom edged and his stumps rattled. “That ball was too close for the stroke,” the verdict of the online watcher. Warwickshire 140 for 4. Yates 69 in 12 minutes short of three hours. Now Davey, persistent as ever, took another wicket. Barnard, facing his second ball, attempted what looked like an exploratory off drive and edged straight and low to James Rew. Warwickshire 144 for 5. Barnard 0. An over later the players left the field for tea with the score unchanged. What price, I wondered, the insertion now?

As to my teatime conversations, online and in person. The verdict from the online watcher was, “The ball is doing hardly anything. Just an occasional hint of swing.” Batter error had played a greater part in the wickets, the watcher concluded. “That ball change has done well for you, hasn’t it?” was the view of one Warwickshire supporter when he saw the wyvern on my hat. It had to be admitted that the change in Somerset’s fortunes had immediately followed the change of ball. “That feels a bit better than at lunch,” said one relieved Somerset supporter. What did not feel better was the Surrey score update, except perhaps to Warwickshire supporters. Lancashire 204 all out.

With the resumption after tea, the Somerset fielders were immediately on Warwickshire’s case. “Ohhh!” or “Ahhh!” the chorus of shouts after virtually every ball. Dan Mousley edged Overton for four, just wide of where a fourth slip would have stood, but the ball dropped too short to have been a catch and the game moved on. Then, as Mousley and Bethell took Warwickshire forward, mainly with ones and twos, the age-old feeling of, “We need a wicket,” began to take hold. No sooner was it felt than it was rewarded. Mousley attempted to drive Overton, edged and the ball looped towards Andy Umeed at first slip. In the split second it took for the ball to reach him, heading for his neck, Umeed’s hands seemed uncertain, adjusted and then took the ball which propelled him onto his back. Relief my reaction as the Somerset players gathered around Umeed. Warwickshire 165 for 6. Mousley 10.

Somerset were on their way again. Both sets of supporters must have sensed it because there was tension in the air. And then, the beginning of the third ‘half’ of the day. Michael Burgess edged Overton across Somerset’s three slips, Tom Lammonby at third dived hard, long and low to his right, got a hand to the ball but it ran away for a single. Had he held it, the score would have been 169 for 7. Somerset did not take another wicket in the day. Oh, the ifs, the buts and the maybes of cricket. They are endless, excruciating, and best left behind.

And leave them behind, Bethell and Burgess did. In ones and twos, they established their partnership, and then, with a steady run of boundaries, they took Warwickshire through the final hour and a half of play at five runs an over. It was as if they were suddenly playing on a different pitch. Bethell did edge Aldridge short of the slips and Burgess had a lucky inside edge off Ball as they got underway, but from there they seemed in little trouble. The tension that had followed the wicket of Mousley gradually evaporated into the air. “Bring on Leach,” said the online watcher. Overton immediately complied, and Burgess cut Leach’s second ball for four. “Not if he is going to drop short,” the message.

It wasn’t just Leach who came in for punishment. Aldridge was driven through the covers and pulled through midwicket by Bethell off successive balls before Bethell pulled Leach through straight midwicket to register the fifty partnership with Burgess. Then it was Aldridge’s turn again, driven straight and through extra cover off the back foot. Five boundaries to Bethell in the course of five overs. Burgess added two boundaries of his own in the course of those five overs, both driven, one off Leach and one off Aldridge and Warwickshire were 226 for 6 with no sign of another wicket.

As Leach began his fourth over, someone, capturing the growing anxiety of the Somerset supporter, shouted, “Come on Jack! We need a bit of magic here.” Ball replaced Aldridge at the Birmingham End and was promptly pulled through straight midwicket to the Hollies Stand boundary. The Leach magic remained in short supply too despite him pitching fuller. Burgess drove him off the back foot through extra cover for another four, and then, adding insult to injury, drove him straight, clearing the Pavilion boundary in the process. Three quieter overs followed, they were though but a mirage, for having taken breath, Burgess launched into Leach again. Two sixes cleared the long on boundary in front of the Pavilion, the second registering Burgess’s fifty from 66 balls in four minutes over an hour and a quarter. The next ball he glanced with the neatest of touches to the end of the Birmingham End sight screen in front of the Barnes Stand, an indication of how just far over to the Hollies Stand the pitch was set.

That boundary took Warwickshire to 266 for 6. The sun had shone on their barrage of boundaries, but by the time the Burgess glance ran towards the Birmingham End some heavy cloud was crossing the ground, the light was fading, and the lights had come on. The cloud filled in quickly, and with the light, the rate of scoring faded too, 11 runs coming in the five overs before the umpires concluded it was too dark and took the players off. Surrey ended on 83 for 0. It had not, in the end, been Somerset’s day, at either match. The ground was quiet as we left, the numbers in the stands having shrunk to around 200. Had those that left had the benefit of knowing that Warwickshire would turn their day around in that hour and a half of batting mayhem, more might have stayed. It had indeed been a day of three halves.

As to the decision at the toss? At the end of the day, Somerset’s Head Coach said Warwickshire had drawn all five of their previous Championship matches at Edgbaston in 2024. That, and the very short boundary to the Hollies Stand suggested that batting last might give Somerset the best chance of forcing a victory. So much for spectator speculation.

Close. Warwickshire 277 for 6.