County Championship 2025. Division 1. Hampshire v Somerset 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st April. Southampton.

Hampshire. M.G. Stoneman, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.J. Prest, T.E. Albert, B.C. Brown (c) (w), L.A, Dawson, B.R. Hampton, J.K. Fuller, K.J. Abbott, B.T.J. Wheal.

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (c) (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Overnight. Somerset 184. Hampshire 194 for 3. Hampshire lead by ten runs with seven second innings wickets standing.

Final day – Rearguard action

The forecast for the day was not good, and the weather was worse. The stoppages came mainly in the form of bad light aided by some strategically timed rain. As I walked up the hill to the ground a quarter of an hour before the start, the floodlights were already on, and they never went off all day. And the sun didn’t shine until after the players had left the field for the last time. It was a day of waiting as much as watching. Twice the umpires led the players out to restart after a stoppage, once to find themselves leading them off again before a ball could be bowled, and once to lead them off three and a half overs after the resumption. Only 26 overs and three balls were bowled during the day and Somerset survived those for the loss of Tom Lammonby, although not without some anxious moments. In the end, Sean Dickson and Tom Abell, with some determined batting, held the crease for 22 overs and 56 runs in a pincer movement with the weather to hold Hampshire off.

As the players walked out at the start, there were perhaps 150 spectators visible in the stands, although doubtless there were more behind glass in the Derek Shackleton members bar in the Pavilion with its view from above the umpire’s head. Those eyes that were there were as much on the sky and the brightness of the lights on the scoreboards as on the cricket. Time for Hampshire to force a win threatened to be short, and a shout from somewhere behind the stumps of, “We’re in a hurry here lads, come on!” halfway through Kyle Abbott’s second over summed up Hampshire’s position perfectly. In the second half of the Hampshire innings and in their own second innings, Somerset had fought back from a disastrous first two days. That, some help from the weather on the first two days, and the prospect of more of the same to come, now meant that Hampshire would need to break the back of the Somerset innings before lunch if they were to win. “Every year. Come on boys,” from the field may have been a reference to Hampshire having beaten Somerset at Southampton in four of the last five Championship matches to be held there and a reminder to the batters of some short order Somerset collapses.

Hampshire certainly began with intent. There were several insistent leg before wicket appeals, and Sean Dickson drove expansively and spectacularly unsuccessfully against Brad Wheal, bowling from the Northern End. But the bowler of the morning was, as so often in those Somerset defeats, Kyle Abbott. Bowling from the Pavilion End, he was quick, accurate and constantly troubled the batters. In an opening spell of eight overs, perhaps acknowledgment from Hampshire that they would need to strike early if they were to have any chance of forcing a win, he conceded 11 runs. He may have generated some extra lift in the ball which Tom Lammonby attempted to guide past the slips but edged bullet-like to the side of Tom Prest’s at first slip. Prest swivelled and caught it at waist height as it passed. Somerset 107 for 2. Lammonby 24. Deficit 45 with a minimum of 91 overs remaining. On the face of it, there were plenty of overs if Hampshire could press home their attack, but the sky was uniformly grey, the lights were bright, and the forecast of continuing cloud with showers left few in any doubt that Hampshire would have fewer, perhaps far fewer, overs than that. The quiet in the ground felt as if it had as much to do with tension driven by shrinking time and hovering clouds as with the paucity of the crowd, although the crowd gradually grew as the morning wore on.

After 12 overs, Somerset had added 20 runs, and the deficit was still 29. When Wheal beat Tom Abell comprehensively enough to bring applause from the small crowd, Fletcha Middleton, fielding in front of me as I sat in the fourth row of the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand shouted, “Oh my word!” with some conviction. It was not just the beaten bats and the leg before wicket appeals which troubled the Somerset mind, batting generally did not look easy. There were two more huge leg before wicket appeals in two balls from Abbott against Dickson, both met with a statuesque pose from the umpire. “How many more umpire?” asked one frustrated Hampshire supporter from behind me. Then, a another unrequited appeal from the next ball, “What was wrong with that?” the exasperated next question from behind.

Now the temperature began to drop, often a sign of impending rain, and Abbott and Wheal had shot their initial bolt, giving way to James Fuller and Brett Hampton. Relief for those watching in the Somerset interest, and the day was moving on. When Abell cut Hampton’s first ball square for four the relief was made manifest in the applause from the small coterie of Somerset supporters gathered beneath the Somerset dressing room. It was only the third boundary of the morning and had not come until the 14th over. Only three singles followed in the next three overs as Dickson and Abell continued to get behind the ball. A look at the scoreboard revealed the overs remaining had fallen to 79. A lot of overs still, but the cloud was noticeably darkening. Perhaps that triggered a shout of, “Let’s be on it, boys,” from Ben Brown, the Hampshire captain. Dickson’s response was to drive Hampton through extra cover for another four, but then, blow was followed by counter blow. Fuller struck Dickson on the pads and let forth an appeal which must have wakened the cricketing gods from their winter slumbers before their historical awakening time of May. The umpire’s finger remained unmoved. A fielder came deep to field just to my left. “What was wrong with that lbw shout?” the question to him from behind me. “Hit it,” the response.

When, in Hampton’s next over, Dickson pulled him to long leg and then turned him to fine leg, both for two, Somerset’s deficit turned into a lead. In the next over I felt mizzle on my face. Very light, but it was definitely mizzle, and the sky must have looked unforgiving to Hampshire supporters. As the light dipped further, Hampshire replaced Fuller with Liam Dawson’s slow left arm. Abell drove Dawson, if uppishly, for a single and registered the fifty partnership with Dickson in 109 balls. And then, the mizzle thickened further, prompting the umpires to call an early lunch. Somerset 158 for 2. They were six runs ahead, but in a morning of 23 overs, crucially they had only lost the wicket of Lammonby.

The passing of the next three hours will be familiar to any experienced first-class cricket watcher. Eyes on the sky, or checking the turning of the clock; or in the modern age, the ticking over of the digital timepiece on the scoreboard, and looking for signs of movement from the Pavilion as final day overs are lost forever. Feeling too for variations in temperature and hoping for harbingers of rain or of rain clearing. Feeling for rain on the air or watching for the light lifting. Watching the crowd gradually, reluctantly, drifting away. Watching the umpires inspect. On this occasion, watching the umpires and players walk to the middle, and on arriving there, walk straight back to the Pavilion as rain began to fall again. Hear the announcement that tea is to be taken early with a restart at 3.40, with 40 overs remaining. Time was ticking along its inexorable path towards six o clock and 40 overs seemed a lot that late in the day. Even so, with Somerset now ahead and with eight wickets still standing, there seemed no prospect of a positive result. Stay at the ground anyway. There is no logic to staying, but people do.

Then, watch three overs and three balls, one of which, from Wheal, bowling again from the Northern End, Abell edged low to first slip. The view from the gap between the Pavilion and the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand was perfect for following the flight of the ball low into first slip’s hands, and out again. Then, as if that drop were a comment on the futility of pursuing the final day any further, the cricketing gods called the weather gods in aid and the light persuaded the umpires to take the players off again. They were still off at five o’clock when hands were shaken. By six o’clock the sun was shining brightly, a piece of serendipity known to every cricket-watcher.

And so, a match consisting of a storming start from Hampshire, a fightback from Somerset and a decisive intervention from the weather was over. The draw just kept Somerset out of the relegation spots in the First Division, although a slow over rate took one of their points. In making their contributions to saving the game in Somerset’s second innings, Archie Vaughan had batted just over an hour for his 24, Lammonby had batted nearly an hour and a half for his 24, Abell had batted just over an hour and a half for his 27 not out and Dickson had batted a minute over four hours for his 77 not out. It was a disciplined rearguard action, albeit on a pitch which had flattened since the first two days. Rearguard batting had not always been seen in the armoury of Somerset’s top order in those defeats against Hampshire. In that respect Somerset’s second innings may contribute to more than the draw it helped achieve in this match.

Postscript. I had made the Sussex and Hampshire matches a double trip, not returning to Somerset between the two. To complete the journey in what I thought would be a leisurely fashion, I decided to travel home on the day after the Hampshire match. Oh, woe betide the dilatory traveller. My train from Southampton to Westbury for a connection to Taunton was cancelled. Result: a one hour wait for the next train. The next train missed the next Taunton train from Westbury by 15 minutes. Result: a one and three quarter hour wait for the next Taunton train. The domino theory in action. There was an option to continue on the Westbury train to Bristol Temple Meads and change there. That involved a five minute transfer time at Bristol, and would need my train to arrive on time to achieve even that. Even if my train to Bristol succeeded in not arriving late, the connection went via Weston-super-Mare and would arrive in Taunton only ten minutes before the Westbury train. The connection also originated from Cardiff where, according to the information board, there was major disruption. Once the dominoes start to fall …

Result. Somerset 184 (M. Pretorius 47, J.K. Fuller 4-42, B.T.J. Wheal 4-46) and 163 for 2 (S.R. Dickson 77). Hampshire 336 (N.R.T. Gubbins 82, L.A. Dawson 72, T.J. Prest 42, M. Pretorius 5-62, T.A. Lammonby 3-26). Match drawn. Hampshire 13 points. Somerset 10 points after one point deducted for a slow over rate.