County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Essex. 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th May. Taunton.

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

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, T. Westley (c), J.M. Cox, M.J.J. Critchley, M.S. Pepper (w), N.R.M. Thain, S.R. Harmer, S.J. Cook, C.A.K. Rajitha, J.A. Porter.

Overnight. Essex 206 and 163 for 4. Somerset 145. Essex lead by 224 runs with six second innings wickets standing.

Third day – Of omens and reality

When Jordan Cox reached 98 in the Essex second innings, he and Michael Pepper had added 71 for the fifth wicket, Essex had a lead of 291 and, with lunch an hour away, the only question in the air was, “How long will Essex bat?” Then, Cox took the quickest of singles off Jack Leach, bowling from the River End. Too quick. He had to complete the run by diving, virtually flying, full length at the non-striker’s end, landing with an excruciatingly painful-looking thud. He clutched his side and lay prone, not moving. Gradually players, umpires and support staff gathered around him as he continued to lie motionless on the ground. The break in play was worryingly long. “This doesn’t look good at all,” said the person next to me. Cox had been holding or clutching his side when running for some time, but eventually he stood up and, after another extended wait, prepared to continue. It was the longest break in play for an injured player who did not leave the field that I could recall. Two overs later, Cox reverse swept Leach square to the Caddick boundary, clutched his side again and acknowledged the extended applause for a century scored from 155 balls. At the end of the over, he gave way to his injury and retired with Essex on 246 for 4, a lead of 307 on a pitch still providing some help for the spinners.

An hour before that, Essex had begun the day with Cox, not out overnight, and Pepper, scoring at six runs an over. Lewis Gregory and Jack Leach were the bowlers who suffered most, Cox the destroyer in chief, the cut and the reverse sweep his main strokes of destruction. As Essex raced along, twice in an over Cox cut Gregory square to the Somerset Stand and twice in an over he reverse swept Leach to the Ondaatje boundary. Two one bounce fours from Pepper off Leach, swept and reverse swept, added to the sense of a rampaging Essex. When Craig Overton replaced Gregory, Cox brought up the fifty partnership from 55 balls with a four driven through extra cover. By the ninth over of the morning, Essex had extended their overnight lead from 224 to 277. An eventual lead of 400 would have surprised no one. Neither did the sudden, if temporary, failure of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard. “Oh dear!” the comment, as the void on the screen reflected Somerset’s plight in the field. With the onslaught seemingly unstoppable, Overton stepped up and applied a brake, largely reducing Essex to singles. The lead though continued to rise, passing 290 with still only four wickets down, and Somerset faces around me looked despairingly at the remaining scoreboard on Gimblett’s Hill.

Then came Cox’s crunching dive. He was 103 not out as he left the field, with Essex 246 for 4, 307 ahead with Somerset firmly on the ropes with no apparent hope of recovery. Enter, almost unnoticed, Migael Pretorius. With the crowd quiet in the face of Somerset’s predicament, the first ball of his second over cut in a shade, Pepper’s bat was left flailing with the ball striking his pad. Essex 252 for 5. Pepper 36. Lead 313. While the relief at a wicket falling at last was still sinking into Somerset minds, Pretorius surprised Noah Thain with some lift, shaved the edge of his bat and James Rew took the catch. Essex 253 for 6. Thain 0. Lead 314. And while the relief at that was jostling with the relief at Pepper’s departure, Pretorius bounced Sam Cook. Cook pulled, the ball lifted sharply off the top edge, described a parabola across the sky, as catches to the deep do, and Andy Umeed, from in front of the Priory Bridge Road boundary, took the catch moving in, adjusting, and then diving forward. Essex 255 for 7, Cook 2, Lead 316, and Pretorius had stopped Essex in their tracks with three wickets for one run in 14 balls.

It left the ground buzzing. Things were changing so quickly, they left the senses desperately trying to catch up. I am not sure, after the dominance of Essex before the departure of Cox, if those of us watching quite appreciated just how quickly the Essex innings was disintegrating before our eyes. Jack Leach may have done, for he charged straight through the Essex confusion. Chandrasekara Rajitha played back and across his pads as he desperately tried to keep Leach out, but the ball struck his pads and even from behind Rajitha and eighty yards away, he looked horribly plumb. Essex 256 for 8. Rajitha 0. Lead 317. There was barely time for the mind to absorb that before Simon Harmer tried to slog sweep Leach without properly getting down and pulled the ball straight to Archie Vaughan, fielding between midwicket and mid-on. Harmer and Jamie Porter, the not out batter, immediately walked off. Cox was not returning. Essex 259 all out, Harmer 4. Porter 0 not out. Somerset had taken five wickets for seven runs and needed 321 to win. A tall order. It would be the highest score of the match by 62 runs, but it brought a frisson of hope compared to what it looked like Essex might have set Somerset when Cox and Pepper were commanding the match less than an hour before.

The niceties of cricket being followed to the letter, Somerset had to face one over before lunch. Umeed trailed out about twenty yards behind Vaughan, looking, as the person next to me said, like a student walking into school on the first morning after the long summer break having had the whole summer to complete his project and having failed to do so. He at least didn’t have to hand it in before lunch because Vaughan saw Somerset through the over with care and without risking a run.

It was different story after lunch when the questions began to be asked in earnest. In the fourth over, with still no runs on the board, Umeed had no answer when Porter angled a ball in close to his off stump. Umeed had to play, jabbed down but edged the ball low to Harmer’s right at second slip, Harmer reached down, took the ball two-handed, rolled and Umeed was walking back to the Caddick Pavilion. Vaughan drove Cook square to the Somerset Stand, but it seemed, needed to be set some homework of his own on the consequences of hooking and pulling against quality bowlers before his eye is in. He pulled Cook, the ball steepled and was caught at mid-on by substitute Shane Snater. Somerset 8 for 2. Vaughan 4, and facing that long walk back to the Caddick Pavilion. With two wickets gone so quickly, 321 now seemed impossibly distant.  

In the next over, from Cook, Tom Lammonby edged the ball a yard short of slip and Tom Abell was beaten twice. More practised students of the first-class game than Umeed and Vaughan though they were, they were under tremendous pressure, especially against three old hands like Cook, Porter and Harmer, but given the time remaining, there was no draw on offer in this match, they refused to be hemmed in. Abell drove Harmer through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road boundary and Lammonby leaned effortlessly into an on drive to the Brian Rose Gates. Looking for runs, they took nine in an over from Porter, both driving him square for four as 30 runs came in the eight overs after the loss of Vaughan. A reverse sweep for two off Harmer from Lammonby brought a shout of, “Hooray!” as the innings gathered pace. Gradually though, the Essex bowlers gained some control and after Lammonby had brought up Somerset’s fifty with a serenely glanced four off Rajitha he was leg before wicket trying to defend against Harmer. Somerset 54 for 3. Lammonby 30. Runs required 267. “It was always going to be a long way from 8 for 2,” said a voice from among the nervous chatter along the stand.

Abell and Tom Banton tried to pick up the pace again. “Hooray!” again for a very quickly run three when Abell pushed Rajitha firmly through midwicket. Abell cut Rajitha past the slips and Banton swept Harmer, both for four, Somerset continuing to attack Essex head on. But this was classic Championship toe-to-toe cricket and Harmer went through Abell’s defence, bowling him. Somerset 71 for 4. Abell 29. Runs required 250. Banton, still attacking, reverse swept Harmer for four but was then caught at slip by Dean Elgar trying to repeat the stroke off the next ball. Somerset 78 for 5. Banton 13. Runs required 243. James Rew and Lewis Gregory, now batting with circumspection, steered Somerset to tea on  91 for 5 with another 230 still needed. Meandering in the tea interval, there being no access under the Lord Ian Botham Stand for me to complete a circumnavigation after the problems of the second day, I found no one who thought reaching 321 to be anything other than an academic prospect.

Somerset had tried to tackle the target head on, but they were now slipping into the abyss with only Rew and Gregory as, what used to be called, recognised batters remaining. Even that designation could be challenged, for both were all rounders, Rew a wicketkeeper batter and Gregory a front line bowler. However, Rew came into this match with a 2025 Championship batting average of over 50 and Gregory with one of over 40. That may have brought hope for those who like to cling on to it, but for everyone I spoke to, there was a sense of resignation. There was even talk of relegation, one or two saw it almost as a certainty after what would be Somerset’s third defeat in five matches with never a win in sight.

After tea, from beyond the boundary, any watcher could have been forgiven for concluding that Rew and Gregory had omitted to look at the scoreboard, or what had gone before, for they scored at one run short of six runs an over for the next ten overs. It may have looked carefree, but in reality, the polar opposite was almost certainly the case. Their concentration looked intense, the tactics they employed looked designed to turn the pressure onto Essex. Porter, veteran of two Essex Championships, bowled the first over after tea from the Trescothick Pavilion End. Rew came forward to the last two balls and drove them through the covers to the Ondaatje boundary, the second taking Somerset to 100 for 5. Gregory attempted to do the same to Harmer but edged the ball wide of the slips for four. “Lucky boy,” the comment. But in the circumstances Somerset were in, luck has its place. Harmer stood rock still at the end of his follow through staring down the pitch. Perhaps he was contemplating his ill luck, perhaps the look on his face said to Gregory, “Lucky boy.”

When Rew drove Harmer through extra cover twice in two balls, both to the Garner Gates, the total reached 121 for 5, and 200 were needed. The score was moving so quickly that the applause grew with it. There was longer applause when Porter bowled wide of the leg stump, the ball beat Pepper, ran for four byes and registered the fifty partnership. Four more leg side byes off Harmer brought the comment, “That’ll do,” said with just a seed of optimism. A sweep square for four from Gregory brought, “Shot!”. A reverse sweep into the ground that ricocheted off the slip fielder before running for four brought “Hooray!” for the occasional rub of the green was now going Somerset’s way and the runs required were down to 177. A long way still to go, but it looked a lot better to the Somerset supporter than 243 had done at 78 for 5.

A brief easing in the scoring rate followed, perhaps like all workers batters benefit from a short break, before Gregory and Rew began moving again. Twelve in an over from Rajitha, a very fast run two from Gregory brought a shout of, “Hooray!” and re-established the momentum. a clip through midwicket ran past the dugouts and into the Caddick Pavilion door, an on drive for four to the covers store brought up Gregory’s fifty from 80 balls, and a two driven through cover towards the Somerset Stand completed Gregory’s dozen from the over. It also took Somerset to 173 for 5 and the runs required below 150. That had a few Somerset supporters looking at the long since restored Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard and at each other. “Could they? Could Somerset do this?” the unspoken question. Unspoken because no one wanted to be the person who spooked the partnership.

When Rajitha began his next over, Gregory, now in full flow, cut him through backward point to the Garner Gates boundary for four and another milestone, the hundred partnership for Gregory and Rew. Then, three balls later, the slowly inflating balloon of Somerset hope burst. Gregory cut hard and chopped the ball onto his stumps. The rub of the green had turned and Rajitha could not hide the relief in his celebration. If ever Essex had needed a wicket, it was that one. In the crowd, the reaction was a mixture of gasps and silence. After the despond of the tea interval, the hope had been rising, the anticipation growing, the dream forming. Now, with Somerset 179 for 6, still 142 short of their target, and just four wickets standing, reality set in. Anything was possible, but the reality was that defeat was staring Somerset in the face again. That didn’t stop Gregory receiving a tremendous ovation. “We might have lost this,” someone said, “but what matters, is the fight a side shows, and that partnership showed tremendous fight.”

When Craig Overton emerged from the Caddick Pavilion an hour remained until the close. With only four wickets remaining, a finish in three days was entering into the conversation. When Overton played and missed twice in two overs from Rajitha, and Harmer turned a ball past Rew’s defensive bat, the prospect did not look unrealistic. But gradually, Rew and Overton gathered themselves. Defensive strokes became solid, Overton pushing front leg and bat as far down the pitch as he could stretch in that ‘they shall not pass’ mode of his. Against Harmer, Rew pushed square for a single and Overton guided another past the slips with an open face. Against Rajitha, Overton drove square for another single and Rew pushed another through cover, but they could not lift the scoring rate beyond that. “Come on Somerset,” someone shouted. Essex briefly replaced Harmer at the River End with Matthew Critchley’s leg spin. He beat Overton, and the keeper, and the ball hit the helmets behind the keeper. Five runs. The rub of the green perhaps turning again.

But, luck or not, Somerset were bogged down. Apart from the five runs for striking the helmets, they had only scored ten runs in eight overs, all but two in singles. Then Rew picked up the tempo and began to find the boundary again. A reverse sweep off Critchley ran to Gimblett’s Hill for four. “Yes!” the shout. Cheers and another shout of, “Hooray!” followed when Rew opened the face to Cook and sent the ball to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary, and then followed it by leaning into an on drive to the Brian Rose Gates That took the score to 207 for 6 with the runs required falling quickly again, now down to 114. When Rew hooked Cook to fine leg for a single and Overton kept out the last ball of the over someone shouted, “Well done Craig!” When, with the close of play in sight, Rew played out an intensely defensive maiden to Critchley, someone shouted with feeling, “Well done Rewie.”

The final four overs stretched the nerve ends, for if Rew and Overton could survive, there might just be a chance for Somerset on the final morning. When Overton played out a Harmer over with no attempt to do anything other than survive, that long front leg coming remorselessly down the pitch as if it were the personification of Overton’s will to win was beginning to imprint itself on the mind. “Craig O!” the shout. “It’s coming,” the shout from an Essex fielder in Cook’s next over, but Rew pushed Somerset on when he hooked the next ball towards the Garner Gates for two.

In the final over of the day, Rew edged Harmer short of and past slip. Overton set off for a run, Rew sent him back, but Overton was halfway up the pitch. The ball was fielded at fly slip and thrown at the stumps at Overton’s end. With Overton well short of his ground the ball flew wide of the stumps, Harmer couldn’t reach it, mid-off dived but it evaded him too and Somerset had four overthrows. The crowd’s gasps turned to laughter and Harmer was on his knees looking on in disbelief. The rub of the green hurts when it doesn’t rub your way. Those final few overs left a striking pair of images in the mind. Overton’s endlessly reaching front leg. Harmer on his knees. If you believed in omens, the juxtaposition of those two images might have meant something. If not, the reality of Rew and Overton having to start again in the morning against fresh Essex bowlers with a new ball due in 12 overs and still 105 runs needed told a different tale.

Close. Essex 206 and 259 (J.M. Cox 103 ret hurt, M. Pretorius 3-36, M.J. Leach 3-73). Somerset 145 and 216 for 6. Somerset need 105 runs to win with four wickets standing.