County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 29^th, 30^th June, 1st and 2^nd July. Taunton.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection for personal reasons.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, , S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, I.P Kishan (w), L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, B.A. Hutton, F. Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day – Somerset battle

This was a key match in Somerset’s push for contention in the 2025 County Championship. After a disastrous, in cricketing terms, start to the season, which found them bottom of the Championship after four of the season’s 14 matches, they had achieved a near-miraculous turnaround when they defeated Essex from an apparently hopeless position in the fifth match. That led to three victories in succession and a climb to fifth place in the table. Then, at Edgbaston, they encountered the Kookaburra ball, notoriously resistant to wicket taking in English conditions, and a pitch which looked like it might last an eternity. Getting the better of the draw against Warwickshire, they moved above them in the table to end the match in fourth place, 21 points behind the leaders, Nottinghamshire. The outcome of their two matches against Nottinghamshire, this one, and another at Trent Bridge at the end of July, would be crucial if Somerset were to close the gap on the leaders, and on Surrey, two points behind Nottinghamshire in second place. At Taunton, in this the second of Somerset’s four Kookaburra matches in 2025, there was a bumper crowd, 3,000 at least, perhaps more. The ECB had designated this round of matches a red ball festival and Somerset had offered each member two free tickets.

Somerset won the toss and elected to bat in overcast, humid conditions. Within the hour they were 46 for 3 as Nottinghamshire made good use of the conditions in the few overs in which a Kookaburra retains its hardness. Sean Dickson, dropped after a tough start to the Championship season, was back at the top of the order, replacing Josh Davey after his not unsuccessful promotion to the role. Dickson fell to his fourth ball, leg before wicket to Brett Hutton, Nottinghamshire’s ever-reliable pace bowler, with the ball destined for middle stump. Somerset 10 for 1. Dickson 0. By the end of the eighth over, Tom Lammonby had followed Dickson back to the Caddick Pavilion, caught behind off Mohammad Abbas defending. “That did something strange,” someone said, without offering any further explanation. A replay suggested it seamed away with Lammonby playing down the original line. Somerset 22 for 2. Lammonby 2. The wicket left an anxious murmur rumbling around the lower level of the Trescothick Pavilion where I and a non-member had taken up residence for the day. Although only a little closer to the action than my normal seat, at least in terms of the number of rows from the boundary, the play seemed almost close enough to touch in comparison with the view from the back of the elevated section.

While Dickson and Lammonby had failed to make headway, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, opening alongside Dickson, had begun to unfurl his shots. When he drove Abbas through mid-off to Gimblett’s Hill for four for the second boundary of the innings, someone commented, “It’s clearly swinging or seaming. Batter was coming down the wicket. Now the keeper is up.” Neither the conditions nor the keeper coming up to the stumps stopped Kohler-Cadmore from playing his normal free-flowing game. Four more boundaries followed, two off each of Nottinghamshire’s opening bowlers, all driven through an arc from point to mid-on. The most striking, off Hutton, flew like a rocket off the back foot through extra cover to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. It was a scintillating start to his innings. The innings ended though with a whimper as he played straight in defence to Abbas and edged an apparently straight ball to Ishan Kishan behind the stumps. Somerset 46 for 3 in the 15^th over. Kohler-Cadmore 31. Whatever the reason for batting first in overcast, humid conditions, Somerset, against a determined, disciplined attack now had a battle on their hands.

The hour before lunch was calmer and the Somerset batters gained some equilibrium, scoring at three and over with Rew turning the scoreboard over while Tom Abell secured the other end. While Rew scored 36 in the hour, Abell ground out 15. Rew had some luck. Twice in an over he edged Lyndon James through the slips, the first falling short, the second flying between second and fourth slip with no third in place, perhaps asking a question of the often-used modern practice of spreading the slips. Most of Rew’s strokes though were off the middle. A square drive off Lyndon James was a classic, crossing the Priory Bridge Road boundary to cheers. Liam Patterson-White, with his slow left arm spin was on early and Rew swept him hard through backward square leg to the Ondaatje boundary to a cry of, “Good shot.” He followed it up two balls later with a reverse sweep for another four, this time to Gimblett’s Hill. In total, Rew found the boundary seven times before lunch while Abell never scored more than two from a single stroke, highlighting the accuracy of the Nottinghamshire bowling. He did though do that four times, highlighting the precision of his placement. Perhaps the pick was the fourth, two balls before the interval. An on drive off Farhan Ahmed, Nottinghamshire’s 17-year-old off spinner, was leaned into so neatly and played so smoothly it brought the comment from a Nottinghamshire supporter, “That was a nice shot. The way he leaned into that.” Those two runs took Somerset to lunch on 100 for 3. It was not so healthy a score as they might have hoped for when they won the toss, but one with which they would doubtless have been happy at 46 for 3.

If Somerset supporters had hoped that 100 for 3 would prove to be a base from which their team might press on, the afternoon was to disappoint. There was no sudden collapse, but the rate of scoring slowed as the Nottinghamshire bowlers bowled with the discipline of a team heading the Championship. There was no let up as they held Somerset to 85 hard-won runs from 33 overs and, more worryingly for the home supporters, took two more wickets. Abell and Rew began well enough after lunch, Abell opening the face to Abbas and steering him for four through backward point to the Somerset Stand. A straight drive to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary off Hutton followed and brought loud applause. When Rew leaned into an on drive off Hutton which ran through deep midwicket to the Somerset Stand, someone purred, “Lovely shot.” When he turned Patterson-White, bowling from the River End, square towards the Caddick Pavilion for a single loud applause broke out for his fifty, scored from 86 balls. An edge or two apart, it had been a typically classy innings from Rew and Somerset had edged forward to 123 for 3.

While Rew found the boundary, a noticeable aspect of Abell’s innings continued to be the precision of his placement and the control in his stroke play. Repeatedly after lunch he played the ball in the general direction of the mid-on fielder at a pace sufficiently in check for him to skip down the wicket for a single, although a neat cut, wide of the slips off Patterson-White, pierced the field for a rare boundary to a shout of, “Shot!” Then, breaking the focus on the cricket, someone said, “Look at that!” pointing to the sky beyond the Caddick Pavilion. There, hundreds of seagulls were circling like fast, high-flying vultures. “Flying ants day,” someone said. “Seagulls take them in flight and get drunk on them.” Seagulls getting drunk on flying ants seemed a little far-fetched, but an online check revealed that if they eat large numbers they consume so much formic acid that it has a similar effect on them to excessive quantities of alcohol on humans, if for a shorter period. Or perhaps they were vultures after all, for while they frantically circled, Rew attempted to drive James hard and straight to the Trescothick Pavilion, miscued, and James took the return catch. Somerset were 145 for 4, still some way short of where they would want to have been before the fourth wicket fell. Rew 58.

Now, Abell began to take a more positive hand. James was smoothly driven off the back foot through the covers to the Somerset Stand and then glanced fine to the Lord Ian Botham Stand, those with memories of his propensity to edge the glance to the keeper catching their breath. He followed that with a steer through the empty gully towards the Hildreth Stand for a single, registering his fifty from 126 balls, itself an indication of the care and restraint with which he had played during his partnership with Rew. Tom Banton, who had joined Abell on the departure of Rew, was almost immediately dropped at slip off James, the ball going straight through the waiting hands of the slip fielder making Somerset’s position seem even more precarious than 145 for 4 suggested.

With the drop, the Somerset scoring rate fell again, 15 runs coming from the next eight overs, eight of those from a boundary each from Abell and Banton. By now the seagulls had had their fill of ants on the wing and were landing on the outfield one after another, their wings being used as air brakes as they floated down, their webbed feet stretching out beneath them as they neared the ground like an aircraft approaching the runway at Heathrow with its undercarriage down. There were soon, by my estimate, upward of 200 covering the playing area. Abell’s four, swept fine to Gimblett’s Hill caused one large group to take flight and deposit themselves on the outfield to the front of the covers store. As Somerset gathered runs, mostly one by one, the seagulls gathered, one by one, what I assume were laggard ants in the grass yet to spread their wings.

With Abell and Banton three overs from the safety of tea, Abell played the glance again, this time against Patterson-White but the touch was so fine the ball was caught by Kishan behind the stumps. Somerset 179 for 5. Abell 64 from 166 balls in eight minutes under three hours. “Why does he play the glance?” the question. “It looked like a bad ball,” the answer. Archie Vaughan replaced Abell, and after an over or two assessing the bowling swept the last ball before tea, from Patterson-White, fine to Gimblett’s Hill for four. It was one of those fours which keeps the chasing fielder interested all the way to the boundary and then crosses the line just as he is about to reach for it. Somerset 185 for 5. It had been a tough battle ever since the start, and it felt like Nottinghamshire were winning it, particularly if the reputation of the Kookaburra for potentially producing mammoth totals held to form. Teatime supporter estimates of where Somerset would need to be at the end of their innings ranged from 350 to 450 with some even wanting 500. Somerset still had a very long way to go.

Somerset began after tea with a trio of the most classically struck of boundaries. Banton glanced the first ball after the interval with the most delicate of touches, the ball running unhindered to the Trescothick Pavilion. For his part, Archie Vaughan, replacing Abell, stepped back and drove Hutton through the covers to the Somerset Stand with the minimum of effort and the lightest of touches, scattering a phalanx of seagulls which had taken up station in front of the stand. Next, Vaughan drove Hutton through midwicket to the Ondaatje Stand with a little more force but with as much style. The stroke took Somerset past 200, and brought some hope that they might now work towards a competitive score.

Banton and Vaughan now took the score forward, maintaining the three runs an over scoring rate Somerset had progressed at throughout the day, exercising intense care and playing within themselves. The main fare was singles, pushed and steered with smoothly played strokes as they had been all day except when Kohler-Cadmore targeted the boundary in his brief innings. As in the rest of the day, among the singles there was a periodic boundary to make the spectator sit up and take note and to move the score on. Against James, Vaughan unleashed the smoothest of on drives which ran along the ground to cross the boundary in front of my seat at the covers store end of the Trescothick Pavilion. Four overs later there was another drive, just as striking in its execution, this time to the off, again along the ground. This time it ran to the Gimblett’s Hill boundary with its dedicated band of Somerset supporters who have been sitting in that part of the ground for decades and hope for the Championship still. They will not have seen many off drives better than that one. When it crossed the rope, it registered the fifty partnership from 86 balls.

Banton was not to be left out. Four overs later, he found the boundary twice off successive balls against Ahmed, who had replaced James at the Trescothick Pavilion End, bringing spin into the attack from both ends. The first was a reverse sweep, square to the Somerset Stand. The next, a lofted drive over straight midwicket to the covers store boundary. But, with Somerset beginning to make progress at 250 for 5, Vaughan opened the face to Abbas, bowling with the new ball, and edged it to Jack Haynes at fourth slip, there being no third, this time the spread slips paying off. Vaughan 35. Somerset’s 250 for 6 was a recovery from 46 for 3, and a hard-fought recovery at that, with Rew, Abell and Banton all batting with restraint and determination but, in the context of the Kookaburra ball, it still seemed some way short of where Somerset needed to be.

With Kasey Aldridge playing in his first Championship match for some time, he and Banton took Somerset to the close at two runs an over. Banton did find the boundary twice, once with a perfectly played late cut steering the ball along the ground, past the slips and across the Hildreth Stand rope. The stroke which took Banton to his fifty was less well controlled, coming from a thick edge off Hutton which ran past the slips for two. His second four though was stunning, bringing gasps as it was driven through extra cover to the Brian Rose Gates boundary. From there, Somerset picked their way to the close still six wickets down, but with much work to do if they were to be confident they had a competitive score against the Championship leaders.  

Close. Somerset 275 for 6.