County Championship 2025. Division 1. Warwickshire v Somerset. 22^nd, 23^rd, 24^th and 25th^th June. Edgbaston.

This match, and all others in this round was played with the Kookaburra ball.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection due to being on paternity leave. Craig Overton captained the side.

Warwickshire. A.L. Davies (c), R.M. Yates, T.W.M. Latham, S.R. Hain, J.G. Bethell, E.G. Barnard, K. Smith (w), E.R. Bamber, C.J. Rocchiccioli, C.B. Simmons, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

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

Overnight. Somerset 498 and 116 for 3. Warwickshire 351. Somerset lead by 263 runs with seven second innings wickets standing.

Final day – A match fading away

That there were only about 250 seasoned Championship watchers in the ground as the players and umpires walked to the middle at eleven o’clock probably told the story of expectations for the day. Played on a pitch from which one of the defibrillators located around the ground would have obtained no response, the Kookaburra ball was perfectly at home. The first prediction of a draw had been made by a Somerset supporter at lunch on the first day. The impression created as the match went on was that a batter with any degree of obduracy in his play might safely use his innings as collateral for a mortgage so secure did he look at the crease. Should he launch an attack, the house might come tumbling down if the number of wickets which had fallen to attacking strokes was any indicator.

Somerset’s first innings 498 at three and three quarter runs an over had shown that controlled enterprise might bring results, although Tom Lammonby’s and Tom Abell’s attempts to accelerate towards a fifth bonus point had seen them both depart for the Pavilion. Warwickshire’s first innings of 351 at just under three runs an over spread over nearly seven hours had shown that obduracy could nullify any gain resulting from that enterprise. It might act as a mild sedative for some of those watching too. At least one of the dozen or so spectators watching from the Hollies Stand during Warwickshire’s grinding first innings was seen to be reading a book, perhaps trying to stay awake. When, on the final morning, the match required some urgency from Somerset, the pitch and the Kookaburra ball came into their own, with a little help from Corey Rocchiccioli. On the previous evening, Somerset had reached 116 for 3 at just over four an over. A lead of 263. To give themselves even the remotest chance of forcing a win, they probably needed to score at five an over for 20 or so overs on the final morning. They managed only four with even that amount of enterprise costing five wickets.

That left Warwickshire a nominal 377 to win in 69 overs, or 5.5 runs an over. Somerset began well enough. With the fourth ball of the first over, Matt Henry went through Alex Davies’ defence and struck him on the pad. The appeal was almost perfunctory, so certain did Henry seem and so quickly did the umpire raise his finger. Warwickshire 1 for 1. Davies 0. Jack Leach, Somerset with all-out attack in mind, had opened the bowling from the Pavilion End. With the first ball of his third over, he turned the ball barely a fraction from outside off and bowled Rob Yates through the proverbial gate, possibly with a little help from the inside edge. Yates can only have been bowled by the depth of the varnish on a bail, for from beyond the boundary the stumps still looked erect and unmoved, and only one bail had fallen. Warwickshire 16 for 2. Yates 13. Remaining target 361 in 64 overs, and already the required rate had risen to 5.7 runs an over. There was a tense quiet in the ground now. Could Somerset do it? On this pitch? With this ball? With no appreciable movement? Against determined Warwickshire resistance? There was a sprig of hope for a while, but the fall of Yates proved to be the high watermark of Somerset’s day. For the nearly two hours between 16 for 2 and tea, the bowlers toiled, the field encouraged, but Tom Latham and Sam Hain kept them all at bay at three runs an over. Not a steady three runs, there were flurries of runs, periods of stagnation, and two late wickets, but in the end, the game faded away.

For a period after lunch it looked as if Warwickshire might be at least scoping out the possibility of a victory charge. After the fall of the second wicket, against Henry, Leach and Overton, the fours began to flow, Hain sweeping Leach fine to the Barnes Stand boundary and Latham reverse sweeping him to the Wyatt Stand. Latham guided Henry fine, either side of the wicket, to the Pavilion, and then Hain took 12 from an over from Leach. A four was swept to fine leg, two came from a pull to deep midwicket in front of the Hollies Stand and a six was hit straight to the Pavilion. But for all the aggression, the required run rate rose to 5.9 an over. While Warwickshire were progressing, Overton, shuffling his bowlers, looking for an opening, had replaced Henry at the Pavilion End with himself and then given way after two overs to Vaughan.

For five more overs Warwickshire pushed but only managed to find the boundary three times, Latham twice driving Leach through the covers to the Raglan Stand and Hain driving Vaughan through mid-on to the Wyatt Stand. By the end of those five overs, the required run rate had risen to 6.1 and the remaining target was still a distant 306. It was too much. With still nearly an hour to tea, Warwickshire resorted to determined defence. And then, a sure sign that Somerset were searching for a card to play, Tom Lammonby replaced Leach. Lammonby, left arm but no more than medium pace, had not been a wicket taker in the Championship. He would perhaps, in the old days, have been called a stock bowler, able to bowl reasonably tightly and ready to fill a gap when there seems little prospect of the front-line bowlers breaking through. He and another brief foray from Leach and Pretorius took Somerset to tea with Warwickshire on 100 for 2 from 34 overs and a nominal 7.9 runs an over for Warwickshire, or eight wickets for Somerset, needed.

The match was as good as dead, if indeed it had realistically ever had life. It didn’t stop Overton from making one final effort to break the back of the Warwickshire batting after tea. He ran in with all the fire he had shown in those glorious spells on the third day. His endeavour did bring some reward. In the fifth over of the evening session he bowled a full, slower ball to Latham, who had just reached fifty from 93 balls, and Latham popped it straight back to him. Overton took the offering halfway through his follow-through and let forth a shriek of triumph which might have been heard in Taunton. Warwickshire 114 for 3. Latham 52. Thirty overs remaining.

When Jacob Bethell joined Hain, they struck a boundary apiece, but there was nothing for Warwickshire to do but ensure they kept their wickets intact and occasionally push a single here or there. Somerset tried. Abell could be heard repeatedly shouting encouragement in the field. Pretorius let forth a colossal appeal for leg before wicket against Bethell, but the umpire was unmoved. Then Bethell attempted to pull Pretorius, got a top edge and the ball steepled while Abell ran in from square leg to take the catch. Warwickshire 131 for 4. Bethell 12. “One more! One more!” someone in the field shouted and the ground became quiet again. Still Overton tried. Hain glanced him between Rew and the fielder waiting at leg gully. The ball ran to the Pavilion boundary for four. Overton put his hands to his head. A leg slip might have swallowed it.

It was as if that ball evading both keeper and leg gully, and Overton’s head in his hands, had brought the reality of the situation home. There would be no result. The sense of tension that had followed the fall of Latham and Bethell evaporated. Then, suddenly, the official final hour was upon us. Leach and Henry tried for another three overs. Leach even found the edge of Hain’s bat, but the ball flew through slip, bounced short of the fielder and ran away for a pointless single. At the end of the third over even Overton had to give best to the pitch and the ball, the players shook hands and Nottinghamshire and Surrey moved further away. Across the match, Somerset had batted at four runs an over, Warwickshire at under three; Somerset had scored 727 runs for the loss of 18 wickets, Warwickshire 512 runs for the loss of 14. In the end though, a flat pitch and a lifeless ball won out and the match faded away.

Result. Somerset 498 (T.A. Lammonby 133, T. Kohler-Cadmore 104, J.H. Davey 64, R.M. Yates 3-74) and 229 for 8 (J.E.K. Rew 61, T.B. Abell 42, C.J. Rocchiccioli 5-67). Warwickshire 351 (A.L. Davies 78, S.R. Hain 78, T.W.M. Latham 65, C. Overton 4-61) and 161 for 4 (S.R. Hain 68*, T.W.M. Latham 52). Match drawn. Somerset 14 points. Warwickshire 11 points.