County Championship 2025. Division 1. Essex v Somerset ire 24^th, 25^th, 26^th and 27^th September. Chelmsford.

Tom Abell was unavailable for selection under the ECB concussion regulations, Alfie Ogborne due to a back injury and J.T. Langridge due to a side injury. 

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, J.F. Thomas, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T. Kohler-Cadmore, L.P. Goldsworthy, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, L. Gregory (c), M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball..

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, T. Westley (c), C.W,J. Allison, M.J.J. Critchley, M.S. Pepper (w), N.R.M. Thain, S.R. Harmer, D.A.J. Bracewell, C.E. Bennett, J.A. Porter. 

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day – Even stevens

“You are one down,” said the gate steward when he saw my Somerset hat. “Jamie Porter removed Archie Vaughan.” That was the bad news. But then there was better. “Thomas is going very well. You won the toss. We need a draw so this should be a good batting pitch. Good toss to win.” When, bag searched, I entered the ground, Josh Thomas was indeed going well. By the time I reached my seat in the Felsted Stand opposite the Pavilion and square of the crease at the Graham Gooch End, historically the Hayes Close End, Somerset were 47 for 1 at the end of the 12^th over. Thomas 33 from 37 balls. Tom Lammonby, who had replaced Archie Vaughan, 6. Two more fours from Thomas quickly followed, driven through the covers in the 13^th over off 19-year-old Charlie Bennett’s right-arm fast medium, Bennett bowling in his second first-class match. Vaughan had been out driving, caught knee-high, one-handed, to his left by Paul Walter fielding at the third slip of four with the score on 20. Vaughan 8.

Arriving a dozen overs into the game requires some explanation which is provided by the differential cost of identical hotels in different locations. Unexpectedly pricey in Chelmsford. Unexpectedly cheap 20 miles away, sea view included. However, booking six months in advance cannot take into account an on-the-day accident which blocks your bus route. By the time I arrived, above a thousand people had found their seats within the tight confines of the Chelmsford ground. Before the start, they had stood as one and applauded for one minute in celebration of the life of Dickie Bird whose death had been announced the previous day. The Somerset and Essex flags flew at half-mast throughout the day and the players wore black arm bands in a more traditional form of remembrance.

Lammonby, taking less of the strike than Thomas, was also the more constrained of the two, scoring just six runs from the next dozen overs. Thomas, who had been progressing at nearly a run a ball when I sat down, took 28 from those 12 overs. He reached his fifty with a neat guide for four past the slips off Noah Thain, bowling from the Sir Alistair Cook End, historically Chelmsford’s River End. Before that, Thomas had pulled Bennett over the Pavilion, midwicket, boundary for six with a smoothly struck, firm-footed pull. With a fifty in his first full first-class match, he had replaced Tom Abell as a concussion substitute in the previous match but not batted, Thomas lost no time in finding the boundary again with a four pulled behind square off Thain to the Felsted Stand boundary. It had been a strikingly accomplished performance for what was, effectively, his first-class debut.

Not everything went the batters’ way as the two sides tussled for supremacy. Thomas played and missed several times and was badly dropped off Thain, the ball striking Dean Elgar at second slip square in the midriff before dropping to the ground and provoking groans in the Felsted Stand. It was not even clear that Elgar had got a hand to the ball. Fortune favouring the brave perhaps. With the score now 74 for 1, Thomas 55 from 55 balls and Lammonby 11 from 30, Somerset eased back, or the Essex seam bowlers, Thain, Bennett and Doug Bracewell, 28 Test matches for New Zealand, pegged them back. There was a dismissive off drive for four from Thomas off Thain, an edge between slip and gully for four from Lammonby off Bracewell and, three balls before lunch, a perfectly timed extra cover drive to the Tom Pearce Stand boundary from Lammonby in the second of Simon Harmer’s pre-lunch pair of overs. But, those boundaries apart, for the three-quarters of an hour or so before lunch, the runs came mainly in singles with the bowlers still occasionally beating the bat, and one ball from Bracewell lifting on Lammonby, forcing him to fend it off. After the early loss of Vaughan, Somerset would probably have settled for the lunch score of 111 for 1.

The number of travelling Somerset supporters at this match was probably the lowest for any match of the 2025 season, perhaps for some years. It was late in the year, past the equinox, as by 2025 had become normal for the final Championship match of the season, Essex is a long way from Somerset, and perhaps most important of all, nothing of note rested on the match for Somerset. Whatever the outcome at Chelmsford and elsewhere, they would finish third or fourth in the Championship. Of those who had travelled, and to whom I spoke during my ambling lunchtime circumnavigation, all were in relaxed mood.

As to the state of the match, “Even stevens,” was the most succinct comment I heard from a Somerset supporter. A little harsh on Somerset perhaps, but taking into account the observations of the steward at the gate about the pitch, perhaps it was a fair one. Essex supporters whom I overheard were less sanguine about proceedings. Essex began the match with, in any detached assessment, no more than a mathematical chance of being relegated. But cricket supporters are not detached assessors when it comes to thinking about the prospects of their team. One worried discussion I overheard went along the lines of, “If Durham and Yorkshire have a high scoring draw, and Hampshire beat Surrey, and Sussex beat Worcestershire, and we lose here, we could be in trouble.” Oh, how the ifs and buts of cricket eat away at the hardened supporter.

As is the way of things, the teams were ready to begin the afternoon session before I was. As I wandered towards my seat, Porter, bowling from the Graham Gooch End, began against Thomas. four leg byes and a four played through backward point with an angled bat, perhaps with a hint of edge, the immediate result. As Somerset continued to press, the century partnership followed at exactly a run a minute from 153 balls with a drive through cover from Lammonby off Thain. “One coming here boys,” the oft-used cry when a fielding side is struggling, shouted an Essex fielder. Then, no sooner had I taken my seat than Thomas’s scoring slowed considerably while Lammonby carried on, apparently untroubled, with that meticulously defensive form of his own game which seems oblivious to all that goes on around him.

Somerset’s nearly four runs an over of the morning were reduced to three. Throughout it all, Porter had bowled with discipline and accuracy, smothering runs throughout. With Somerset on 135 for 1 from 38 overs, an overall rate of 3.6 runs an over, he had analysis of 11-4-19-1. Perhaps that Essex fielder had sensed something rather than just shouting out to keep his team’s spirits up, for having just been glanced for successive fours by Thomas, Thain bowled him through the gate to a huge cheer. Thomas had driven well around a ball angled in from over the wicket, the ball perhaps cutting in a shade more. Somerset 141 for 2. Thomas 86.

It would have been difficult now to argue with an assessment of even stevens given the pitch was giving no indication of demons and the late September atmospheric conditions which had troubled the batters at the start had drawn in their teeth. The batters too continued to draw in their teeth. The boundaries which had flowed across much of the morning continued to dry up, just one coming in the nine overs after the fall of Thomas, a back foot cover drive off Bennett from James Rew. Rew did play forcing shots virtually from his arrival but they mainly went straight to fielders. It was good, hard Championship cricket, both sides pushing, both sides resisting. Most of Somerset’s runs were coming in singles, many through the batters exploiting the lack of a square leg fielder, the result of virtually permanent fielders at deep square and long leg and the genius of whoever settled the size of a cricket team at eleven. However good the captain and the bowling, the fielding side is always a player short of being able to adequately cover all the gaps.

Then, Essex edged ahead. Lammonby tried to exploit the square leg gap for the second time in an over with as unhurried an attempt to turn the ball to leg as you will see. He was late on the stroke, the ball, from Bennett, angled in from around the wicket, pitched on middle and struck the pads squarely in front of the stumps. Somerset 167 for 3. Lammonby 47 from 129 balls in three minutes under three hours. Only 47 runs from three hours work, but Lammonby had provided the anchor around which Thomas had played and Rew, 18 not out, was developing his innings. Now, Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined Rew, and the tensing up of the Somerset mind as he starts an innings began, for he is inclined to attack from the outset without playing himself in. True to character, his second ball, from Bracewell, was driven straight for four. His seventh, also from Bracewell, was driven for two through straight midwicket before he walked two or three yards up the pitch to defend his eighth. The ball was edged straight to Simon Fernandes, substitute wicket keeper, replacing Michael Pepper who had not re-emerged after lunch having incurred a thumb injury. Somerset 184 for 4. Kohler-Cadmore 6. The chatter picked up replacing the slight air of Essex tension that had preceded the two wickets.

They edged no further ahead in the remaining 11 overs to tea as Somerset pushed back. The final eight of those overs came from Harmer, bowling his off spin from his favoured Sir Alistair Cook End, and Matthew Critchley’s leg spin bowled from the Graham Gooch End. Neither troubled Rew or Lewis Goldsworthy, the new batter, a Goldsworthy inside edge off Harmer apart which just evaded the short leg fielder to a sharp intake of breath from Essex supporters. And relief from this Somerset supporter, for a fifth wicket then would have given Essex a clear advantage. There were just two boundaries in those 11 overs including a thumping extra cover drive by Rew off Critchley which crashed into the Felsted Stand boards. Otherwise, there was careful batting, some run stealing, as Francis Thompson had it in his poem At Lord’s, mostly singles, although three twos passed the infield, two driven through the off side by Rew. A curiosity in the penultimate over before tea was Goldsworthy quietly driving five balls in succession straight to the short cover fielder before simply defending the last. At tea, Somerset were 211 for 4.

With play about to resume after tea, a gloomy Essex supporter reported that Hampshire, one of the teams which could overhaul Essex, had bowled Surrey out for 147. Essex were still some way from serious risk of relegation, and we were only at tea on the first day in all the matches, but if it is your team in the frame, any risk stirs anxiety. What followed cannot have helped. Rew and Goldsworthy attacked, turning the pressure back on Essex. They began slowly, finding their bearings, before Goldsworthy struck Thain for five fours in three overs, a neat angled-bat push past the slips, an on drive, two extra cover drives and a glance, all firmly off the middle. It woke up the evening session in time for Rew to drive Critchley through mid-off for four to register the fifty partnership from 106 balls. It was not the fastest of fifty partnerships despite the rush of runs after tea, but when Rew pushed Critchley to straight mid-off for a single and went to his own fifty from 89 balls it took Somerset to 244 for 4 and the match, it felt, was back to even stevens.

When, in successive overs, Rew drove Critchley waspishly through the covers, the ball running along the ground towards my seat in the Felsted Stand, reverse swept him to the boundary in front of the main scoreboard followed by a single calmly pushed into the covers, an Essex supporter behind me said, “We need a wicket.” “Or two,” the reply. Three balls later, Rew drove through the covers off the back foot, deep cover bent to stop the ball but it went through his hands for four taking the score to 268 for 4 and the door seemed to be opening to a significant score for Somerset.

Until the new ball that was, the return of Porter and Bracewell, and the next Essex push. Within seven overs, Somerset had lost two wickets. Bracewell angled a ball across Rew from over the wicket, it cut away a trace and Rew edged it to the still substituting keeper, Fernandes. Somerset 274 for 5. Rew 74. “New ball done the trick,” from behind. Five overs later, Kasey Aldridge, in his final match for Somerset before his departure to Durham, attempted to drive the ever-threatening Porter through mid-off and edged him low, again to Fernandes. Somerset 281 for 6. Aldridge 5. Craig Overton to the wicket. The man who had earlier wanted two said, “Get another one.” “It’s doing a bit out there,” the text from the online watcher with Somerset under pressure again.

Doing a bit or not, Goldsworthy and Overton launched another Somerset counterattack. In the remaining nine overs and four balls to the close, they added 58 runs. Goldsworthy began with a neat late cut for two and a striking straight drive for four off Bracewell. Overton glanced Porter for four and then drove Thain through point to the Pavilion boundary. Goldsworthy, continuing to provide the solid core of the innings begun by Lammonby, went to fifty from 120 balls with one of those safe thick edges which populates any innings of length. It took Somerset to 313 for 6 with three overs remaining. Even with the close of play bearing down, Overton did not let up. He continued to counterattack with three fours in a Bennett over, two of them driven through the covers in the manner of a top order batter. As the Somerset score sped along, Goldsworthy registered the fifty partnership from 48 balls, turning Thain off his toes and bisecting the converging deep square and long leg fielders. Overton, attacking to the end, finished the scoring for the day with another four, driven through the covers off Harmer’s pre-close over. Somerset 339 for 6.

For Essex, needing a good draw to be absolutely sure of safety, the direction of play at Chelmsford, assuming the pitch remained benign, would probably suffice. There was however, still anxiety for their supporters. Of the other matches which might conceivably relegate them, the two where a win for one team would suit Essex, the match was moving heavily towards the other team. In the game where a high-scoring draw might catapult both teams past them if they lost, the match might be setting itself up for just such a result. Some of the Essex supporters around me were somewhat pensive as the players walked off. As for Somerset, as I left the ground, one supporter said to me, “Best opening day for a while.” Another, “A bit of a disappointment.” Perhaps they were both right. The Somerset top order had struggled for several seasons. In that context, 339 for 6 was a good performance. Against that, given the apparent nature of the pitch, the Somerset supporter I had spoken to at lunch time might have said the day had finished at no more than even stevens.

Close. Somerset 339 for 6