County Championship 2025. Division 1. Surrey v Somerset 25th, 26th, 27th and 28^th April. The Oval.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), D.P. Sibley, O.J.D. Pope, J.L. Smith, B.T. Foakes (w), D.W. Lawrence, R.S. Patel, J. Clark, A.A.P. Atkinson, J.P.A. Taylor, D.J. Worrall.

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

Toss. Surrey. Elected to field

First day – Batting against a steamroller

The impression left at the end of the day was of Somerset having batted against a relentlessly oncoming steamroller on a pitch which provided some help to the bowlers. The Surrey bowlers were constantly on the mark and bowled with testing pace. The Somerset score struggled to reach three an over until a late assault from Lewis Gregory, perhaps on some bowlers tiring in the heat of an uncommonly hot April day. Gregory’s assault at least brought some respectability to a Somerset total that, after a toe-to-toe morning, had wilted under the pressure during the afternoon. In the circumstances, and in the context of Somerset’s woes in the first three matches of the season, their 283 all out seemed a reasonable outcome, although It felt that when Surrey batted, it might not be enough.

I had arrived at the ground in bright, hot sunshine with the only cloud visible, high, thin and white. The first thing that took my eye was the size of the crowd. Perhaps two and a half thousand, many of them from a generation or two younger than the County Championship crowd you see at other grounds, although the older generation were well represented too. I found a seat where I normally sit at The Oval, near the top of the Galadari Stand, once the Peter May Stand, square of the crease at the Pavilion End with the Pavilion away to my left and, over my right shoulder, the iconic gasometer casing in the process of being converted into apartments, or as they would have been called in its heyday, flats. Memories too from more than two decades ago of Concorde over my left shoulder on its approach to Heathrow, always at about a quarter past five as the cricket drifted towards its close. And in the memory, always in sunshine.

The start of this match was one of the rare occasions when, because the wind was coming from behind the Galadari Stand rather than into its face, no aircraft were visible on the approach to Heathrow, always a disappointment. Disappointing for Somerset supporters was the news that Craig Overton would not be playing because of a back spasm. Jamie was not in the Surrey side either. It was the first time for some time that a Somerset v Surrey Championship match had taken place with no Overton in either team. There was too, a rumour circulating among some Somerset supporters that Lewis Gregory would be unable to bowl. In the event, Surrey won the toss and asked Somerset to bat and so any judgement on the strength of Somerset’s attack was deferred.

Within three overs, Somerset were on the back foot. Halfway through the second over, with Gus Atkinson generating lift from the Pavilion End, Sean Dickson, opening with Archie Vaughan, was struck on the hand while turning a ball into the leg side for a single. Dickson reached the other end but quickly called for a physio who spent some considerable time inspecting and treating the hand. Off the first ball of the next over, the next ball Dickson faced, he played a defensive stroke against Dan Worrall and immediately began wringing his hand in obvious, severe pain before leaving the field to the usual sympathetic applause. Somerset 2 for 0. Tom Lammonby on his way to the wicket.

It had been a tense start, and the entire morning was an intense affair. Three balls after Dickson left, Vaughan drove Worrall through the covers, and the ball ran towards the Galadari Stand. As the chasing fielder closed on it, there was a shout from the middle of, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” driving the batters to a third run. Next, Lammonby drove Atkinson straight and smoothly for two to a plea of, “Come on Surrey!” from the crowd. Lammonby’s response was to pull the next ball through midwicket to the Archbishop Tenison boundary. It did not deter the Surrey bowlers. Vaughan added a single, but it was from an edge that ran wide of the slips and Lammonby was beaten to applause from the crowd. Lammonby changed tactics and began employing that classic leave of his, the ball often appearing to pass excruciatingly close to the stumps. It is not an easy watch, but Lammonby almost invariably gets it right.

With the Surrey bowlers unerringly consistent and sharp, he and Vaughan concentrated on the soft push to gather runs, giving the impression of stealing singles slipped between the inner ring fielders. When Joe Clark came into the attack from the Pavilion End the pressure on Somerset eased, from his end at least, and the two batters began to find the boundary. Successive fours from Vaughan were coaxed off the smoothest of flowing bats with the sleight of hand of a magician, one driven through extra cover and one cut in front of square, the meeting between bat and ball seeming ephemeral. This was batting at its artistic best. Worrall though continued to test the batters from the Vauxhall End and forced an edge from Vaughan which was dropped by third slip diving hard to his left, the rising cheer of the crowd descending into a disappointed gasp. This was Championship cricket at its toughest and its best.

From Vaughan there was a back foot square drive for four to the Archbishop Tenison boundary off Clark. From Lammonby the neatest of angled guides past the slips towards the Bedser Stand off Worrall and a four turned as neatly through the on side to the boundary below and to my left. The pressure from Surrey though did not relent. When James Taylor replaced Worrall, he beat Lammonby to a huge appeal for caught behind and a shout from the crowd of, “’Rey!” The overwhelming feel of the morning, Clark’s spell apart, was of relentless pressure from the Surrey bowlers and determined resistance from the Somerset batters exemplified by beaten bats and boundaries of the highest quality.

There had been ten fours in 29 overs and at least an equal number of comprehensively beaten bats and edges plus that dropped catch. Tough cricket indeed. The final over before lunch, a solitary over of spin from Dan Lawrence, brought an indication of what might follow should the Somerset batters lapse. The fourth ball, with a leg slip in place, to Lammonby, took the outside edge and would have bisected the keeper and first slip had there been a first slip. The ball would have been quite catchable. Instead, it ran for four. At lunch, Somerset were 87 for 0, precisely three runs an over. It was a good return for the intense concentration of their batting, if perhaps a little harsh on Surrey.

During the lunch interval, I managed two circumnavigations of the ground, both anticlockwise, one on the outfield, one on the concourse behind the stands. Surrey always welcome people onto the outfield with open arms and many hundreds took up the opportunity. The pitch had a distinctly green hue. I chatted to one of the many Somerset supporters who did so. He was pleased with the team’s morning’s work. “Surrey have a habit of coming back from sessions like that,” I cautioned. “And, we have ridden our luck a bit,” he replied.

Just how strong was Surrey’s habit was soon revealed. The intensity of the Surrey bowling continued as if the interval had never happened and the Somerset batting gradually wilted in the face of it. Lammonby soon went to his fifty from 92 balls with an uppish extra cover drive for three towards the Vauxhall End off Worrall. Vaughan played and missed at the second ball of the next over, from Atkinson. The third, Atkinson started just outside off, Vaughan had to play, but the ball swung away, Vaughan followed it and edged to Ollie Pope at second slip. Somerset 98 for 1. Vaughan had ground out 36 in a minute over two hours and a quarter. In the next over, Tom Abell was beaten by Worrall to a shout of. “C’mon Surrey!” A ball later, he played at a perfectly directed late outswinger and again the ball flew off the edge straight to Pope. Somerset 99 for 2. Abell 0. The game was now, statistically at least, perfectly in balance, but the early loss of Abell always hits hard at Somerset supporters because of his record of so often providing the backbone to an innings. The post-lunch momentum too was with Surrey.

Surrey supporters can be as vocal as any and began to ride the wave being created by their team. When Tom Banton was beaten by his second ball, from Atkinson, the shout was, “Keep it going mate.” The Surrey bowlers, despite Somerset’s dogged progress through the morning, had ‘kept it going’ from the start and continued to do so in front of a steadily growing crowd. In the next over, off successive balls, Worrall first found the edge of Banton’s bat, the ball bouncing short of third slip and then beat him. Lammonby though was determinedly batting on, gradually picking up runs with repeated steers through the area between first slip and backward point. Surrey tried to counter with a stretched field of second and fourth slip and a gully. The runs, when they came, came in ones and twos, and by the time Banton scored Somerset’s first boundary of the afternoon, a square cut off Taylor which crossed the boundary below me, fourteen overs had passed since lunch. Somerset 125 for 2.

When Lammonby found his first boundary of the afternoon, four overs later, he again steered the ball, from Taylor, past the slips. The Surrey bowlers though were never far away. When Lammonby attempted to cut the next ball, it flew off the top edge and over the slips. Four runs, but “Oooh!” the loud and co-ordinated response from the members in the Pavilion. That stroke apart, Somerset had continued to be as disciplined with the bat as Surrey had with the ball. Finally though, the Surrey pressure told. Banton attempted to keep Clark out and edged the ball to Foakes behind the stumps. “Yeah!” the shout from in front of me. “Come on Surrey!” the response from behind, and the crowd was bubbling with the sort of confident anticipation which results from having won three consecutive County Championships with the sort of endlessly pressurising play Surrey were demonstrating here. Somerset 146 for 3. Banton 26. James Rew to the wicket.

It was midway through the afternoon and the sun, despite it still being April, was searingly hot on my sun cream encased face and arms, and the Surrey pressure felt as intense as the sun. In the ten overs after Lammonby’s two fours, Clark, who had found his mark, Taylor and Worrall kept him to four runs, two of those in the tenth of those overs, and Somerset to 12 for the loss of Banton. When Lammonby attempted to break the deadlock with a glance off Worrall, the stroke was hurried and he was bowled. He had made a painstaking 76 in 14 minutes under four hours. Somerset 152 for 4. Kasey Aldridge to the wicket. And on rolled the Surrey steamroller. Six runs came in four overs and Aldridge was beaten twice. Then Atkinson tucked up a virtually scoreless Rew, took the inside edge and Rew was bowled. Somerset 158 for 5. Rew 6 in three minutes short of three quarters of an hour. “Surrey! Surrey!” the response from an increasingly animated crowd.

With Gregory now at the wicket, tea arrived two overs later and Somerset were 164 for 5 having lost five wickets for 77 runs in the 35 unforgiving overs of the afternoon. A text from the online watcher captured the essence of it with, “It’s been like facing the 2005 Ashes attack. Relentless.” Two Somerset supporters came to chat, one to suggest Somerset should start to select their younger pace bowlers given the ‘niggles’ that some of the established attack often bowl with. The other wanted to point out the seat he had bought for the first day of the India Test later in the summer. The chat delayed my teatime circumnavigation to the extent that I had to undertake it on the concourse behind the stands rather than on the outfield although that brought the blessed relief of being able to undertake some of it in the shade before returning to my seat full in the face of the sun four overs into the evening session.

With Atkinson, Taylor and Clark still bearing down, those four overs and the seven that followed realised just 23 runs. The ball reached the boundary only once, and that off Aldridge’s pad. Atkinson was still getting some uncomfortable lift, forcing Aldridge to jump to defend more than once. When Gregory played and missed at Clark, there was an immediate response of, “Surrey!” from the crowd. Eventually the continued pressure told. Aldridge stepped just outside off, tried a neat glance and was bowled round his legs by Clark, the leg stump rocking towards the middle and then coming back again. Somerset 187 for 6. Aldridge 14 in an hour and a quarter. Migael Pretorius was rushed into a defensive stroke to his first ball and yorked, the ball hitting leg and middle and dropping into the crease behind his legs. Somerset 187 for 7. When Clark ran in to deliver the hat trick ball to Josh Davey the crowd responded with the classic hat trick ball crescendo of clapping followed by a descending, “Ohhh,” as Davey quietly played the ball into the leg side.

With the early ending of the Friday working day, the proportion of 20 to 40 somethings in the crowd quickly rose as they came to end their week with an hour or two at the cricket and in the sun. In the middle, the work of Gregory and Davey was only just beginning as they set about repairing the damage to the Somerset innings. Thirteen runs came in the four overs before the new ball. And then, against the new ball, a new start as Somerset rattled along to the close at five and a half runs an over. Perhaps even Surrey’s apparently automaton attack tires in the end. Somerset added 82 runs for the loss of their final three wickets, bringing the day to a close five balls early.

Gregory led the way. Worrall, from the Vauxhall End, took the first over. Gregory lofted his third ball over cover, the ball bouncing a yard inside the rope in front of the Galadari Stand beneath me and to my right. Two balls later, the ball came through extra cover, crossing the rope beneath the old gasometer casing. With another boundary from each batter and, with four fielders on the boundary for Gregory and three for Davey, a succession of confidently placed singles over the next half dozen overs found Somerset on 234 for 7 with seven overs remaining in the day. At which point, a previously arranged family dinner date took priority over the cricket, and I found myself heading along the concourse to the Vauxhall End and then along the Hungerford Road towards the Thames.

It is always a wrench leaving a day at the cricket early, especially when Somerset are staging a fighting recovery. Fortunately, a quarter of the way into the 21^st century, live streams and the highlights packages which are derived from them provide an opportunity denied our predecessors to watch cricket after the event. That would have to wait until later in the evening, but another 21^st century innovation, at the same time a godsend and a curse, the ever-present smartphone, came into its more beneficial own. As I walked along the Hungerford Road and the Albert Embankment, Gregory unleashed one of his measured assaults on the bowling. He lost Davey, after two leg side fours, at 249 for 8, leg before wicket to Clark for 29 in five minutes over the hour, and Jack Leach, neatly caught second ball by Ben Foakes down the leg side off an attempted glance to some late overs of off spin from Lawrence. 250 for 9. Leach 0.

I find the Albert Embankment a wonderful place to walk the Thames. Less crowded than the South Bank, it affords spectacular views of the Houses of Parliament and, if you need or want them, benches under the shade of trees, much in demand in the heat of an uncommonly hot April evening. On the river, between the benches and Parliament, are anchored working barges. The Thames is still, to a degree, a working river. An American tourist, he really was an American tourist, once said to me as I was walking along there, “Why doesn’t Tony Blair (Blair was Prime Minister at the time) get rid of those barges. They look untidy and spoil the view.” I explained that they were part of the view, the Thames was a working river, and I didn’t think Tony Blair had any authority to move them. Depart one bemused American.

The view hadn’t changed in the quarter century since I had that conversation, and the only interruption to my enjoyment of it was the frequency with which I found myself consulting my phone as Gregory continued to lift Somerset’s fortunes. There were three sixes as he lifted Clark over long leg and the boundary in front of the gasometer casing, over long on in front of the old Laker and Lock Stands, and then Atkinson slightly straighter to that end of the Pavilion. The ball before that third six, Gregory went to his fifty from 82 balls with a four pulled behind square, again to the gasometer boundary. Gregory was eventually out for 62 from 87 balls, caught at mid-on off Clark by Ryan Patel as he tried to clear the long on boundary in front of the Pavilion. Thirty-three of those 62 had come from 23 balls while I made my way up the Hungerford Road and along the Thames. “I think that’s a pretty good effort. Going to have to bowl well though as the few wayward moments from Surrey showed,” was the assessment of the online watcher. After the falling away of the middle of the Somerset innings in the face of the Surrey steamroller, Gregory and the Thames had given me a lift, and with dinner to come, thoughts about what Surrey might do in reply could wait until the morning.

Close. Somerset 283 (T.A. Lammonby 76, L. Gregory 62, J. Clark 5-68).