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. Somerset 9 for 1. Somerset trail by 197 runs with nine first innings wickets standing.

Second day – Somerset in disarray

When Andy Umeed knelt to slog sweep Simon Harmer into the Somerset Stand, he and Josh Davey, the overnight not out batters, had negotiated forty minutes of challenging bowling from Harmer, Sam Cook and Jamie Porter. It had not been straightforward. There had been some beaten bats, a thick edge or two, a couple of leg before wicket appeals, and an edge from Umeed off Porter which, from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, looked to have fallen just short of second slip. Umeed had been taking care to leave the ball where he could, and Davey had looked uncommonly secure for a bowler continuing with his nightwatch duties. They had also added 37 runs in those ten overs. A cut for four from Umeed off Cook to the Somerset Stand and a straight drive from Davey off Porter to the Trescothick Pavilion, had both raced to the boundary as Somerset reduced their deficit to 160 with nine wickets standing. Then, with the game neatly poised, Umeed completed that sweep shot, the ball whistled past his pad, struck the stumps and Somerset were 46 for 2, Umeed 20 after an hour and a quarter of careful watchfulness. “Yes!” shrieked an Essex voice as the ball struck the stumps. “Seen him do similar before,” said the online watcher. “Concentration issue.”

It was a turning point in the innings. The wicket opened the door to an extended collapse, not as catastrophic as the one at The Oval a week before, but reminiscent of it. Davey’s vigil soon ended, as so often with Davey, when he had begun to look set, Porter going straight through his defence and striking the stumps. He had batted nearly an hour and a half and scored 27 with four boundaries, all firmly struck. Perhaps, being used to batting late in the order, after an hour or so Davey’s concentration wanes too. Somerset 56 for 3. Deficit 150. Tom Abell, often Somerset’s saviour in these situations, came to the wicket to join Tom Lammonby. He clipped his first ball, from Porter, for four, clearing a jumping midwicket in the process. In the next over, against Harmer, he came forward to defend, edged the ball onto his pad which diverted it to Jordan Cox at slip. Somerset 63 for 4. Abell 6. Deficit 143.

At twenty minutes to twelve, with Umeed and Davey still in possession of the crease, Somerset had been successfully negotiating their way towards a position from which they might hope to overhaul Essex’s 206. By a quarter past twelve, with Abell gone, they were struggling to convince that they could reach that score. By lunch, as the slide continued, they were in deeper trouble still. Lammonby and Tom Banton had briefly promised a resurgence, Lammonby playing the perfect glance to the River End for four off Porter. “That’s it!” the admiring comment from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion. Then Banton reverse swept Harmer fine to the covers store and drove Kasun Rajitha’s medium-fast bowling off the back foot through the covers to the Somerset Stand for four more. Somerset 78 for 4.

It wasn’t to last. Harmer, already two wickets to the good and bowling from the River End, beat Lammonby twice in successive balls, the second clearly turning, and then, with a full ball pitching on leg stump, beat his defensive stroke. The ball skimmed the edge from where it was caught low down at first slip by Cox. Somerset 78 for 5. Lammonby 13. Deficit 128. An over later Banton raised some faint hope when he clipped Rajitha off his toes, the ball running behind square to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. Then, a ball later, Rajitha pitched a foot outside off, Banton tried to drive and chopped onto his stumps. Somerset 86 for 6. Banton 12. Deficit 120.The buzz and tension of the first day were gone. Somerset were deep in trouble and the ground was quiet.

Again, there was a brief revival, this time led by James Rew and Lewis Gregory. Rew had come to the crease at the fall of Lammonby and reverse swept his first ball, from Harmer, over the slips to Gimblett’s Hill for four. It was a risky start, and when he tried to repeat the stroke at the start of Harmer’s next over the ball struck him on the pad to a leg before wicket appeal from where he quietly played out the over. Gregory was off the mark, off Rajitha, with an open-faced steer for four wide of the three slips to the gap between the Lord Ian Botham and Hildreth Stands. When Rew followed with a drive off Rajitha through extra cover to the Ondaatje boundary someone was roused to shout, “Rewie!” by way of encouragement.

But again, as the early seeds of a fightback were being sown, Essex struck. Rew was caught behind off Rajitha defending. Like so many wicket-taking balls from the pace bowlers thus far in the match, there was no appreciable sign of movement either in the air or off the, still green, pitch. Somerset 97 for 7. Rew 9. Deficit 109. Craig Overton to the wicket where Gregory drove Rajitha dismissively through mid-off to Gimblett’s Hill for four to a shout of, “Lewis!” As the players walked off to their lunch, the boundary was scant reward for a morning in which Somerset had lost six wickets for 97 runs and found themselves, to use the old term, in disarray.

Before three overs of the afternoon session had been completed, they were in further disarray. Gregory shouldered arms to Cook and was palpably leg before wicket to another virtually straight ball. It may have cut in a trace, no more, and, a replay shows, would have struck off stump full on. Somerset 108 for 8. Gregory 14. Deficit 98. The ground was now very quiet. Migael Pretorius to the wicket and, briefly, to Somerset’s rescue. It was a typically hectic Pretorius innings. He began with a single off Cook and then three successive twos of Harmer. A lofted straight drive for four off Harmer’s next over was immediately followed by a two. In the next over, from Cook, there were successive fours, a straight drive, “Shot!” and a pull through midwicket which travelled like the proverbial bullet, flashing past an unavailing dive from the midwicket fielder before crossing the Ondaatje boundary.

And then, with the crowd beginning to respond, Pretorius drove furiously back, two yards to Harmer’s right. Harmer leapt towards the approaching missile, stuck out a hand and the ball stuck. “What a catch!” the astonished response of an Essex supporter. It would have been impossible to argue. Somerset 137 for 9. Pretorius 24 from 20 balls in 17 minutes. Deficit 69. In the end, Pretorius’s innings was but a bright interlude in the midst of Somerset’s crumbling innings, and in a low scoring match the deficit was still ominously large. And then, finally, Overton pulled Porter through straight midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary before being caught off the next ball by Cook diving forward at mid-on. Somerset 145. Overton 12, Jack Leach 1 not out, Deficit 61, the hopes of 40 for 1 dashed.

Somerset began the Essex second innings well enough. Davey, bowling around the wicket to the left-handed Paul Walter, persuaded a ball to cut in a little, beat a hurried response from the bat and struck Walter on the pad. Essex 3 for 1. Walter 0. Lead 64. Dean Elgar had a less than certain start but survived the early overs. A straight drive off Overton crossed the Trescothick Pavilion boundary, but against Davey he played and missed, suffered two inside edges, one of which just evaded the stumps to be immediately followed by a drive and a miss and a huge appeal for caught behind. In the midst of it all, there was a defiant, controlled pull over long leg to the Ondaatje boundary for six. But eventually, Elgar succumbed to Gregory who had replaced Overton at the Trescothick Pavilion End. He failed to get his bat down on another straight ball delivered around the wicket and was bowled. Elgar looked bemused as to how the ball had penetrated his defence, but a replay shows an inside edge onto the stumps. Essex 45 for 2. Elgar 23. It had been an encouraging start from Somerset, but Essex were already 105 ahead in a match in which the higher of the first innings scores had been 206.

Walter meanwhile had been altogether more circumspect. At the fall of the wicket, he was on 6 from 38 balls, the rest, beyond Elgar’s score, being made up of extras including eight from four no balls. Jordan Cox replaced Elgar and immediately drove Gregory through extra cover to the boundary in front of the Brian Rose Gates. From there, a cover drive for four off Leach from Westley apart, Essex moved quietly to tea, taking ten runs from the final six overs with the batters doing a lot of gardening as they went. There were a couple of beaten bats, but Essex walked off on 59 for 2. More concerning to Somerset supporters was an Essex lead of 120 with still those eight wickets standing.

My customary teatime circumnavigation of the ground, de riguer anticlockwise, included as it so often does, extended conversation, this time on the Priory Bridge Road boundary near the Caddick Pavilion. As I kept half an eye on the cricket, Westley and Cox seemed at ease against Pretorius and Leach, although they were pushing the ball around rather than attacking it. There was time in the match, seven sessions, and Essex’s main concern seemed to be to use that time to carefully build a daunting lead. The conversation focused on the impending return of Matt Henry from New Zealand after an unpleasant shoulder injury incurred in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. He had missed the first four Championship matches for which he was due to be available but would now be available for the next four. The conversation focused not so much on his incisive pace bowling, but on the strength of a front-line pace bowling attack consisting of Henry, Overton, Pretorius and Gregory, and in particular on the lift his presence had to the whole team on his last visit. Somerset look a different team with Overton in the side. With Henry they had looked a different team again. With both, the team could be formidable.

As we watched, Cox pushed at Pretorius and the ball bobbled towards point. The batters set off for a single, but Leach also set off from cover and was on the ball in a flash. Westley, running to the danger end, suddenly accelerated, Leach threw with only one stump to aim at and hit. Westley, at full stretch ran his bat towards the crease, “Run out!” someone shouted, we were standing more or less square. There was an appeal from the field, but unlike the shout from near me, it seemed little more than token. The umpire gave it not out. With my concentration on the conversation I was having, I wasn’t sure. The verdict came from a text from the online watcher, “Leach’s direct hit was out. In fairness to the umpire only by one frame of the camera, but out with DRS. Strange so little interest from the fielders.”

In the seven overs between tea and my returning to my seat, Essex added 16 runs to take their lead to 136, still two down. Then, a succession of boundaries put further pressure on Somerset. The first two came off successive deliveries from Archie Vaughan’s first over of the match, bowled from the River End. Westley drove off the back foot through extra cover to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard and then cut him through backward point to the Ondaatje boundary. Pretorius suffered similarly in the next over against Cox. Another straight drive, Pretorius just failing to stop it in the follow-through as it flew a foot wide of his ankle, followed by a cut, finer than Westley’s, well wide of Overton at second slip, to the Hildreth Stand. In Overton’s next over, again off successive balls, Cox drove him spectacularly through extra cover to the Somerset Stand next to the Brian Rose Gates, and then through the on side to the Ondaatje boundary. They were stunning blows and put Essex 162 runs into the lead with still those eight wickets standing.

They were taking control of the game, and yet Overton, seemingly undeterred, was still steaming in as if it were the first morning. He can be a force of nature at times. In his next over, with a ball that cut in a shade, he defeated Westley’s defensive stroke and struck him on the pad. This time the appeal left no doubt and neither the umpire nor Westley seemed to have any doubt either. The umpire quickly raised his finger and Westley departed without fuss. Essex 102 for 3. Westley a studious 26 from 102 balls. Essex lead 163.

That brought Matthew Critchley to the wicket and another period of accumulative play from Essex. In the final 19 overs before the close, there were just three boundaries off the bat and 61, largely easily taken runs. As the overs slipped by and the score, and the lead, crept up, there was the occasional beaten bat, but the batters looked comfortable. Leach did get a ball to turn past the edge of Critchley’s bat but there was little else of threat, and Leach was looking less effective than he had in Essex’s first innings. Generally, the pitch looked flatter than earlier in the match, the crowd was quiet with bits of chatter here and there and there was a sense of waiting for Essex to make the next move.

As is the way sometimes with cricket, the end of the day clashed with an evening commitment and buses do not wait. I left the ground with three overs remaining, not expecting to miss much. My smartphone told me the error of my ways. When I looked for the close of play score, it told me that Critchley had been out off the third ball of the final over which thus became the last ball of the day. He was beaten by a tossed up, full ball from Leach which turned enough to take the edge and loop gently to Gregory at first slip. Essex 163 for 4, but with a lead now of 224 and Leach turning the ball, thoughts of Harmer in the fourth innings would have been picking at Somerset minds as they filed out of the ground.

Close. Essex 206 and 163 for 4. Somerset 145 (S.R. Harmer 4-43). Essex lead by 224 runs with six second innings wickets standing.