County Championship 2025. Division 1. Durham v Somerset. 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th May. Chester-le-Street.

Durham. A.Z. Lees (c), B.S. McKinney, E,N, Gay, D.G. Bedingham, O.G. Robinson (w), C.N. Ackermann, G. Clark, B.A. Raine, M.J. Killeen, C.E. Yusuf/D.M. Hogg*, J. Minto.

*D.M. Hogg replaced C.E. Yusuf as a concussion substitute after 37.4 overs of Somerset’s first innings.

Somerset. L. Gregory (c), J.H. Davey, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, A.R.I. Umeed, A.M. Vaughan, C. Overton, M. Pretorius, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Toss. Durham. Elected to bat.

First day – Back at Chester-le-Street after a decade   

The train journey from Taunton to Newcastle takes five and a half hours. Six if a sensor on the train detects a fault which doesn’t exist and then children decide to play on the line. But, half an hour on the day before the match was a blessing compared to the points failure which delayed someone who had travelled on the morning of the match by two and three quarter hours. We had taken a more leisurely approach, and travelled the day before. We took advantage of our early arrival so that we could see a production of Alan Bleasedale’s Boys from the Blackstuff at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. And what a production it was. Powerful, alive, and a devastating portrayal of the disintegration of the human spirit wrought by the disappearance of industries on which a region had depended for more than a century. The play is set in the northwest of England, but it could have easily been set in the northeast where this match was to be played and our hotel in Newcastle was located. Both suffered hugely from the steady decline of much of Britain’s heavy industry after the Second World War and its rapid disintegration in the economic maelstrom of the 1980s.

The interlocked industries of coal, steel and shipbuilding were all key to the country around Durham and Newcastle, and all three were devastated. On a previous trip north to watch Somerset at Chester-le-Street, we had taken a boat trip down the Tyne from Newcastle to Tynemouth and back. Between those two points the Tyne is a ghost river. In the ten miles from the centre of Newcastle to the sea there was but one active shipyard, and that only undertaking repairs. It was an eerie experience on a virtually silent, deserted river which had once echoed to the sound of countless ships being built and the sight of myriad vessels like John Masefield’s ‘dirty British coaster’ in his poem Cargoes with its ‘cargo of Tyne coal … and cheap tin trays’ as they plied their way to and from Newcastle.

It rather put the cricket, played under a layer of lazy, high white cloud, into perspective. I took my seat, as I always had at Chester-le-Street, on the members balcony, square of the wicket with its striking view of the hotel on the hill opposite posing as a castle. The pitch had a distinct tinge of green, but Durham had topped 600 in their previous match here and so when they elected to bat on winning the toss it was no great surprise. What came next was. Bowling from the Lumley End, left to right as viewed from the members balcony, Matt Henry pitched his first ball a foot wide of the off stump of the left-handed Durham captain, Alex Lees. With Henry bowling over the wicket the ball was moving away from Lees who poked his bat limply at it, overreached, connected with the inside edge and had his off stump knocked flat. Somerset supporters in the ground were immediately identifiable by their cheers, a Durham supporter near me by his instant rhetorical question, “You couldn’t make it up, could you?” Durham 0 for 1.

Emilio Gay, another left-hander lately of Northamptonshire joined Ben McKinney, but Henry, and particularly Josh Davey, continued to beat the bat. Gay responded by playing positively and made progress. His first boundary came off a beautifully angled bat, ran through backward point and crossed the rope in front of the players’ dressing rooms to my right. For Somerset, three times in two overs, Davey beat the bat and once forced a thick edge from Gay which ran past the slips for two. Still, Durham attacked. In Davey’s next over, Gay turned a ball neatly through fine leg for four, drove past midwicket for two and wide of mid-off for three. Even so, one Durham supporter was unimpressed. As the throw came in from the boundary, he said, “They should have been able to run four there.” Migael Pretorius replaced Davey and beat McKinney twice but, neither side taking a backwards step, McKinney drove his next two balls for four.

Craig Overton into the fray. He quickly beat Gay, while Pretorius beat McKinney again and Gay played and missed. Something, it felt, had to give. And give it did. Gay clipped Pretorius through the air, straight of Jack Leach at midwicket. Leach dived full length and, as seen from the members balcony, by a fingernail, got a hand to the ball. It was close, very close, but the ball went down. “Come on Craig O,” shouted Abell, but it was Overton’s replacement at the Lumley End, Davey, who, with the ball still beating the bat, finally provided Somerset with their second breakthrough. Bowling to two slips, down from the original three, and a gully, and from wide of the crease, he angled the ball in on a line just outside off stump. McKinney had to play and edged to James Rew diving low down the leg side. Durham 65 for 2. McKinney 30.

David Bedingham, Durham’s South African Test batter, announced his presence by cutting Davey through an empty gully for four. Gay maintained the momentum by turning Pretorius through midwicket, the ball crossing the rope immediately below the members balcony. Now Bedingham leaned into the smoothest of on drives square of mid-on for four more. “He’s got all the time in the world, hasn’t he?” the Durham comment after a single pushed past point. Most of the talk was coming from Durham members because, unlike on my previous visits when large numbers of Somerset supporters sat on the members balcony, I could see few Somerset supporters in the two long rows of seats which are all that make up the balcony seating.

It had been a decade and more ago when I last sat there, before Durham were relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2016 season because of financial difficulties and, it appeared, habits or personnel change. Those pre-2017 days used to bring back memories of the large numbers of Somerset supporters who had travelled to Chester-le-Street in 2010 and swamped the members balcony as Somerset’s best hope of winning the County Championship slipped away in the face of some determined Nottinghamshire batting and mesmeric bowling from Ryan Sidebottom and Andre Adams at Old Trafford. Despite having their balcony usurped, the Durham members in 2010 had shown only warmth and generosity of spirit as Somerset’s hopes were extinguished.

In 2025, after a disastrous start to the season, despite the two wins against Essex and Sussex, Somerset were as much at risk of relegation as they were of winning the Championship. Maintaining the momentum from those last two games was crucial if they were to close the gap with Nottinghamshire, 23 points away at the top of the table. The Leach drop was weighing heavily when, with Durham approaching four an over, Gay drove at Davey and edged straight but low to Tom Lammonby in the gully. Lammonby dived forward, attempted to take the catch at ground level, but the ball reappeared behind him and ran for a single. It was another very close call, but from the members balcony the judgement was clear., “DROP!” And Lammonby stayed down.

Step up Henry. Bowling from the Lumley End, he fed Gay a bouncer just outside off stump. Gay hooked and the top edge looped high towards the long leg boundary where Tom Abell was waiting. Constantly on the move as he sighted the ball, he eventually located himself beneath it and took the catch. It was a classic example of Abell’s coolness under pressure. Gay flung his head back in apparent disgust with himself, but Henry had snared his man and Durham were 88 for 3. Gay 41. Ollie Robinson to the crease. He was immediately beaten, but he and Bedingham shepherded Durham to lunch on 96 for 3. “About par for both sides,” someone commented, but with the ball beating the bat so frequently and two excruciatingly close chances not taken, it felt like Somerset might have come up short. Henry though was proving his worth with analysis of 9-4-16-2.

My lunchtime circumnavigation took longer than the allotted 40 minutes in part due to the number of Somerset supporters who had travelled for the match, more than had been apparent from the thin presence on the members balcony. I spoke to several. One was making his only away trip of the season, such is the draw of a ground at which Somerset had not played Championship cricket for nearly a decade, two more were making their first ever away trip to anywhere, and two more came because they liked watching cricket at Chester-le-Street. They were fortunate because the match was being played nearly two months into the season and there was some warmth in the sun. My memories of visits between 2010 and 2016 were of matches early or late in the season and being chilled to the bone after the sun disappeared behind the members balcony just after midday. I recalled one April match at which I had worn the same six layers of clothing, including a wind resistant top layer, that I had twice worn in a Norwegian wasteland, after midnight in March, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle watching for the Northern Lights. The answer is yes, on the second occasion. Unforgettable.

During the four overs of the afternoon session which it took me to return to my seat, Pretorius sent Bedingham back to the Pavilion, leg before wicket with a leg stump yorker, an appeal that rocked the heavens, and a punch of the air which spoke as much of relief as joy at the departure of a dangerous opponent. Durham 105 for 4. Bedingham 17. Somerset just ahead, perhaps, but Colin Ackermann, the new batter, and Robinson, were having none of it. Three fours, all from Robinson, came from one Overton over. One owed something to an edge, but two flew hard off the middle. One, a pull through midwicket, brought a shout from the field of, “Come on, Craig O.” The last, a drive straight of midwicket brooked no argument. Durham 127 for 4.

Three overs later, a thick edge from Robinson off Pretorius flew past the slips for four while Overton, at second slip, turned his eyes to the heavens. Robinson followed with a single and Ackermann drove spectacularly straight back past the bowler for another four. Durham had scored 28 runs in five overs. In the next four and a half, they added a further 24 runs and Somerset, now on the back foot, resorted to Jack Leach at the Lumley End with Henry returning at the Finchdale End. Robinson took a heavy toll. Three fours came from his bat, not least a drive straight of cover off Henry which just defeated Abell’s dive. Next, he went to his fifty from 52 balls, albeit with a fortuitous edge off Pretorius. And then, as was becoming the way with this contest, he drove hard at Pretorius, trying to send the ball through mid-off, and edged it nearer Lewis Gregory at first slip than Rew. Rew dived across as Gregory moved into position to intercept, but Rew took the catch safely enough. Durham 161 for 5. Robinson 52. “Oh no!” the response of a Durham supporter but, on a pitch tinged with green, and the bat still being beaten, it felt like they still held the advantage.

As the afternoon session wore on, “We’re going to sit in the sun,” one pair of Durham supporters announced, the temperature in the shade on the members balcony falling sharply. They were not alone as members soon began to depart in numbers for the warmer climes of the sun-bathed open stands. In the middle meanwhile, Durham gave the impression that batting was becoming easier. The new batter, Graham Clark, found the boundary twice before, having just opened the face to Davey for a four fine of backward point, he attempted to flick him to leg. The ball was neatly taken down the leg side by Rew. A confident appeal followed but the umpire seemed unmoved. “Oh, come on!” the plea from a Somerset supporter. As if in response, the finger rose. Durham 185 for 6. Clark 15.

It was a curious watch. Batting was looking easier, but wickets were falling. Ben Raine joined the still persevering Ackerman, once again two left-handers at the crease. Raine, primarily a bowler, looked intent on continuing to attack and did it with some skill. Within an over of arriving at the wicket he had driven Leach through the covers and then straight, both for four. In an over from Davey, he drove through cover for four, through extra cover for two and through point for one, while Ackermann continued with a scintillating straight drive for four, “Oh, my goodness!” said a Durham supporter following Ackermann’s four before Ackermann concluded the over with an off driven single. Twelve from the over, Durham 207 for 6, Somerset, it felt, were being pushed back again.

And then, the riposte. Durham were restricted to 12 runs from the next five overs before Overton angled a ball in on Ackermann’s off stump, beat his defensive stroke and uprooted the stump. Ackermann, in at the fall of the fourth wicket, had batted 14 minutes short of two hours for 30 while Durham had added 114 critical runs. Then Pretorius, over the wicket to Raine, struck the pad and the umpire’s finger quickly followed. Durham 221 for 8. Raine 25 at a run a ball. Just before tea, Codi Yusuf was struck on the helmet by Pretorius, but after a concussion test, continued and, three balls later, drove Pretorius through point for four to take Durham to tea on 227 for 8. The toe-to-toe cricket had continued all day, but Durham determinedly held the advantage.

The quick run of wickets in the second half of the session worried one Somerset supporter. “We could have a very sticky twenty overs here,” he said to me as I undertook my teatime circumnavigation. I watched the first four overs of the evening session from near the Lumley End sightscreen. It was the perfect position from which to see Henry pitch a ball a foot wide of Mitchell Killeen’s off stump. Killeen, on his Championship debut at the age of twenty, essayed a limp drive at the ball and edged it straight to Gregory at first slip. Curiously, there was not much of a celebration from Henry or the slip cordon as they ran towards the pitch. “Henry makes a difference, doesn’t he?” said the Somerset supporter I was standing with. And he had. It was his fourth wicket of the innings and, like so many of the wickets he had taken for Somerset, it seemed to come out of nowhere. Durham 227 for 9. Killeen 0.

Four wickets had fallen for 42 runs in 14 overs. It still looked a good score in the conditions, the Somerset worry, but Somerset had at least kept fighting. And then, as out of the blue as Henry’s wickets, came a last wicket partnership of fifty from Yusuf and Durham’s number eleven, seventeen-year-old ledft-hander James Minto. Minto scored 34 of the 50 runs with the Durham crowd cheering him on. Cheers for the boundaries and applause for the singles. “Hooray!” someone shouted among cheers when he pushed Henry to point for a single to register Durham’s 250. Then, he turned Overton to fine leg and drove Henry through the covers, both for four, to the mounting frustration of the online Somerset watcher, “We could do without this,” the text. He would not have been alone in holding that view.  

When Pretorius replaced Henry, Minto’s attempt to cut a wide ball sent it flying over third slip, Somerset having kept three slips in place throughout Minto’s assault. Four more. Next, Minto evaded a short ball and followed that with an edged drive past the slips for another four. More cheers and applause as it registered the fifty partnership from 71 balls. And then, finally, Minto attempted to steer Pretorius to leg and popped the ball into the hands of Lammonby at square leg. Durham 277 all out. Minto 34 from 44 balls. Yusuf 16 not out. And Somerset had 17 ‘sticky’ overs to face.

And sticky it looked as Raine’s first ball to Gregory brought forth a monumental leg before wicket appeal, an intake of breath, and a leg bye. It didn’t end there. Davey’s first two balls from Minto brought two more leg before wicket appeals, and the second ball of Raine’s second over was edged by Gregory just short of slip. As I continued to hold my breath at each delivery, I noticed the members balcony was now virtually deserted, so far had the temperature fallen. Eyes back on the cricket. Gregory cut the first ball of Minto’s second over through backward point for four, left the second and was bowled. Somerset 13 for 1. Gregory 5. Deficit 264. Sticky indeed.

Lammonby joined Davey and gradually, they settled. Lammonby cut Raine through backward point for four. An edge from Davey off Killeen ran wide of the slips for three, but Lammonby chipped Yusuf over a jumping third slip to the boundary taking Somerset to 32 for 1 at the end of the 11^th over. Lammonby and Davey were now playing more freely, and the ball seemed to be creating fewer problems. Nineteen runs followed in the next two overs, bowled by Yusuf and Killeen, including a sumptuous on drive past mid-on from Davey to a shout of, “Shot!” He drove another four, off Yusuf, straight to the Finchdale End but two balls later, the to and fro of the day continuing, he edged Yusuf straight to McKinney at first slip. Somerset 55 for 2. Davey 24. Deficit 222. With two overs of the day remaining, Jack Leach replaced Davey. “Have they rearranged their batting order?” asked a bemused Durham supporter, an all rounder and two bowlers forming three of Somerset’s top four.

Then, Lammonby was out, caught behind by Robinson off Killeen. Somerset 55 for 3. Lammonby 18. The Durham bowlers had earned their reward for keeping the ball up, and three slips had remained throughout Somerset’s 43-run second wicket partnership. Now Rew came to the wicket maintaining the revised batting order introduced in the previous match. He drove his first ball through point for four before Leach ended Somerset’s scoring for the day with another four, driven through the covers off Yusuf to take Somerset to 63 for 3, 214 in arrears. It had been a day of thrust and counter thrust from which Durham had emerged with the advantage while Somerset, back at Chester-le-Street, had perhaps lost two wickets more than they would have liked in those sticky overs at the end.

Close. Durham 277 (O.G. Robinson 52, E.N. Gay 41, M.J. Henry 4-60, M. Pretorius 3-63). Somerset 63 for 3. Somerset trail by 214 runs.