County Championship 2025. Division 1. Nottinghamshire v Somerset. 29th, 30th, 31st July and 1st August. Trent Bridge.
Somerset. L. Gregory (c), J.H. Davey, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, T. Banton, A.M. Vaughan, C. Overton, M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.
Nottinghamshire. H.Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke (w), J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, D.Y. Pennington, Mohammad Abbas.
Overnight. Somerset 438. Nottinghamshire 189 for 2. Nottinghamshire trail by 249 runs with eight first innings wickets standing.
Third day – When time stood still
This was a day of cricket on which time seemed to stand still. As each ball was bowled, it didn’t seem to matter who bowled it, who held the bat or who fielded the ball. For large stretches of play it all looked the same, like a short piece of film being played and replayed in an endless loop. The pitch, on the other hand, seemed to be going backwards in time. At lunchtime, when I took a walk around the outfield and to the middle to ‘inspect’ the pitch, it took only a cursory look to realise that there was less evidence of bowlers’ footmarks on it than there had been at lunch on the first day, and that had been precious little.
Meanwhile, as time stood still at Trent Bridge, at Chester-le-Street, the match seemed to be being played in a different time dimension. There, time rolled forward at speed as Surrey overcame some stern Durham resistance to win in three days, moving Surrey well ahead of Nottinghamshire in the table, and even further ahead of Somerset. At Trent Bridge, it was not just time that stood still. So did the ball for the Nottinghamshire innings. It remained unchanged for the whole of its 151 overs with still more of the innings to come on the final day. As cricket balls go, by the end of the day, it must have looked as if it had been used by George Parr, first doyen of Nottinghamshire cricket a century and a half before. Perhaps it was auditioning for a place with the other antiquities in the Trent Bridge Pavilion.
The spectators who came to the ground to watch this seemingly motionless spectacle were, in number, well down on the numbers for the first two days, the sort of number who turn up because they always turn up as if they have been called upon to do their duty. To my eye, there were perhaps six hundred in the ground at the start. As the clock ticked towards eleven o’clock, the Somerset team came down the steps in dribs and drabs while the umpires walked to the middle as if they were going to a family event they would rather not be at. The Nottinghamshire batters brought up the end of the reluctant procession and presented themselves at the crease with at least the prospect of having an easier time than the rest of the dramatis personae of this cricketing tableau.
Craig Overton at least ran in from the Radcliffe Road End as if he meant business while Joe Clarke, at the other end, played out a maiden. In Overton’s second over, Haseeb Hameed, 103 not out overnight, edged the ball towards Lewis Gregory standing at wide first slip. It wasn’t entirely clear from square of the wicket if the ball had carried, but the reactions suggested it might have done. “That could be a big moment,” someone said and it was a blow to the pit of the Somerset stomach because the match already had every sign of big moments being few and far between.
It was the ninth over of the day before the ball found its way to the boundary, although at least it came off Hameed’s bat from that aristocrat of cricket strokes, the straight drive. The century partnership drifted by afterwards. It came from 216 balls in the tenth over of the day and well-directed singles began to ease the score along as the batters roused themselves. When Jack Leach replaced Migael Pretorius, who had opened the bowling from the Pavilion End, Clarke stretched for the sweep and sent the ball through midwicket for the second four of the day. It was the 14th over.
And then, a wicket. The drop in the third over apart, there had been no indication that a wicket might fall, but Clarke chipped Gregory low to Tom Abell at midwicket and Abell dutifully collected the offering. Nottinghamshire 225 for 3. Clarke 42 in six minutes over two and a half hours. “Are the fielders standing a bit closer?” someone asked. “They are for him,” the reply as Jack Haynes faced his first ball. Four overs and five runs after the wicket, Hameed drove Gregory to deep midwicket for a single. The ball was fielded by Tom Banton from a spot on the outfield he had occupied since the first ball, whichever end the bowling was from. He had fielded a lot of singles stroked quietly towards him as if he and the batters were working together. “He hasn’t moved more than ten yards from that spot all morning,” someone observed. It was as if Banton had been cast as a symbol of time standing still as the endless loop of play rolled inexorably on.
And then, in the 20th over of the morning, the third four, driven by Haynes off Gregory with an open face through gully. Two overs later, a second straight drive, and fourth four of the morning, this time from Haynes off Gregory. And all the while, a maiden here, a single there softly driven to keep the deep fielders occupied and the scoreboard awake. There were a dozen singles in the next seven overs plus, for variety, a couple of twos. And then the fifth and final four of the morning, cut through deep backward point by Haynes before three more singles came from the last four overs of the morning. Hameed, who had been at the crease from the start of play, did not reach the boundary once all morning and took the 33 overs bowled to add 34 runs. And Banton? He remained at his post on the spot he had occupied since the start of play, his fielding position changing from deep midwicket to deep cover only by courtesy of the end-of-over change of ends mandated by the laws of cricket. By lunch, Nottinghamshire had reached 271 for 3, adding 82 runs from the morning’s play, and their deficit had shrunk to 167.
The afternoon began with the sun shining bright and Haynes pulling Overton, bowling from the Pavilion End, to long leg for four. The stroke registered the fifty partnership. It had taken 126 balls and included no extras, a classic sign of a dead pitch, or a dead ball, or both. It was Hameed’s first four of the day. From there, the endless loop continued, although it speeded up a little and the game began to edge away from Somerset. Hameed followed the fifty partnership with a drive off Josh Davey through extra cover for four and another off Overton. His personal one hundred and fifty followed with a single turned slowly to deep square leg. Nottinghamshire’s three hundred came with the ease with which night follows day when Haynes drove Leach off the back foot through extra cover for four more. It was the fourth boundary of the afternoon. It had come in the eighth over after the five that had come during the entire morning session. Haynes fifty from 76 balls took its place in the queue of batting milestones with a single pulled off Overton to long leg. And all the while, the feel of the game remained unchanged: an endless succession of lifeless balls bowled onto a lifeless pitch to batters who only had to maintain their concentration to be sure of facing the next ball.
The century partnership came from 199 balls with a Hameed flowing drive for four through point off Pretorius. The Somerset lead fell to 97 with another flowing drive off Pretorius, again from Hameed. This time though the ball took the edge and flew towards the empty second slip position and on to the boundary for four more. There was no first slip either, only Overton diving sharply to his left from third slip but falling well short of the ball which, in any event, sluggish off the pitch, sluggish off the bat, would have fallen short of the fielder. Then, after Hameed drove Gregory with an open face past gully for four, Haynes chipped Gregory to Abell at midwicket in a near carbon copy dismissal of Clarke in the morning session, the ball perhaps reaching Abell a little higher than it had in the morning. It was a typical sluggish pitch, sluggish bat dismissal. Nottinghamshire 358 for 4. Haynes 70. Deficit 80.
Lyndon James was beaten by Gregory in one of the very few instances of the ball passing the bat in the first two sessions, but when he pulled Gregory through midwicket the ball shooting out of reach over Abell’s head for four. Then, Leach took the inside edge of Hameed’s bat, but when Tom Lammonby was tried from the Radcliffe Road End, he was struck by James for ten in his first over, including two fours in three balls, both driven through extra cover. Now Somerset rotated their bowlers, perhaps in the hope that change might bring change. Archie Vaughan was tried opposite Lammonby, and in the final over before tea Hameed drove him through straight midwicket for four and cut him wide of the slip area for two. The late, pre-tea boost in scoring took Nottinghamshire to the interval on 387 for 4 and Somerset’s 438, now just 51 runs away, was looking decidedly inadequate.
At tea, a quick walk across the outfield to look again at the pitch. This time it was someone next to me who said the pitch seemed to have less marks on it than it had on the first day. I regained my seat just in time to see Hameed loft Vaughan over mid-off to the boundary in front of the Pavilion End scoreboard to register his double century. His helmet came off, he mopped his brow and raised his bat to the crowd, the great majority of whom were standing to applaud. It had taken him six minutes over seven and a half hours and 380 balls. Another two, perfectly steered through the empty slip area off Vaughan, took Nottinghamshire to another milestone, 400 for 4, just 38 short of Somerset.
And then, a Hameed drive to mid-off, a sprint up the pitch, a sharp piece of fielding from Lammonby, a sharper throw, Hameed sent back by James, a neat take by Rew, a flash of the gloves, all three stumps lying flat and Hameed walking off without a backward glance towards a stunned-looking James. As Hameed walked off he raised his bat in acknowledgement of the crowd. Overton pursued him, closely followed by Lammonby, to give him a congratulatory shake of the hand and pat on the helmet. Nottinghamshire 406 for 5. Hameed 208. Deficit 32. “Precisely one wicket every 25 overs,” someone said. “Surprised the umpire was awake to give the run out,” the opinion of the online watcher. “He didn’t,” I replied, “Hameed walked.”
It was a fortuitous and much needed wicket for Somerset, but it did not stop Nottinghamshire from continuing their run gathering as if they had not been interrupted. There were errors, but not many. One, an edged drive from James off Jake Ball flew well wide of a lonely Overton, the only slip, still in his third slip position. “I don’t think he exactly intended that to go there,” someone chuckled. The new batter, Liam Patterson-White played and missed a couple of times, also against Ball, but then Nottinghamshire resumed the slightly increased the tempo of the innings and batted on virtually unmolested. Four singles in an over took them into the lead with still five wickets standing. The four hundred and fifty was passed with an extra cover drive from Patterson-White off Davey. It looked four all the way until a brilliant running stop by Pretorius kept it to three and brought him a smattering of applause from the fast-diminishing crowd.
Another batting milestone followed when James reached his fifty from 76 balls with a single pulled hard off Overton but straight to the long-suffering deep square leg fielder. He hit ten off two balls from Overton, the first off the inside edge for four to fine leg from a lazy looking drive, the second a lofted drive over long on for six into the part of the Pavilion which had become a building site in preparation for the England Test Match against New Zealand in 2026. That took Nottinghamshire’s lead past fifty with four overs plus the final day remaining. And then, 23 overs after the last wicket, another. James pulled Pretorius hard and through the air to straight deep midwicket where Abell was on distant patrol. Abell ran in, dived low and took the catch, his third of the day, the previous two at midwicket. Abell’s catches had ended the innings of three of the four batters to be out on the third day, none of them seemingly ‘got out’. Nottinghamshire 494 for 6. James 72 from 94 balls
The final three overs brought 17 runs, a four to the new batter, Calvin Harrison who scooped over the keeper off Vaughan, and 13 singles as the ball and the pitch continued to conspire to take the match into eternity. Nottinghamshire, playing to Somerset’s boundary saving field ended the day with a lead of 73, four wickets standing and three sessions in which to fashion a result. Not that anyone still watching after a gruelling day for spectators seemed seriously to think that a result was a possibility on that pitch with the kookaburra ball. Perhaps Gregory made the point by not taking the new ball after 80 overs, or at all as Somerset bowled the entire 151 overs of the innings thus far with the original ball.
Close. Somerset 438. Nottinghamshire 511 for 6. Nottinghamshire lead by 73 runs with four second innings wickets standing.
'Farmer White' Somerset Cricket Writing 