County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Yorkshire 8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th September Taunton.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, A.M. Vaughan, , T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, L.P. Goldsworthy, L. Gregory (c), B.G.F Green, K.L. Aldridge, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Yorkshire. A. Lyth, F.J. Bean, M.A. Agarwal, J.H. Wharton, J.M. Bairstow (c) (w), M.L. Revis, G.C.H. Hill, D.M. Bess, J.A. Thompson, D.T. Moriarty, C. White.

Overnight. Somerset 155 for 3.

Second day – An Abell innings to rank with the best

When James Rew stood on the crease to defend against the third ball of the day, bowled from the Trescothick Pavilion End by Jack White, the ball cut away, took a distinct deflection off the edge and Johnny Bairstow collected a straightforward catch. “Unplayable,” someone sitting nearby in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion said to me about the dismissal as we left our seats at lunch. And there was no doubt about the edge as Rew headed straight for the Caddick Pavilion without a second’s hesitation. Somerset 155 for 4. Rew 54.

The day had begun two minutes before with about eleven hundred people in the ground, a good crowd given the awful weather forecast for the second part of the day. Not the thunderstorm with its panorama of cataclysmic streaks of lightning of the day before, just continuous heavy rain from the middle of the afternoon to the end of the day. If the forecast was accurate, the sky at the start was hiding it. The cloud cover was all but complete, but it consisted of high, light grey, almost white cloud stretching as far as the eye could see in the direction of the Brendon Hills to the west. The light was bright, with no hint of the rain to come, the crowd was animated, at least in terms of its chatter, and the pitch was still green.

As Rew walked off, Lewis Goldsworthy walked on. What followed was a partnership worthy of the County Championship in any age. It was played out over 55 overs and lasted five minutes short of four and a half hours. The concentration of the batters against some persistently tight bowling was visible in their every movement. They gave not a single chance, took no obvious risks and paced the Somerset innings to perfection. As the overs went by and the match stretched into the afternoon, Abell and Goldsworthy looked to be in complete control of the situation. The Yorkshire bowlers deserve a fair quantum of praise too, for although they could not remove Abell and Goldsworthy, in those four and a half hours they made them work to survive every ball and to score every run. That there was no leeway given to the batters, and they gave none in return. The partnership was relentless, but the bowlers and Yorkshire fielders did not wilt. Their determination belied their lowly position in the Championship table.

The first seven overs of the day were but a forerunner of all that followed. They produced just four runs. The next five brought 11. Fifteen runs in 12 overs without a single boundary, and yet the crowd, at least that section of it in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, barely let their eyes wander from the action. It was a far cry from the explosive action of the T20 Quarter Final 48 hours before, but in the context of a four-day game of cricket, it was captivating. There was purpose to the slow scoring, and to the intensity with which Abell and Goldsworthy concentrated and played. And Yorkshire knew it. They switched George Hill from the River to the Trescothick Pavilion End. They brought Dom Bess’s off spin on early. And Somerset just batted on. It was, to use Justin Langer’s words when he was with Somerset, an arm wrestle.

The first boundary did not come until the 13^th over, a drive through the off side from Abell off Hill to Gimblett’s Hill. As the ball crossed the rope a round of ironic cheers greeted it. When Goldsworthy drove Thompson through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road boundary in the next over, there were gasps of delight and extended applause at the sheer quality of the stroke. The slow start and the two boundaries set the pattern for the partnership. Careful defence interspersed with singles and periodic, mainly well-struck fours. The five overs after Goldsworthy’s boundary brought nine runs, but the next, from Dan Moriarty’s left arm spin bowled from the River End was punished by Abell. There were two boundaries, an on drive to the Hildreth Stand after Abell had stepped down the pitch, and a pull through midwicket to the Somerset Stand. And then, back to steady, watchful accumulation.

As the partnership settled, conversation among the watchers occasionally drifted from the cricket. “What was the storm like yesterday?” someone who had not been at the match asked. “Incredible,” the reply, “We just sat back and watched the show.” Then, as the cloud began to thicken, the fifty partnership was reached from 131 balls with a single turned to square leg by Abell. Moriarty, having settled, now beat Goldsworthy twice in an over, his shout of, “Oh no!” after the first being clearly audible from eighty yards away. On the second occasion, the ball turned and Moriarty grunted in disappointment as the ball passed the edge. Goldsworthy meanwhile, between those two balls, had swept him to deep square leg for four. Somerset 217 for 4.

Then, in the remaining eight overs to lunch, with the ball showing distinct signs of turning, there was a late cut to the covers store boundary and another boundary through square leg to the Somerset Stand which caused the short leg fielder to duck. Both came from Abell off Moriarty. Moriarty also got a ball to pop steeply off the surface past Abell’s bat, to be well taken by Bairstow. That caused a few eyes to meet in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion perhaps thinking about what Jack Leach might do, or perhaps wondering whether the umpires might be interested in high bounce on the second day. For the rest, it was more of the intense defence and accumulation, singles mainly, that had characterised the Abell-Goldsworthy partnership from the start and which took Somerset to lunch on 235 for 4 at the end of the 76^th over.

My lunchtime circumnavigation brought the usual conversations with other Somerset supporters. One had been impressed by Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s innings on the first day. He described it as priceless. “It gave us such a start,” he explained. “It meant Abell and Goldsworthy could play as they did to put us in a strong position still with an overall run rate of three an over and with the ball now turning.” “Brilliantly played by Abell and Goldsworthy,” said another. “Disciplined County Championship innings after several weeks of mainly T20 and 50-over cricket and the mayhem of the T20 quarter-final,” he added. The mood of those two supporters was echoed by the noisy chatter from the stands, although some looked up at the gradually thickening cloud and slowly darkening sky.

After all the intensity of the morning, Tom Abell went to his fifty from 91 balls with a defensive edge off Moriarty which ran towards the Lord Ian Botham Stand and resulted in three more runs. Moriarty was beginning to cause problems for the batters. In the 81^st over he found the edge of Goldsworthy’s bat twice. He beat him too with a ball that dipped and turned. Curiously, after that over, Yorkshire took the new ball for the 82^nd just as the umbrellas started to go up. But White had a loud leg before wicket appeal against Abell with the fourth delivery of the 83rd over. “I think he hit that,” the judgment from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion.

But a few alarums apart, the batters continued to make progress and Goldsworthy steered Hill past the slips to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary below me and to my right to register a brilliantly developed century partnership. That it took 246 balls, yet had held the crowd in its grip was an indicator of the intensity of the cricket and the fact that if Somerset could beat Yorkshire, they might, just, still have a chance of catching Nottinghamshire and Surrey at the top of the table. Then suddenly, as the Somerset ones do, with the sky darkening further, the floodlights flashed and instantly lit the playing area in an eerie glow in which Goldsworthy turned Thompson sharply off his toes and through midwicket to the Somerset Stand to register his fifty from 146 balls. An over later, with Somerset on 266 for 4 in the 89^th over, the rain came down and the players left the field. “I think that could be it for the day,” the comment which greeted the arrival of the covers.

Tea was taken early, but the gloomy prediction and the overnight forecast were mistaken. With still eight hundred people in the ground, the thicker sections of cloud drifted by rather than offloading their contents. With tea taken and the floodlights still blazing, the players and umpires returned to the middle. With a solidly built base behind them, and shortening time remaining in front of them, Somerset took a more assertive approach. A clip off the toes from Abell along the creases to the Caddick Pavilion boundary off White and a lofted off drive off Moriarty over wide mid-off to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary from Goldsworthy set the tone as did a ball turned neatly to deep square leg for two by Goldsworthy off White. “Well done!” the comment. For Yorkshire, Moriarty passed perilously close to Goldsworthy’s outside edge while a defensive stroke from Abell rolled alarmingly close to his off stump. Eventually, Moriarty got his wicket. Goldsworthy, clearly annoyed with himself, was leg before wicket sweeping. Perhaps, with Somerset on 298 in the 98^th over, there were thoughts of reaching 350 and an extra bonus point by the 110^th over. Somerset 298 for 5. Goldsworthy 65 in five minutes short of four and a half hours.

Kasey Aldridge joined Abell, and after a few overs establishing their partnership, they began moving Somerset’s score along again. Abell’s class really began to shine through in this part of his innings. A late cut off Moriarty crossed the boundary to my right just beyond the Trescothick Pavilion. “Come on Somerset!” someone shouted, the hope evident in the voice. Then more boundaries to savour. Two drives through the covers of Hill and Moriarty. A neatly placed steer wide of the second of two slips off Hill. Three reverse sweeps, all perfectly controlled, one off Moriarty and two off Bess, one finer than the other. The first off Bess registered Abell’s century and the second Somerset’s 350 in the 109^th over. There was a standing ovation for the century and extended applause for the batting point. And from the online watcher, “It’s pretty impressive to go to a hundred and 350 with two reverse sweeps when there are no run options anywhere else.”

Somerset were now dominating the match, but the sky was darkening again as heavy cloud built up with the mid-September day approaching its end. Abell continued to use the sweep, one reaching the Somerset Stand boundary at deep midwicket while an extra cover drive to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion took him to 120. Aldridge meanwhile was approaching 30, gathered mainly in singles often designed to rotate the strike to Abell. He did though grab the attention with an uppercut off Thompson which cleared Bairstow on its way to the boundary. Then, with the light dimming sharply despite the floodlights, Abell’s innings finally came to an end. He stretched forward to loft Bess over straight midwicket but was caught by Matthew Revis in front of the Somerset Stand. Somerset 390 for 6. Abell 130 in four minutes over five and a quarter hours. Three balls later, the players and umpires left the field, the light being deemed too dark to continue, and Somerset had two days with an unsettled weather forecast in which to fashion a victory.

For a final thought on Abell’s innings, I can do no better than quote the text I sent to the online watcher as the players left the field for the final time. “Of its type, Abell’s was one of the very best innings I have ever seen. Perfectly paced over 80 odd overs and didn’t give Yorkshire a look in. One or two from Trescothick [would have matched it] but not much else. He completely controlled the situation from beginning to end. Goldsworthy excellent too.” I added for good measure, “Not seen two innings like Abell’s and Dickson’s [in the T20 quarter-final] one after the other before, at least as far as I can remember. Quality at the two ends of modern cricket.”

Close. Somerset 391 for 6