County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Hampshire 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th September. Taunton.

The first day of this match was abandoned due to adverse weather conditions.

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

Hampshire. A.G.H. Orr, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.E. Albert, B.C. Brown (c), (w), M.S. Washington Sundar, F.S. Organ, J.K. Fuller, K.J. Abbott, K.H.D. Barker, E.V. Jack

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

Second day – Proper batting

The rain stayed later than forecast, came back briefly half an hour after a slightly delayed start and stole eleven overs from the day. That did not stop Somerset establishing a commanding position by the close thereby sustaining their remote prospects of the Championship and heightening Hampshire’s fears of relegation. Somerset’s progress was not straightforward. Having won the toss on a brown pitch under an overcast sky, they elected to bat. “An interesting decision,” someone said to me. It looked even more interesting at 69 for 4, and then 99 for 5 shortly after lunch with the mercurial Kasey Aldridge walking to the wicket in his last appearance for Somerset at the Cooper Associates County Ground. He would be playing for Durham in 2026. But on this day, perhaps with the pressure to perform off, he played indubitably for Somerset with a combination of determined defence and controlled aggression. It was an innings that was Somerset through and through and he walked off the field at the end of the day undefeated. It was batting of a type of which he had shown glimpses throughout his career, but so often he had flattered to deceive. On this day it all came together and he left Somerset with many supporters wondering what might have been.

Tom Abell batted with him for much of the day in a beautifully controlled performance that conceded little to the Hampshire bowlers and which was typical of the high-quality innings which had been a feature of his time with Somerset. What might have been, and what was, working in tandem for a day. They were innings played against a Hampshire attack, the sharp end of which exuded quality despite their precarious position in the table. At its head was Kyle Abbott, destroyer of many a county batting line up over the years including the Somerset one. At the other end, the brilliant left arm seamer Keith Barker, once of Warwickshire and many a time a menace to the Somerset batters. Backing them up and newly signed for the final two matches of the season, was Indian Test spinner Washington Sundar. Against that attack, a partnership of 221 in 52 overs was something to be in your seat for.

Somerset made a typically rumbustious start and continued, apparently unperturbed, despite the frequent clatter of wickets which marked the morning session. First, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, two fours in three balls off Barker, a lofted straight drive to the Lord Ian Botham Stand and a back foot drive through point which raced along the creases to the dugouts in front of the Caddick Pavilion. Then a short ball, a pull and a top edge caught by Ali Orr at midwicket. A classic Kohler-Cadmore dismissal when he doesn’t go on to make quick runs. “You can’t have Kohler-Cadmore’s quick runs without the soft dismissals,” a Somerset supporter once said to me. Somerset 21 for 1. Kohler-Cadmore ten in ten balls. Then Tom Lammonby, in at three and out two overs later. He never got going and was caught behind by Ben Brown defending against Barker. “Oh Yes!” said a Hampshire voice as Lammonby turned and walked off. Somerset 25 for 2. Lammonby 0.

Archie Vaughan edged his second ball, from Abbott, wide of the four slips for four. He was a little more circumspect than Kohler-Cadmore but twice drove Abbott to the boundary, once through extra cover and once through point to the Somerset Stand. And then, the rain. It had been drifting along the Quantocks before arriving. It stopped play for half an hour with Somerset on 35 for 2 halfway through the eighth over. When the players returned, in bright sunshine, Vaughan too was beaten in defence and then edged Abbott to Ben Brown. Somerset 43 for 3 in the 13^th over. Vaughan 19. 

At the fall of Lammonby, James Rew had come to the crease, and off his sixth ball, the last before the rain break, he had pulled Barker over the Ondaatje boundary for six. Within nine balls of the departure of Vaughan, he had clipped Abbott off his toes to the Priory Bridge Road Stand and driven the 20-year-old left arm seamer Eddie Jack through extra cover to the Ondaatje Stand for four to a cry of, “Shot!” A ball later, he repeated the stroke and the cry of “Shot!” was repeated with it. Somerset 56 for 3 in the 15^th over. Somerset were not holding back. Perhaps their no more than mathematical chance of winning the Championship and rain taking the entire first day had something to do with it.

Somerset’s score continued to rise, a hook from Abell off James Fuller crossing the deep midwicket boundary in front of the Somerset Stand. A thick defensive edge from Rew ran along the ground and wide of the three slips to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion for four. A two and a single immediately followed, both pushed into the on side. Somerset 69 for 3 from 17 overs. And then Rew, trying belatedly to leave against Fuller, chopped on, flinging his head back in frustration. Somerset 69 for 4. Rew 30 from 43 balls. Lewis Goldsworthy to the crease. He drove his first ball square for three along the creases towards the long Somerset Stand boundary. In Fuller’s next over, he drove through extra cover off the back foot, the ball crossing the Priory Bridge Road boundary. The next ball was angled, with just a hint of edge, past the three slips to the Ondaatje boundary and Somerset finished for lunch, an over later, on 83 for 4 from 21 overs with Goldsworthy on 12 from 13 balls. Abell, a little more circumspectly, was on ten from 19. The cloud was back with one or two weather eyes cast towards it, but it was higher and brighter than the earlier rain cloud. Whether it threatened rain or not depended on whether you were a pessimist or an optimist.

The afternoon session started brighter than the morning, at least in terms of the weather. Initially, the cricket was less so, at least from a Somerset perspective. The persistent attack of the morning was replaced with intense defence. Just 21 runs came from the first 14 overs with two boundaries, both from Goldsworthy. Abell meanwhile added eight from 40 balls, all singles. Abbott and Sundar, with his off spin, were the main constraining bowlers. In the middle of those 14 overs, Goldsworthy attempted to glance Sundar, edged and was caught behind by Ben Brown who was already moving to leg as the ball pitched. Somerset 99 for 5. Goldsworthy 22. By the end of the 14^th over, the score had reached 104 for 5 with Barker now bowling in place of Abbott and generating significant inswing. Sundar had bowled eight overs for 11 runs, and an intriguing duel had developed between him and Abell and Aldridge who were picking their way through Sundar’s deliveries with extreme care.

And then, suddenly, as if all the post-lunch defence had been by way of sizing up the bowling, the tempo of the innings changed again, and the ball began to race back to the boundary. Aldridge began with a back foot cover drive off Sundar which rattled the dugouts in front of the Caddick Pavilion. Abell leaned into a drive off Barker, bowling from the Trescothick Pavilion End, which exuded quality and ran square along the creases to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. A cut through backward point off Sundar followed to a shout of, “Shot!” When James Fuller replaced Barker, Aldridge pulled him for a six which hit the bottom of the Caddick Pavilion, then pulled the next ball for four, bisecting the deep square leg and long leg fielders. As the Somerset score rose, a flowing extra cover drive from Abell off Fuller was another stroke of true quality, “Shot!” again ringing out.

The boundaries pushed Hampshire’s inner ring field deeper and Somerset soon went past 150 with a pull from Aldridge which again bisected deep square leg and long leg to cross the Priory Bridge Road boundary. That stroke also registered the fifty partnership and was described by one watcher as, “Controlled.” Abell went to his fifty from 99 balls with another leaned-into on drive, this time to the Ondaatje boundary off Jack. A chill breeze brought thicker cloud with it the floodlights came on. It did not deter Aldridge who was batting as well as he ever had for Somerset and was finding the boundary too. There was an off drive to Gimblett’s Hill off Jack and, in the next over, successive fours off Felix’ Organ’s off spin. One raced through the covers, “Shot!” and the second a leaned-into on drive went to the Ondaatje Stand. It took Aldridge to his fifty from 76 balls, Somerset to 199 for 5 and brought up the century partnership from 143 balls.

It wasn’t just the boundaries; the whole partnership had developed a sense of energy and control. Not risk free, there were a few edgy strokes including a pair of reverse sweeps off Sundar, but the risk was controlled. Singles pushed to the deep inner ring were quickly taken. Abell’s trademark call for a quick single, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” was heard several times, but there was never a sense of a run out being risked, no breaths held while a bat was run through the crease. Tea was reached with another pushed single, this time to midwicket from Aldridge off a speculative over of leg spin from Nick Gubbins. Speculative it may have been, but there was still a big shout for caught behind off the fifth ball. But Aldridge survived, and Somerset went to tea on 208 for 5. As I undertook a quiet teatime circumnavigation as circumnavigations go, one Somerset supporter said to me, “Abell and Aldridge. Proper batting,” which perfectly summed it up.

And after tea, the proper batting continued. In overdrive. It took me six overs to regain my seat during which 16 runs came, Abell and Aldridge settling back in. One stroke in particular caught the eye. A perfectly controlled reverse sweep from Abell off Sundar, bowling from the River End, which raced to the point where the Trescothick Pavilion meets the covers store. The cloud was now closing in and the temperature was dropping markedly especially in the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion which in cold weather feels like it bears some resemblance to the North Face of the Eiger. I might here mention that I have seen the Eiger, as it emerged from the mist as I travelled past it on a train from Interlaken en route to the Jungfrau. The North Face however, I leave to others more capable and less sensible than I.

Back in the middle, things were warming up. Abell leaned into another on drive off Barker and the ball crossed the boundary in front of the Ondaatje Stand. “First class”! the comment. Aldridge reverse swept Sundar over the same boundary for six. Then another “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” from Abell and another single was rattled up. The one hundred and fifty partnership, and Somerset’s 250 came from another reverse sweep, now one of cricket’s classic strokes. Abell the batter, the persevering Sundar the suffering bowler. “First point,” someone said, perhaps thinking of that distant prospect of the Championship. Then an on drive to the Ondaatje boundary from Abell off Fuller brought a chant of, “Abell, Abell,” from a group of well-dressed students from one of the local schools, perhaps his own. The next ball he drove straight and hard and shattered the non-striker’s stumps but took a single off the ricochet. It was the single that took him into the nineties and to a thousand runs for the season, a milestone less often reached in a season of only 14 matches than it previously was.

Ten runs came from that over while four singles came from the next, bowled by Sundar, as Abell and Aldridge continued to take every opportunity to score. Then nine off the next over, bowled by Fuller, including a single driven along by another Abell “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” That was immediately followed by an on driven four to the Ondaatje boundary from Abell which brought up his century from 164 balls for which a now buzzing ground stood to give him a standing ovation. Then another four, this time off Sundar, steered along the ground between the keeper and a wide first slip. “Brilliant!” someone said and when he drove Fuller through the on side to the Ondaatje Stand in the next over, the students broke out again into, “Abell, Abell.”

Now Aldridge took a hand. There was a reverse sweep off Sundar to the covers store and then, off Jack, an on drive to the Ondaatje boundary, immediately followed by a pull which landed ten rows into the Priory Bridge Road Stand to loud cheers and took Somerset past 300 in the 77^th over in the process. Then, almost anti-climactically, Aldridge reached his century from 155 balls with a single quietly turned to fine leg. The quiet nature of the stroke didn’t stop the crowd standing to applaud. Then, when Gubbins replaced Jack at the Trescothick Pavilion End he beat Abell with a leg break that turned. Three overs later, Organ, from the River End, beat Abell again, this time with an off spinner that pitched outside off, turned sharply, beat the inside edge of Abell’s drive and struck the off stump. Abell walked off to a standing ovation which followed him all the way to the rope. Somerset 320 for 6. Abell 118. Stand 221. The partnership was broken, but Abell and Aldridge had transformed the Somerset innings and, with the ball turning, potentially the match.

Two balls before the loss of Abell, Aldridge had driven Organ straight back over his head to the River End sight screen for six. An over after, Gubbins, breaking down in the third over of his spell, followed Abell off and was replaced by Sundar, but nothing stood in Aldridge’s way. Washington Sundar, off successive balls, was driven through the on side to the Ondaatje boundary and pulled for a six which hit the Caddick Pavilion to more cheers. Ben Green, like Aldridge, leaving at the end of the season, in his case for Leicestershire, came and went. After edging a drive which fell two yards short of slip off Abbott who had taken the new ball, he was bowled by the next ball trying to drive again. Somerset 347 for 7. Green 8.

Despite the loss of two wickets in short order, Somerset were still fully committed to the charge. Aldridge and Craig Overton, nine not out from nine balls at the close, added another 34 runs in the final six overs, bowled by Abbott and Sundar. Aldridge reached the boundary five times in those six overs, once off the edge, but for the rest, three on drives and a neatly played glance off Abbott to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion topped off a wonderful afternoon and evening of Somerset batting. After the shakiest of starts at 99 for 5, Somerset had added another 282 runs at four and a half runs an over for the loss of two wickets. An edge off the penultimate ball of the day, also from Abbott, fell a yard short of second slip but it could not take the gloss off 381 for 7 from 93 overs and some supporters, despite there only being two days left, held onto that faint mathematical hope of the Championship.

Close. Somerset 381 for 7.