County Championship 2026. Somerset v Yorkshire. May 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th. Taunton.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore (thumb), Tom Banton (finger) and Lewis Goldsworthy (hamstring) were unavailable for selection.

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, J.F. Thomas, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, W.C.F. Smeed, T.H.S. Rew, L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M. Pretorius, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Yorkshire. A. Lyth, F.J. Bean, J.H. Wharton, J.E. Root, J.M. Bairstow (c)(w), M.L. Revis, G.C.H. Hill, D.M. Bess, L.V. van Beek, J.A. Richardson, C. White.

Overnight. Yorkshire 162 and 365 for 9. Somerset 274. Yorkshire lead by 253 runs with one second innings wicket standing.

Final day – Another level awaits

The pattern of this match over the first three days had been remarkably similar to that of the previous match at Southampton. A first day dominated by Somerset. A second day on which the opposition fought back hard. A third day on which the opposition made enough progress to set Somerset a tough challenge on the final day. At Taunton, by the time Somerset had taken the tenth Yorkshire wicket early on the final morning they needed 260 to win. At Southampton it had been 288. In the 2020s scores of over 250 in the final innings to win a match were less infrequent than previously but still presented a significant challenge. At Southampton, the outcome was excruciatingly in the balance for the whole of the final day. It was the sort of day that some committed supporters are unable to watch other than in snatches so endlessly tense was it. Not until Tom Abell drove that final boundary, off Kyle Abbott, to the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand was it remotely clear who would win that match. The final day of this match never quite reached those heights.

Apart from a period around the middle of the innings when Josh Thomas, Tom Abell and Thomas Rew were at the crease, Somerset struggled. Until those middle overs, the determined push for runs so evident throughout the innings at Southampton was absent at Taunton. The early batters looked intent on not making errors rather than putting pressure on the opposition, a tactic that had been so successful at Southampton. The Yorkshire bowlers played a significant part in that. As they had been throughout Somerset’s first innings, they were relentless in their accuracy and their probing line. Where the batters did get the ball away, the Yorkshire fielders gave nothing away in attacking the ball to prevent runs. From the top of the Trescothick Pavilion it felt like Somerset were being squeezed between the two faces of a joiner’s vice. Run rate was not the issue, once the innings was underway, the required run rate was always close to three runs an over. But the initiative and the momentum always seemed to be with Yorkshire.

The day had begun well enough for Somerset under skies less threatening than earlier in the match. The crowd of at least, to my eye, fifteen hundred, was at least twice as large as the usual last-day crowd. Perhaps the state of the match, the tremendous Somerset performance at Southampton and their position in the Championship table had something to do with that. Perhaps the fact that it was a Bank Holiday too. The weather forecast, although variable depending on which forecast you looked at, was not good. The crowd made their presence felt when, in the second over of the day, Craig Overton, to top off an excellent bowling performance, found the edge of Jhye Richardson’s bat shortly after he had reached fifty for only the fifth time in a ten-year first-class career. It left Somerset 92 overs to reach their target.

As Archie Vaughan and Josh Thomas walked to the wicket there was an air of anticipation and someone said, “If we are going to win the Championship, we are going to have to win matches from positions like this, especially at Taunton.” As Jack White began his run to deliver the first ball to Vaughan, another voice said, “Here we go.” And as White accelerated, the crowd fell silent. And breathed a sigh of relief as Vaughan took the ball on the middle of the bat and quietly pushed it back down the pitch. Before White had begun his run however, the Yorkshire field had engaged in loud, intrusive rhythmic clapping rising to a crescendo. It became a feature of the morning, not before every ball, but frequently, and was clearly co-ordinated. It brought to mind the apparently co-ordinated and frequent loud appealing by Nottinghamshire at Taunton some years ago. On that occasion, the umpires intervened. There was no indication of that on this occasion.

The third ball of the innings, Vaughan chipped a yard short and just wide of Dom Bess at midwicket. Bess dived and gathered the ball but was unable to complete the catch. It was both a relief and a reminder that a run chase of 260 would not be easy. Then, “That was a good ball,” the comment as Thomas edged White short of the keeper. In the fourth over, Vaughan was facing George Hill bowling from the River End. The ball cut in a trace and struck the off stump. Somerset 9 for 1. Vaughan 4. 251 still needed. Batting did not look easy. Tom Lammonby came to the wicket and took a single from his first ball, but it had run through backward point off a thick edge. Four balls later, Thomas edged again, this time short of first slip and I was probably not the only Somerset supporter to take a deep breath.

Lammonby began, as he so often does, by leaving balls uncomfortably, at least for the Somerset watcher, close to his stumps. Four in a single over from White who was teasing some minimal movement out of the conditions. Then, again Thomas edged low but short of slip. And all the while the batters focus was intently on defence. After ten overs, the score was 13 for 1 and even when the batters drove the ball it usually went to one of the inner ring fielders with little power. The nature of the play, the suffocatingly tight bowling and the inability or reluctance of the batters to risk trying to pierce the field combined with the rising intensity of the rhythmic clapping created a sense of a batting side under siege. Then, with the score on 16 for 1 in the 14^th over Lammonby left one ball too many. Bowled by the laser-targeted deliveries of Hill the ball passed under Lammonby’s horizontal bat and clipped the off stump. Somerset 16 for 2. Lammonby 4 from 25 balls in four minutes over half an hour. Another 244 runs needed. More deep intakes of breath.

James Rew to the crease. Rew, along with Tom Abell had formed the backbone of the Somerset batting thus far in 2026 and now he was off the mark first ball with a single turned neatly to the Somerset Stand at long leg. That was followed by another thick edge from Thomas wide enough of the slips for a single to be taken, and then, as Hill walked back to his mark, the return of the rhythmic clapping. By the end of the 16^th over, Somerset were 21 for 2. Dom Bess, who had replaced Hill at the River End, allowing Hill to switch to the Trescothick Pavilion End, bowled the 17^th over to Rew. Rew came forward to drive a ball pitched on off. The ball turned and Jonny Bairstow took the catch. Somerset 21 for 3. Rew 2. Another 239 runs still required. Once the cheers of the visiting Yorkshire supporters died away, the ground fell silent, a silence only broken in the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion by a plaintiff, “Oh dear.”

Tom Abell tried to break the Yorkshire stranglehold on the batting. Firstly, with a drive through extra cover off Bess for four and two drives through midwicket to the Ondaatje and Caddick Pavilion boundaries. It brought some relief but with it, the resulting score of 34 for 3 brought a cold blast of reality. Somerset still needed another 226 runs with James Rew, one of the two stalwarts of the 2026 batting, already gone. Abell’s approach did though produce some momentum for Somerset. In the remaining ten overs to lunch there were no boundaries, but the singles were starting to come. Nineteen in those ten overs and two twos. After Bess conceded five runs in one over, Yorkshire turned to Joe Root’s off spin at the River End. “Perhaps he has seen something and asked for the ball,” someone suggested, but Somerset continued at just over two runs an over compared to the just over one an over before Abell came to the wicket. It kept the required run rate within touching distance of three runs an over and Abell took Somerset to 50 for 3 in the 27^th over with a drive off Root to deep midwicket.

What was concerning from a Somerset perspective and no doubt encouraging for the travelling Yorkshire supporters, was that the spinners, Bess in particular, were coaxing some turn out of the pitch. Nothing spectacular, but enough to stick in the mind of the watcher, and presumably therefore the batter. And the loud, rhythmic clapping between balls continued. Not every ball, but enough to keep the mind wondering when the next instalment might come. For Somerset, Thomas and Abell were more positive in their running, Thomas putting the mid-on fielder under enough pressure to result in a rushed misfield in the over before lunch. Later in the over, Thomas left a ball, leaving a clear view of the ball turning. Not much but, as a cricketer once said to me, it doesn’t take much.

At 57 for 3 at lunch, the 203 runs still needed still seemed a very long way away and I conducted my circumnavigation passing a string of taut faces coming the other way and on Gimblett’s Hill where I stopped to talk. Among those I spoke to, there was a dislike for the rhythmic clapping which most saw as a tactic for applying pressure to the batters. At the same time there were compliments for the Yorkshire bowling. ‘Remorseless’ and ‘unrelenting’ were among the comments, and for the fielding. “Very tight,” one Somerset supporter called it. There was anxiety too about how important the 95 runs added by Yorkshire’s last two wickets in their second innings might be. “It was a long day, and our bowlers looked very tired by the end of it,” one added.

With the start of the afternoon session, the cloud began to thicken and Abell was subject to a huge leg before wicket appeal to the third ball of the session bowled by the ever-threatening Hill. Thomas was beaten by White and then edged Hill short of and past the only slip fielder as he continued to defend. The Yorkshire field was seemingly placed to apply pressure by strangling Somerset’s scoring. There were two on the boundary, a close-set inner ring and a short midwicket. With the required run rate climbing closer to three and a half an over, another round of rhythmic clapping began. With Somerset on 64 for 3, still 196 runs away from their target, Hill’s bowling analysis read 11-5-18-2, and the tension was palpable as increasing cloud brought a chill breeze to the top of the Trescothick Pavilion.

Again, Abell tried to break out. A scintillating straight drive off White crossed the Trescothick Pavilion boundary to cheers. A change of ball, a feature of Championship cricket in the years leading up to 2026, followed. The fifty partnership was registered when Thomas turned Hill behind square for four. A shout of, “Come on Somerset,” came from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion after a drive through the off side from Abell off Logan van Beek crossed the boundary in front of Gimblett’s Hill. Bess replaced Hill at the River End and, to rising cheers, Abell drove him through extra cover to the boundary in front of the newly erected Temporary Stand between the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and the Caddick Pavilion. Somerset were 85 for 3, 175 runs from victory. It still felt a long way off, but the score at least was moving.

And then, before Bess’s over was out, Abell came down on a full ball pitched wide of off stump and edged it to Hill at slip. Somerset 85 for 4. Abell 41. Yorkshire cheers. Somerset silence. Until the applause for Abell began as he walked off. “I think that’s a bit crucial,” the comment as eyes turned to the sky but the hills in every direction were still sharply defined and there seemed little prospect of rescue for Somerset from that direction. Thomas Rew, on the back of his second ball dismissal in the first innings, drove his second ball in the second, from Bess, through extra cover to the Priory Bridge Road boundary for four to a shout of “Hooray!” In van Beek’s next over, Thomas, now getting into his stride, drove the first ball dismissively through the covers for four. It crossed the rope by the T20 dug outs in front of the Caddick Pavilion. “Another one,” someone said as Thomas drove the next ball, again through the covers, this time for two.

It was clear though that, with 165 runs still needed, a lot rested on the shoulders of an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old in, respectively, their first and sixth County Championship matches. Against van Beek and Bess and then Root and Bess, unlike most of their predecessors, they kept the score moving from the start, Rew in particular with three boundaries including a perfectly played and placed reverse sweep through backward point to the Somerset Stand off Root. It was followed by a controlled drive to deep midwicket for a single. “Well played,” someone shouted. Thomas meanwhile was working to rotate the strike, and, with controlled strokes, four times took twos as Somerset reached 120 for 4 and the required run rate fell back below three. Then,“Steady!” someone cautioned when Rew tried to reverse sweep Bess and missed.

Some sharp running added to the impression of Somerset picking up the tempo with two threes, one from each batter, the second drawing animated applause. A single brought a shout of, “Well run,” and Rew drove Root wide of mid-on to Gimblett’s Hill, the boundary taking Somerset to 132 for 4 and past halfway to their targe of 260. Somerset’s acceleration was having an impact on Yorkshire’s tactics too with the inner ring field gradually moving deeper and the rhythmic clapping diminishing in frequency. Meanwhile, the Somerset crowd was becoming more animated in its applause and cheering There was long applause when a reverse sweep from Rew off Root brought the single which registered the fifty partnership. And yet, so intense had the concentration been under the continuous tension, that it felt like far more than 50 runs had been added. A moment’s thought also had two inexperienced, if demonstrably able, batters at the crease against a turning, if not hugely so, ball in the hands of two experienced spinners who were bowling and well supported by some sharp fielding. There had been a number of edges too, particularly from Thomas, and 128 more runs still felt uncomfortably far off.

And then, with hope beginning to flutter in the Somerset chest, it was dealt what felt like a mortal blow as both Thomas and Rew were out within six runs. Thomas attempted to cut Bairstow and bottom-edged into the ground. Two balls later, he came forward to defend against Bess, the ball turned, not much but enough, and Hill took the catch at slip. Somerset 136 for 5. Thomas 57 in 13 minutes over three hours, or 165 balls. Against Root, Rew missed a reverse sweep before stepping back to cut the next ball and edged to Bairstow. Somerset 142 for 6. Rew 30 in precisely an hour. “Oh dear,” the comment again. And with Somerset still requiring 118 runs with only four wickets remaining, especially with Bess and Root bowling as they were, the looks on the faces round me suggested the speaker spoke for us all.

There was always a prospect of s fighting finish with Will Smeed and Craig Overton now at the crease and with Lewis Gregory and Alfie Ogborne to come. But against that, the way in which Yorkshire had bowled weighed down. There were regrets too. “Those 95 runs that Yorkshire’s last two wickets added in their second innings have made the difference,” someone said. And when Overton was caught at short leg by Adam Lyth from a middled, full-blooded pull off Root which flew straight into his midriff, it seemed as if even the cricketing gods were against Somerset. Somerset 152 for 7. Overton 2. Still 107 needed. At tea, with the runs required reduced to 93 after some well placed drives from Smeed and Gregory, a Somerset supporter said to me, “It’s still not impossible.” And it wasn’t, but the tide of the day was flowing too heavily in the opposite direction for any realistic optimism.

That tide continued to flow after tea as the rhythmic clapping was back in evidence. Two wickets in two balls from Root virtually settled the outcome. First, Smeed stepped back to guide him through the off side and edged the ball to Hill at slip, his third catch of the innings to add to his two crucial early wickets and his strangulation bowling. Somerset 173 for 8. Smeed 21. And then, off his first ball, Migael Pretorius attempted to drive Root straight, but Root took the catch as the ball flew towards his head. Somerset 173 for 9. The end soon followed when Alfie Ogborne was bowled through a defensive stroke by a ball from Bess that turned sharply. Somerset 184 all out. Ogborne 1. Gregory 21 not out. Yorkshire won by 75 runs.

The end had come quickly and it was a subdued Somerset crowd that walked out through the Jack White Gates. A game, and a final day, that had begun with so much hope had ended in what felt like a crushing defeat. In truth, Somerset never got near their target. They had had a disappointing second morning as they had at Southampton. Their visibly tired bowlers had been unable to finish the Yorkshire second innings on the third evening, and statistically those 95 Yorkshire runs from their last two wickets were the difference. Many I spoke to thought Somerset let this match slip away from them. It looked to me more like Yorkshire had taken it away from them. Somerset did not lose this match, Yorkshire won it with a display of unremittingly intense bowling. Hill and White at the top of the innings and Root and Bess at the end will take the plaudits when they return to Headingley. As to Somerset, if they are ever to win the Championship, as the man said, they have to find a way of winning matches from the position they were in at the start of the final day. After the heights were scaled at Southampton, this match revealed that another level awaited.

Result. Yorkshire 162 (L. Gregory 6-43) and 371 (J.H. Wharton 92, J.E. Root 64, J.A. Richardson 50, C. Overton 4-94). Somerset 274 (J.F. Thomas 136, T.B. Abell 50, C. White 4-41) and 184 (J.F. Thomas 51, T.B. Abell 41, J.E. Root 4-41, D.M. Bess 4-60. Yorkshire won by 75 runs. Yorkshire 19 points. Somerset 4 points.