County Championship 2026. Somerset v Sussex. May 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th. Taunton.

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

Jordan Hermann made his Somerset debut.

Somerset. J.G. Hermann, J.F. Thomas, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, A.M. Vaughan, C. Overton, L. Gregory (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Sussex. T.J. Haines, DP Hughes, T.G.R. Clark, J.A. Leaning, J.M. Coles, J.A. Simpson (w), C.J. Tear, F.J. Hudson-Prentice, J.J. Carson, O.E. Robinson (c), H.T. Crocombe. 

Overnight. Somerset 526 for 8 dec. Sussex 236 for 8. Sussex trail by 290 runs with two first innings wickets standing.

Final day – Jupiter Pluvius takes a hand

When Tom Abell, at first slip, reached towards Craig Overton at second, caught the ball which had just flown off the edge of Henry Crocombe’s bat and rolled with the catch, the three or four hundred Somerset supporters in the ground cheered and applauded Somerset’s start. It was the twelfth ball of the day, Lewis Gregory, from thw River End, the bowler. Sussex had begun the day eight wickets down still 290 short of matching Somerset’s first innings. James Coles had already been caught at second slip by Overton off the bowling of Alfie Ogborne. Those final two wickets had come in 13 balls, although Sussex had found the boundary off three of those balls. It left Somerset with 91 overs to take ten wickets to win the match and Sussex needing 273 runs if they were to make Somerset bat again.

Five hours later, with 31 of those 91 overs remaining the scoreboard showed Sussex on 113 for 7 with Jack Leach in mid-over with figures of 8.4-3-7-0 and the five members of the ground staff in a line pulling the first of the covers from its resting place just beyond the Priory Bridge Road boundary. Rain. Imperceptible from my seat beneath the wing roof which sits above the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion, but rain nonetheless. I counted seven raised umbrellas among the few remaining occupants of the open stands. Five minutes later the umbrellas were all down. The sky though, was unforgiving in its end-to-end greyness. Two of the sheeting covers were soon covering the pitch and the parts of the square immediately adjacent to it. And then, with the remaining covers still folded beyond the boundary, the ground staff stood motionless, in a group, next to the corner of the covers nearest the Brian Rose Gates.

The crowd in the covered stands sat as motionless as the ground staff, a few looking at their phones in the way of 2020s people. One was reading a book. Some from the open stands had sought cover. Those of us in the crowd not looking at our phones sat staring at the outfield. Whether people saw what they looked at or were lost in thought or conversation I know not. By five o’clock the weather had brightened and only one umbrella remained raised. But three covers were now on and the ground staff had moved to stand by more. It was one of those days when the rain doesn’t know whether to stick or twist so just hangs in the air and ground staff and spectators hang around with it. Occasionally, a walk from my covered seat near the back of the stand into the open area at the front revealed it was raining despite appearances being to the contrary from the back. Raining. Just, but raining. Not enough to demand more covers, but enough to deter the umpires from resuming play. And all the while, as that 113 for 7 stared down from the scoreboards, we waited, and hoped, for a break long enough for the game to resume as the remaining overs counted down.

The day had begun, those final two Sussex first innings wickets still standing, in front of a small crowd even by final day standards. There was a covering of high, white cloud but the forecast foretold worse to come and fifteen minutes before the start there were a few spots of rain on the breeze, and the ground staff stood by the pitch with the matting cover on its barrow close by ready to be rolled out. There was a chill on the air, but it was not remotely as cold as it had been on the first three days, and the van from which I had bought hot chocolate to ward off the cold had taken leave of absence. The Quantocks and the other hills which fill the horizon around Taunton were clearly visible with their top ridges clear against the white cloud. The sky and the Quantocks brought hope. The spots of rain on the air sided with the forecast.

Between the innings, the floodlights came on and gave another twist to the anxiety about the weather. Sussex began their second innings positively, 17 runs coming from the first four overs, although one of the two boundaries, from Daniel Hughes, came from a wince-inducing inside edge which flew past the stumps and just out of reach of the diving James Rew. I was sat as near over the umpire’s head as makes no difference and the ball was clearly moving for both Gregory and Alfie Ogborne. The left-handed Tom Haines was subject to three leg before wicket appeals in the space of two overs. Then, when he attempted a flashing cover drive to a ball from Ogborne which began a foot outside off stump and swung away, the ball flew off the outside edge and was caught above his head by Lewis Gregory at first slip. Sussex 22 for 1. Haines 5. Deficit 251. Overs remaining 86. “Well done, Alfie,” the shout from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion.

As the newly arrived Tom Clark, another left-hander, waited for Ogborne to bowl, silence settled on the ground. With four slips waiting, Clark presented his bat to his first ball, angled it and the ball disappeared through the covers to the Caddick Pavilion boundary. But the Somerset bowlers continued to generate movement, and Hughes was beaten twice in an over by Gregory, “Good over,” someone said before the silence gripped the ground again. Now, to add to the tension, the cloud began to hint at threat as it darkened over the flats while below, Gregory maintained the pressure on Sussex, forcing a thin inside edge from Clark. The ball continued onto Clark’s pads right in front of the stumps. It ran for a single, but Gregory dropped to his knees and shouted, “Oh my goodness me!” his words carrying on the breeze to those of us in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion.

There was a well-played glance for four off Pretorius to the Botham Stand from Clark, but with the score on 39 for 1, the runs slowed to virtually nothing, nine coming from the next eight overs as Sussex settled in for a long grind. Pretorius was getting significant swing but struggled to control it and was replaced at the Trescothick Pavilion End by Overton for the final three overs before lunch. When Sussex had crept forward to 54 for 1 with 73 overs remaining, I said to the person next to me, “We need to make something happen.” As if in response, Archie Vaughan, in his third over from the River End, bowled the next ball to Hughes. Hughes cut hard and the ball flew chest-high straight to Pretorius at backward point. With the broadest of smiles, he took the offering. Sussex 54 for 2. Hughes 21. Deficit 219. “One more,” someone in the field shouted in Vaughan’s next over, but Sussex survived until lunch without more damage despite a huge leg before wicket shout against Jack Leaning. They added just two runs in the final five overs, reaching lunch on 65 for 2 with Leaning showing the nature of their intent with just a single from 21 balls. As the players left the field, the deficit, fast becoming irrelevant as all now hung on the destiny of those eight remaining Sussex wickets, 208. The overs remaining were 66, the cloud which hung over the match remained darker than at the start, and the lights shone on.

The afternoon began with a mixture of fortunes. Clark was beaten by the first ball, from Gregory, left the next eye wateringly close to the stumps and drove the next straight for four. Against Craig Overton, he edged low to Vaughan at third slip, but the ball ran away for a single. “I don’t think that carried, did it?” someone asked. “No,” the disappointed reply. “Well bowled Craig,” the opinion from someone else. And around them, when there was not the silence which accompanied the bowler running in, there was a growing anticipatory buzz. Overton was barely moving the ball, but he was searingly accurate and, after two shouts of “Well bowled” in an over, Leaning attempted to drive him through midwicket. He failed to keep the ball down and Ogborne took the catch. Sussex 79 for 3. Leaning 4 from 33 balls in a minute under three quarters of an hour. Deficit 197. Overs remaining 60.

A four followed from James Coles, turned towards the Caddick Pavilion off Overton. It was the first for six overs. In Overton’s next over, the ball was angled into Clark. There was no movement, but Clark was late getting his bat across from just outside his pads and was leg before wicket. To my eye, he was struck in front of middle, and the umpire had no doubt. The volume of the cheer that followed belied the fact that there were less than five hundred people in the ground. Sussex 86 for 4. Clark 34 from 95 balls in two minutes over two hours. Deficit 187. Overs remaining 56. Someone pointed to the sky over the flats, which is where the Taunton weather usually comes from, although on this day it was coming more from behind the Trescothick Pavilion. He was pointing to a narrow swathe of blue sky as the cloud lightened in colour and, as the light improved, the floodlights went off which brought hope that the promised rain might stay away.

Two overs later, Overton struck again. Coles, attempting to keep a ball out, edged it to Abell at first slip. Sussex 87 for 5. “Yes!” I heard myself shouting, my arm, notes pencil still in hand, performing a short-arm jab of triumph. My “Yes!” was but one of a fusillade of similar shouts. Somerset were closing in. Coles 6 from 15 balls. The increasingly irrelevant deficit was still 186 with 54 overs remaining in which to take the final five wickets. If only the weather would hold. Overton finished his over with figures of 10-6-14-3. It was the force of nature Overton of old in full flow. Jack Leach had replaced Gregory and completed two overs for a single. Sussex were completely hemmed in. John Simpson, one of a number of wicket keeper batters who over the years had cause Somerset problems with the bat, had replaced Clark. When there was a huge leg before wicket appeal against him from Leach, with the crowd fully engaged, someone shouted, “Well bowled Jack!”

Then, with Sussex on 93 for 6 and still 50 overs remaining there was a flash like lightning which caused people to start and look up. The sky was darkening again, and the floodlights had come back on. After the first ball of the next over, bowled from the River End by Leach, the lights flashed again, but this time they went off, apparently of their own accord. The umpires consulted. Decided to stay on, and then, before another ball could be bowled, consulted again. There were murmurings in the crowd, and someone shouted, “You’ve got a spinner on. Not Curtly Ambrose.” Play resumed and Leach struck Charlie Tear on the pads to another loud appeal. “Bowled Jack!” the cry. Sussex had virtually ceased to score, and all their efforts were focused on grim defence, but the loss of the floodlights and the darkened sky brought a new tension for Somerset watchers.

Somerset though had the bit between their teeth. With no lights and dark skies Leach and Vaughan had the ball. Vaughan, with that slight mule kick of his as he sets off to bowl, pitched just outside Tear’s off stump, turned the ball, not hugely but enough, and bowled him through the gate. Another huge cheer. Sussex 95 for 6. Tear 6 from 30 balls in half an hour. “Well done, Archie,” the shout as the cheers died away. With 46 overs remaining the match was firmly in Somerset’s grip, but with the lights still off, the weather now threatened more than the Sussex batters.

There was ocasional chatter now, but whenever a bowler pushed off from his mark the ground fell back into that audible silence which had been a feature of the day. There was another cheer when, with 42 overs remaining, the lights came back on with another lightning-like flash. The return of the lights brought Pretorius back into the fray in place of Vaughan at the Trescothick Pavilion End from where he began to produce some accurate late away swing. With rain beginning to creep along the Quantocks, Ogborne replaced Leach and beat Fynn Hudson-Prentice with his second ball. But then, as Ogborne completed his over, the umpires began to look at the sky rather as a police officer might look at someone exhibiting suspicious behaviour.

As the rain spread further along the Quantocks, it was not only the umpires who were looking at the sky. And then everyone was looking at the umpire at the River End after Ogborne let forth a huge leg before wicket appeal against Hudson-Prentice. The umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger, but Hudson-Prentice looked long and hard down the pitch before he walked off. A replay suggests the ball would have struck middle and leg. Again, my arm, pencil attached, had punched the air to a shout of “Yes!” Somerset really were closing in with Sussex were 110 for 7. Hudson-Prentice 5 from 26 balls in a minute over half an hour. Thirty-seven overs remained. One over later, tea was called with Sussex on 111 for 7 with Somerset needing just those three wickets. “Tea?” someone asked, “Now?”

As the players walked off there was a quiet buzz as people temporarily released tension. No one could relax too much though because red-ball cricket is the most unpredictable of games. The ground staff kept some tension up too by again leaving the matting pitch cover, the first line of defence against rain, on its barrow next to the Trescothick Pavilion End of the pitch. And there it remained throughout the tea interval like the sword of Damocles hanging over Somerset’s fortunes. The sword was stayed however, for the tea interval at least, and the players returned on time. Jordan Hermann began at the River End with his part-time off spin, replacing Leach so that Leach could switch to the Trescothick Pavilion End. It availed Somerset nothing. Four balls into Leach’s first over, the umpires came together, looked at the sky, and this time they took the players off. As they went, those same seven umbrellas as earlier were raised as if they were an omen sent by Jupiter Pluvius.

There followed that long wait with the rain teasing as much as falling but falling enough and for long enough to keep the players from the field. Two or three times the umpires went out to the middle and returned. I went for a walk intending to complete a circumnavigation but fell into conversation with someone outside the Caddick Pavilion. Walking past the equipment store, behind the Ondaatje Stand and then standing in front of the Caddick Pavilion, the rain, if no more than a hint of drizzle for much of the time, was rain. It was about as light as rain can be, occasionally a shade heavier, but while I was out in the open it never stopped for more than a few minutes until eventually, after what seemed an interminable wait, the dreams of victory of the Somerset spectators still in the ground were finally laid to rest.

Close. Somerset 526 for 8 dec (T.B. Abell 119, C. Overton 111, J.E.K. Rew 86). Sussex 253 (D.P. Hughes 107) and 113 for 7 (C. Overton 3-14). Match drawn. Somerset 15 points. Sussex 10 points.