County Championship 2026. Somerset v Warwickshire. June 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd. Taunton.

Somerset captain Lewis Gregory was not available for selection due to a hamstring injury. Craig Overton replaced him as captain. Also unavailable through injury were Tom Abell (hand injury). Will Smeed (finger), Tom Lammonby (elbow). James Rew was unavailable for selection due to being on England duty.

Somerset. J.G. Hermann, J.F. Thomas, T. Kohler-Cadmore, L.P. Goldsworthy, T.H.S. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, C. Overton (c), M.J. Leach, J. Shaw, M. Pretorius/A.R.J. Ogborne*, J.T. Ball.

*Alfie Ogborne replaced Migael Pretorius at the beginning of the second day under the ECB injury replacement regulations being trialled in 2026 after Pretorius suffered a chest muscle injury.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (w), D.R. Mousley, S.R. Hain, B.J. Webster, E.G. Barnard (c), Z.A. Malik, E.R. Bamber, J.A. Thompson, N.N. Gilchrist.

Overnight. Somerset 208. Warwickshire 92 for 2. Warwickshire trail by 116 runs with eight first innings wickets standing.

Second day – Somerset hang on

On the second day, the match continued to move away from Somerset as Warwickshire batted with care to build a 122-run first innings lead. There was no lack of effort from the Somerset bowlers. They kept to their task, and in the end produced a performance which kept the Warwickshire score more within bounds that it otherwise might have been. The pitch seemed easier than it had on the first day and Sam Hain, Dan Mousley and Beau Webster took Warwickshire 41 runs past Somerset’s 208 before the sixth wicket fell. After that, Warwickshire maintained enough discipline for the final four wickets to add another 81 runs. Then, when Somerset batted again, Nathan Gilchrist, who learned his cricket in the Somerset Academy, removed Josh Thomas before the close, leaving Somerset 99 runs adrift with nine wickets and two days remaining. Somerset hanging on, but with a lot of climbing back to do.

The day had begun with Alfie Ogborne being named as an injury replacement for Migael Pretorius. Play began under a covering of light grey cloud encircling a long narrow patch of blue sky which stretched the length of the Botham Stand like a soft blue halo over the Quantocks. The crowd was markedly down on the bumper first day, around 1,200 present by my estimation, about average for a post-pandemic second day. I had opted to sit in the lower level of the Trescothick Pavilion for an occasional watch from a different angle. From there, almost directly beneath my usual seating area at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, the play seemed much closer, the reduced vertical angle making a considerable difference, at least or at least gave that impression.

From the start, Warwickshire faced little apparent threat from the Somerset bowlers, although the bowling was on the mark and Warwickshire took few risks, satisfying themselves with 30 runs in the first dozen overs. There were only three fours, all of which came in the space of two overs, two in three balls from Hain off Jake Ball, deflections on either side of the wicket. My notes show not a single ball going uninvited past the bat in those 12 overs. And then, the floodlights flashed, lit up, the rain came down and the players went off with Warwickshire 122 for 2, 82 runs behind.

Having driven the players off, the rain passed on, delaying proceedings for five overs which could be made up at the end of the day. After the break, Josh Shaw continued from the River End, running in with renewed vigour and with more bite than he had before it. After Mousley had reached fifty from 99 balls with a cut through backward point to the Gimblett’s Hill scoreboard off Jake Ball, Shaw was rewarded. He cut a ball in from wide of off stump, tucked Mousley up in the drive and Mousley edged to Rew behind the stumps. Warwickshire 129 for 3 at 2.7 runs an over. Deficit 79. Mousley 54 in four minutes short of three hours.

Two overs later, the rain returned and ended play for the morning. During those two overs, Hain drove at successive balls from Ogborne, bowling across the right-hander from around the wicket. The first flew off the edge, Hain’s head swivelling round to watch the ball fly past the two slips to the Hildreth Stand. The second went through cover to the Somerset Stand, although a half swivel of the head suggested Hain had intended it to go straighter. “Well done, Alfie,” someone said. And then, before Alfie could follow up, more rain and an early lunch. Warwickshire 138 for 3, now just 70 behind. The rain was brief, an additional half hour or eight overs was added to the day with five overs lost from the extended day.

The afternoon was one of steady progress for Warwickshire, not progress without interruption from Somerset, but a lead of 33 at tea for the loss of only two more wickets told its own story as Warwickshire threatened to take the game away from Somerset. In that session, barely a ball passed the bat that the batters did not let through, although there were a few, mainly thick, edges. A run rate between lunch and tea which just touched three runs an over pointed to Somerset’s perseverance and Warwickshire’s low-risk innings building. “It’s how they always play,” someone said. To the accuracy of that statement, I cannot attest, but for this match, with over seven sessions still to play when Warwickshire took the lead late in the session, it was a policy which it seemed might well produce dividends.

Ogborne, Trescothick Pavilion End, and Ball, had begun the afternoon well for Somerset, Hain driving Ball hard but straight back at him in his first over. The ball flew straight at Ball’s head, but Ball could only palm it behind him after which Hain added the indignity of taking a single. An over later, he was gone. A shortish, quick ball from Ogborne seemed to surprise him with its lift, he had shaped as if to guide it down and past the slips, attempted to withdraw his bat and edged to Overton at second slip. Warwickshire 151 for 4. Hain 68 in 14 minutes over three hours. Deficit 57. It brought a glimmer of early afternoon hope to the Somerset crowd.

But the hope slowly dissipated as Ed Barnard and Webster dug in, nine runs coming in the next six overs, and then accelerated towards Somerset’s total. Somerset had just brought Jack Leach into the attack at the River End, the traditional spinner’s end at Taunton, to the warm applause with which the Somerset crowd always greets Leach. “Hooray!” someone shouted for good measure. Webster greeted him by sweeping his second ball to the Somerset Stand at long leg for six. Leach gave his riposte with the next ball which beat the bat, went excruciatingly close to the stumps and was then dropped by Rew. Whether it had just shaved the bat on the way through was impossible to know from seventy yards away. Now Barnard hit out. He drove Overton through point to the Somerset Stand and then launched Leach straight to the River End sight screen for six. When Shaw replaced Overton, Barnard turned him to fine leg for four and brought up the fifty partnership. “That partnership has come quick,” someone said. In fact, it had taken 82 balls, the impression of something quicker perhaps coming from the sudden flurry of boundaries at the end.

Then, Leach again, from over the wicket. The ball pitched on off and turned past Barnard’s attempt to play it with a straight bat. Barnard had momentarily lifted his heel and in a sharp piece of work, Rew had the bails off. Warwickshire 202 for 5. Barnard 19. It brought the sort of cheer and applause which a sharp piece of keeper work always attracts, but Warwickshire were now, with five wickets standing, within six runs of Somerset’s total. They went in front innocuously enough with two leg byes as they returned to methodical, medium pace batting. Medium paced it may have been but, as earlier, it suited their cause and, with so much time left in the match, they began to pull away from Somerset. By tea, 13 overs away, they had reached 241 for 5, a lead of 33, which with five wickets still standing was beginning to bite into the Somerset comfort zone.

In that lead-up to tea Webster was to the fore. In the, as yet unbroken, sixth wicket partnership he scored 23 runs to Zen Malik’s 13 of the 39 it had added before tea, He found the boundary three times, including rising to his toes to drive Shaw through the covers with the smoothest of flows of the bat, the pace with which the ball covered the ground to the Somerset Stand coming from an immaculate piece of timing. His fifty came from 86 balls with a sweep to the fine leg boundary in front of the Gimblett’s Hill scoreboard, Archie Vaughan the bowler, replacing Leach at the River End with Leach switching to the Trescothick Pavilion End. Throughout the session, the bowlers continued to bowl with the discipline they had shown in the morning, but with the exception of both Leach and Vaughan, each going past the edge of Malik’s bat once and a big leg before wicket appeal from Vaughan against Webster which resulted in a leg bye, there had been little sign of penetration.

Tea saw hundreds of spectators on the outfield for the first time in 2026. It was the fourth home Championship match of the season, two and a half months after its start. It was an impressive demonstration of the attachment of supporters to that century and a half old tradition which many of those present had been enjoying for over a third of that time. The author’s first foray onto the Taunton outfield had come 58 years previously. I can remember playing tennis ball cricket on the outfield as a child and then playing it with my sons thirty years later. On one occasion, one of my son’s hit the ball in the air straight back to the other who caught it one-handed. Tony Brown, ex-Gloucestershire player, happened to be walking by in his days as Somerset Club Secretary and said to my son, “Use both hands,” before moving on. Cricket on the Taunton outfield with free coaching.

Back to the Trescothick Pavilion for the evening session and the new ball, taken by Overton, running away from me, and Ball. Both struck quickly, bringing the game back just within Somerset’s reach. Webster was leg before wicket to a ball in Ball’s first over which cut in and defeated his attempt to get his bat across. Warwickshire 249 for 6. Webster 64. Lead 41. Three overs later, Overton pitched full to Malik and on the stumps. Malik popped the ball straight back to Overton who took the catch in front of his thighs. With both hands. Warwickshire 259 for 7. Malik 16 in eleven minutes over an hour, scored from the 57 runs added while he was at the crease, an indication of the role he had played in the middle of the Warwickshire innings. While he was there Warwickshire had moved from six runs behind to 51 ahead.

Now, with only three wickets remaining, Jordan Thompson and Manav Suthar, both left-handers, took up the reins for Warwickshire, Thompson beginning by picking up the scoring rate. He hit Ball over midwicket and into the first row of the Priory Bridge Road Stand for six. In Ball’s next over, he drove through straight midwicket for four. Somerset reduced their slips from two to one to strengthen the leg side field. Two balls later, Thompson cut Ball through backward point to the Brian Rose Gates. When Vaughan replaced Overton, Suthar immediately struck him over long off to the Hildreth Stand for six. Things then quietened a little, but four overs later Suthar hit Vaughan again, this time over extra cover to the Somerset Stand for another six. That took Warwickshire past 300 and to within four of a hundred run lead. “Here we go,” said one Somerset voice with a tinge of inevitability about it.

It was Ogborne who broke through the Warwickshire assault, striking Thompson on the pad as he tried to whip him through midwicket. Warwickshire 304 for 8. Thompson 31 from 39 balls. Lead 96. Thompson was gone, but Suthar continued his own assault. Three fours in quick succession, a reverse sweep to Gimblett’s Hill off Leach followed by a cut and a pull off successive balls from Ogborne, now bowling from the Trescothick Pavilion End. But, off the first ball of the next over, Suthar attempted to drive Leach, only to be given out leg before wicket, a replay suggesting the ball might have hit middle. Warwickshire 321 for 9. Suthar 28 from 39 balls. Lead 113. The end soon followed. There was a cut behind point for four from Nathan Gilchrist off Shaw, but Leach soon struck again. Bowling from wide of the stumps, he pitched on off, straightened the ball perfectly, went past the edge, hit the off stump and sent the bails flying. Warwickshire 330 all out. Gilchrist 7. Ethan Bamber 6 not out. Lead 122.

With eleven overs to the close, the Somerset innings nearly began with a hiccup. Hermann mishit the third ball of the innings, from Bamber, bowling from the Trescothick Pavilion End, towards mid-off. The fielder dived but failed to make the catch by a foot. Cue the expulsion of held breaths from Somerset supporters. In Bamber’s third over, Hermann drove the ball much more cleanly through mid-on to the Gimblett’s Hill boundary. Thomas meanwhile had driven Gilchrist, also through mid-on. The ball came along the ground towards me, glinting in the evening sun as it came. That left seven overs and a tinge of tension lest Somerset lose a wicket. In his third over, and bowling around the wicket to Thomas, Gilchrist angled the ball in. Thomas brought the bat down to meet it, the ball cut in further and struck the pad. Somerset 12 for 1. Thomas 6. Deficit 110. The tension dissolved into a barely audible sigh and Shaw came in to undertake the nightwatch.

Two overs later, with Shaw and Hermann digging in, I had to leave the ground for my bus. The paucity of evening buses in rural areas is a constant cause of end-of-the day judgements among spectators on how late dare the decision to leave be left. “One more over,” is a common refrain. The rise of the smartphone in the second decade of the twenty-first century made the decision easier with the availability of live scores on demand. The one more over decision was even more galling before smartphones with uncertainty about the final score not ending until a computer and the internet could be accessed, and before that, the evening radio sports desk. As I boarded my bus, my phone told me Somerset had reached the close without losing a further wicket which made for a less anxious journey than would once have been the case.

Close. Somerset 208 and 23 for 1. Warwickshire 330 (S.R. Hain 68, B.J. Webster 64, D.R. Mousley 64, A.R.J. Ogborne 3-40). Somerset trail by 99 runs with nine second innings wickets standing.