Category: County Championship 2024

Watching cricket in April – Worcestershire v Somerset – County Championship 2024 – 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th April – Kidderminster.

'farmer white'

County Championship 2024. Division 1. Worcestershire v Somerset. 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th April. Kidderminster.

Jack Leach, (knee injury, Tom Abell (hamstring) and Craig Overton (rested) were unavailable.

Worcestershire. J.D. Libby, G.H. Roderick (w), Kashif Ali, R.P. Jones, A.J. Hose, B.L. D’Oliveira, J.O. Holder, M.J. Waite, J. Leach, B.J. Gibbon, A.W. Finch.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), K.L. Aldridge, M. Pretorius, J.T. Ball, S. Bashir.

Overnight. Somerset 309 for 9 dec and 5 for 1. Worcestershire 451. Somerset trail by 137runs with nine second innings wickets standing.

Final day 29th April – Watching cricket in April

The wind that blows across a cricket field in April bites with the teeth of a prairie dog which does not let go. No-one escapes. At Kidderminster, where the ground is open on all sides, the wind enjoys free reign to do as it pleases to whom it pleases, and it did as it pleased across most of the four days of this match. The girl serving burgers from a hot plate in the burger van was frozen. Matching their coats, the umpires wore white snoods which encased their necks and faces up to their ears. They looked like the invisible man from the 1958 television series with his face swathed in white bandages. To match their trousers, they wore black gloves. The stewards were bulked out with enough layers to have passed for an American police SWAT squad. Spectators, those brave enough, or lacking sufficient discretion to know better than to watch cricket in such weather, wore a mottled array of defences. They ranged from tightfitting, designer fashioned, windproof jackets zipped so tightly to the larynx that if the cold did not get the occupant a lack of oxygen would, to anoraks and scarves so battered by a winter without apparent end that they seemed on the point of abject surrender. Not that their owners would dream of letting them surrender, for the next match was only three days away.

Read More »

A bitter wind blows – Somerset v Nottinghamshire – County Championship 2024 – 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd April – Taunton

'farmer white'

County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd April. Taunton.

Jack Leach, (knee injury) and Tom Abell (hamstring) were unavailable.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M. Pretorius, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, W.A. Young, J.M. Clarke (w), M. Montgomery, J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, L.J. Fletcher, D. Paterson.

Overnight. Nottinghamshire 193 and 38 for 1. Somerset 454. Nottinghamshire trail by 223 runs.

Third day 20th April – A bitter wind blows

On 25th and 26th May 1903, William Gunn and his nephew, John Gunn, added 367 for Nottinghamshire’s third wicket against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. The nephew reached 294, the uncle 139, and Nottinghamshire declared on 739 for 7. The 367 for the third wicket beat the then Nottinghamshire record. It remained the record until the third evening of this match when Will Young (156 not out) and Joe Clarke (209 not out) passed it in the last over of the day. It deadened Somerset’s chances of victory. It would also, if pitches which produce this sort of cricket in the latter parts of a match return to Taunton, risk doing the same to interest in Championship cricket. At least, that was the view of a number to whom I spoke. That said, the two Nottinghamshire batters batted with prolonged discipline, skill and immense concentration to make the most of the conditions which they were offered. The same could also be said of the Somerset bowlers. With a modicum of luck, they might have taken a wicket or two, but against such disciplined batting on such a pitch, no more than one or two.

Read More »

“It ain’t gonna happen” – Surrey v Somerset – County Championship 2024 – Surrey v Somerset – 12th, 13th, 14th  and 15th April – The Oval.

'farmer white'

County Championship 2024. Division 1. Surrey v Somerset 12th, 13th, 14th  and 15th April The Oval.

Jack Leach, (knee injury) and Tom Abell (hamstring) were unavailable.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), D.P. Sibley, O.J.D. Pope, D.W. Lawrence, J.L. Smith, B.T. Foakes (w), C.T. Steel, J. Clark, J. Overton, A.A.P. Atkinson, K.A.J Roach.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, K.L. Aldridge, M. Pretorius, S. Bashir.

Overnight. Somerset 285 and 204 for 6. Surrey 428.  Surrey lead by 61 runs with four first innings wicket standing.

Final day. 15th April – “It ain’t gonna happen“

“It ain’t gonna happen,” were the words of the Somerset supporter with me at the end of the third day when I suggested that Somerset would have to bat at least until tea on the final day to have a chance of saving the match. It seemed a reasonable statement for him to make at the time. Somerset were six wickets down and only 61 runs ahead. Even on a flat pitch with the Kookaburra ball, the thought that Somerset’s last four wickets could bat for four hours or more on the final day was, as they say, for the birds. Perhaps it was. The pigeons which pick at the grass at the edges of the practice pitches in front of the Galadari Stand gave their wings a rest and stayed the entire final day as a slow-motion drama unfolded in front of them. As to spectators, most had voted with their feet. Leaving aside those sensibly hidden behind glass as winter had another swipe, by my count there were about two hundred in the ground, a far cry from the near four thousand of the first day. The match was, after all, essentially dead as a contest and if Somerset were to save it, it would be by dint of a substantial intervention by the weather. In the event, play began at ten minutes past twelve with 18 overs lost and the rain barely threatened again, but still, my Someret brain thought, it ain’t gonna happen.

Read More »