Category: County Championship 2024

Push and counter-push – County Championship 2024 – Somerset v Warwickshire – 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July – Taunton – Third day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (c), W.M.H. Rhodes, S.R. Hain, D.R. Mousley, E.G. Barnard, J.G. Bethell, M.G.K. Burgess (w), C.R. Woakes, M.G. Booth, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

Overnight – Warwickshire 412. Somerset 208 for 6. Somerset trail by 204 runs with four first innings wickets standing.

Third day 2nd July – Push and counter-push

This was Somerset’s annual schools’ match. The Priory Bridge Road Stand and the family section of the Ondaatje Stand were resplendent with the massed ranks of 1,200 schoolchildren. They were not mentioned in my reports on the first two days of this match. They could not be ignored on the third. Perhaps the wind had shifted. Something brought the never-ending shriek of those high-pitched voices to my ears. They had little to cheer in the first over of the day, bowled from the River End by Michael Booth. Playing an indeterminate stroke across his pads, Tom Abell was leg before wicket to the third ball. My impression over the years is that Abell, if he is undefeated overnight with significant runs to his name, is liable to be out early the next morning. He is not alone in that, but my impression, and it is only an impression, is that it is particularly noticeable in his case. Somerset 208 for 7. Abell 61. Deficit 204.

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Warwickshire in the ascendant – County Championship 2024 – Somerset v Warwickshire – 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July – Taunton – Second day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (c), W.M.H. Rhodes, S.R. Hain, D.R. Mousley, E.G. Barnard, J.G. Bethell, M.G.K. Burgess (w), C.R. Woakes, M.G. Booth, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

Overnight – Warwickshire 373 for 8.

Second day 2nd July – Warwickshire in the ascendant

Dawdling through breakfast as I am inclined to do having spent the final two decades of my working life beginning each day before seven o’clock with a 60 to 90-minute commute into London, I arrived an over after the start. The floodlights were on, the players were walking off, the rain was falling, and Warwickshire’s ninth wicket pair had added six runs to their overnight score. The rain was light but persistent, often light enough for some seated in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion to wonder if it was raining at all. It was enough though to delay play until after an early lunch with an hour of the day lost. It gave time for an old work colleague who joined me for part of the day and I to have an intermingled discussion about cricket and, with the general election two days away, the general election campaign which had been in full swing in the world outside cricket. There is always something to talk about when rain stops play.

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A toss to remember – County Championship 2024 – Somerset v Warwickshire – 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July – Taunton – First day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire 30th June and 1st, 2nd and 3rd July. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (c), W.M.H. Rhodes, S.R. Hain, D.R. Mousley, E.G. Barnard, J.G. Bethell, M.G.K. Burgess (w), C.R. Woakes, M.G. Booth, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bowl.

First day 30th June – A toss to remember

“Why? Oh, why?” asks my note, made as I sat down at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion five minutes before the start. Somerset had won the toss and elected to field. My cricketing memory is littered with examples of sides seeing a green pitch at Taunton and inserting the opposition on winning the toss. The result, so often, has been the inserted side steadily piling up a mountain of runs. This pitch, set in the centre of the square, the sight screen sheeting covering the centre of the Lord Ian Botham Stand, was unusual in appearance. From my vantage point, the first eight feet or so of each end looked brown, but the rest of the pitch was undeniably green. The divide between the two colours was a sharp, clearly defined line across the pitch, a fact which caused one or two quizzical looks. To set my, “Why? Oh, why?” in context, I do have form. My strong inclination is always to bat first, except perhaps on an April green top under overcast skies. Looking back at the history of insertions, particularly at the ground at which a match is being played, can often be more important than looking down or up. Pitches and skies can be capricious bedfellows when it comes to toss decisions. Historical evidence is often a more reliable ally in my, admittedly anecdotal, experience.

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H.G. Wells comes to Trent Bridge – County Championship 2024 – Nottinghamshire v Somerset 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th June – Trent Bridge – Final day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Nottinghamshire v Somerset 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th June. Trent Bridge.

Due to a positive COVID test in my household shortly before this match, I opted not to travel to Nottingham. The reports are therefore written through watching the Nottinghamshire CCC live stream.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable due to a groin strain. Craig Overton captained the Somerset side.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, W.A. Young, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, T.J. Moores (c), L.W. James, C.G. Harrison, O.P. Stone, D.Y. Pennington, D. Paterson.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.  

Overnight. Nottinghamshire 360 and 178 for 1. Somerset 470. Nottinghamshire lead by 68 runs with six second innings wickets standing.

Final day 26th June – H.G. Wells comes to Trent Bridge

Graham, H.G. Wells’ protagonist in The Sleeper Awakes, takes drugs to combat his incurable insomnia. He overdoes the drugs and falls asleep for 203 years. He might as well have watched the final day of this match for, to the online watcher at least, it might have lasted 203 years. There was no dystopian world at its end as there was at the end of Graham’s 203-year sleep, but by tea the stands looked so bare they might have served as the backdrop for one. It was a day of bowlers toiling under the hottest sun of the year on a pitch as devoid of life as a Martian desert. It offered no more hope to the bowlers than to prevent the batters from running riot. As it was, the bowlers stuck to their task with a grim determination, and the batters did not run riot, nor did they seem to have much ambition to. They just steadily picked off runs for the want of anything better to do. In cricket watching terms, it was an end to the match as dystopian as any dreamed up by Wells in his long career.

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Stokes makes a difference – County Championship 2024 – Durham v Somerset 24th and 25th May – Chester-le-Street – First day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Durham v Somerset 24th and 25th May. Chester-le-Street.

Jake Ball replaced Migael Pretorius under ECB concussion regulations after Somerset’s first innings.

Somerset. T.B. Abell, M.T. Renshaw, T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M. Pretorius/J.T. Ball, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Durham. A.Z. Lees, S.G. Borthwick (c), C.N. Ackermann, D.G. Bedingham, O.G. Robinson (w), B.A. Stokes, G. Clark, C.F. Parkinson, P. Coughlin, B.A. Raine, P.M. Siddle.

Toss. Durham elected to field.

First day 24th May – Stokes makes a difference

Newcastle is a long way from Taunton. Five-and-a-half hours by direct train. Given the flooding across significant parts of the country through which the train travelled it was something of an achievement for the railway system to bring the train from Taunton into Newcastle just one minute late. Three other companies had to cancel their trains and those of their passengers who could, joined mine. Even without the extra passengers, four coaches for a train which runs from Penzance to Edinburgh sounds like a victory of hope over anticipation, and so the effect of suffering an influx of passengers from three other companies is better imagined than experienced. Every seat was taken, and every aisle and vestibule was full. Good humour was the only viable survival technique, and it was applied by every passenger within my sight. “People have got used to crowded trains,” someone said.

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Disbelief – Durham v Somerset – County Championship 2024 – 24th and 25th May – Chester-le-Street – Final day

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Durham v Somerset 24th and 25th May. Chester-le-Street.

Jake Ball replaced Migael Pretorius as a concussion replacement after Somerset’s first innings.

Durham. A.Z. Lees, S.G. Borthwick (c), C.N. Ackermann, D.G. Bedingham, O.G. Robinson (w), B.A. Stokes, G. Clark, C.F. Parkinson, P. Coughlin, B.A. Raine, P.M. Siddle.

Somerset. T.B. Abell, M.T. Renshaw, T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M. Pretorius/J.T. Ball, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Overnight. Somerset 171. Durham 177 for 6. Durham lead by six runs with four first innings wickets standing.

Final day 25th May – Disbelief

It could be seen in the faces of the small coterie of Somerset supporters who had made the 350-mile road trip, or five-and-a-half-hour rail journey, to the North East. This was a crushing Somerset defeat. Worse for the spirit, it had been far from inevitable at the start of the second day, even less so half an hour later. Durham had lost three wickets in that time to find themselves 28 ahead with only one wicket standing and Somerset pressing hard for the last. It had been an exceptional fightback by Somerset from a calamitous 84 for 7 immediately after lunch on the first day. Now, half an hour into the second day, the match was back in balance and there was Somerset hope that it might yet be won. Half an hour before tea, the match was over, and Somerset had lost by an innings. They were bowled out for 88 in their second innings, losing their last six wickets for 43 runs in the face of some exceptional bowling from Durham’s pace attack. The fall from hope was so precipitous, so total, this match may bedevil the memories of the Somerset supporters who were there as do Horsham 2013, Guildford 2018 and Southampton 2019.

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

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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 137 runs 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.

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

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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 virtually ended 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, threaten 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.

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

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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.  Somerset 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 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 would last 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 the cutting edge of winter returned for another swipe, by my count there were about two hundred in the ground, a far cry from the four thousand of the first day. Even with overnight rain delaying the start the match was essentially dead as a contest it seemed, and if Somerset were to save it, it would be by dint of a further 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 Somerset brain thought, it ain’t gonna happen.

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