Category: County Championship 2025

Lightning doesn’t strike twice – Somerset v Worcestershire – County Championship 2025 – 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th April – Taunton – Final day

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Worcestershire. 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th April. Taunton.

Will Smeed was unavailable for selection due to injury.

Somerset.  A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Worcestershire. G.H. Roderick (w), J.D. Libby, Kashif Ali, E.A. Brookes, A.J. Hose, B.L. D’Oliveira (c), M.J. Waite, T.A.I. Taylor, B.M.J. Allison, T.I. Hinley, A.W. Finch.

Overnight. Worcestershire 154 and 280 for 5. Somerset 670 for 7 dec. Worcestershire trail by 236 runs with five second innings wickets standing.

Final day – Lightning doesn’t strike twice

The Quantocks were stunning all day. They looked so close, it felt as if you could reach out and touch them. And yet, they remained, as always, tantalisingly out of reach. On the field, as the day progressed, the match seemed just as tantalisingly out of reach for Somerset. Victory was as clear in the eye as the Quantocks, and yet, by the middle of the afternoon, winning seemed a wicket too far. The Somerset bowlers kept to their task. Lewis Gregory and his close advisers tried every tactic under cricket heaven as they tried to hew a wicket out of a pitch as steadfastly unforgiving and obdurate as the bats of the Worcestershire batters. In the field, the players repeatedly shouted encouragement to each other. The crowd, a typical final day crowd of perhaps five or six hundred, shouted and clapped its own encouragement, especially in a tense final hour when the eye was as much on the clock as on the middle.

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Of omens and reality – Somerset v Essex – County Championship 2025 – 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th May – Taunton – Third day

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Essex. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th May. Taunton.

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

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, T. Westley (c), J.M. Cox, M.J.J. Critchley, M.S. Pepper (w), N.R.M. Thain, S.R. Harmer, S.J. Cook, C.A.K. Rajitha, J.A. Porter.

Overnight. Essex 206 and 163 for 4. Somerset 145. Essex lead by 224 runs with six second innings wickets standing.

Third day – Of omens and reality

When Jordan Cox reached 98 in the Essex second innings, he and Michael Pepper had added 71 for the fifth wicket, Essex had a lead of 291 and, with lunch an hour away, the only question in the air was, “How long will Essex bat?” Then, Cox took the quickest of singles off Jack Leach, bowling from the River End. Too quick. He had to complete the run by diving, virtually flying, full length at the non-striker’s end, landing with an excruciatingly painful-looking thud. He clutched his side and lay prone, not moving. Gradually players, umpires and support staff gathered around him as he continued to lie motionless on the ground. The break in play was worryingly long. “This doesn’t look good at all,” said the person next to me. Cox had been holding or clutching his side when running for some time, but eventually he stood up and, after another extended wait, prepared to continue. It was the longest break in play for an injured player who did not leave the field that I could recall. Two overs later, Cox reverse swept Leach square to the Caddick boundary, clutched his side again and acknowledged the extended applause for a century scored from 155 balls. At the end of the over, he gave way to his injury and retired with Essex on 246 for 4, a lead of 307 on a pitch still providing some help for the spinners.

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This might just happen – Somerset v Essex – County Championship 2025 – 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th May – Taunton.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Essex. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th May. Taunton.

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

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, T. Westley (c), J.M. Cox, M.J.J. Critchley, M.S. Pepper (w), N.R.M. Thain, S.R. Harmer, S.J. Cook, C.A.K. Rajitha, J.A. Porter.

Overnight. Essex 206 and 259. Somerset 145 and 216 for 6. Somerset need 105 runs to win with four second innings wickets standing

Final day – This might just happen

When Craig Overton doesn’t reach the boundary until the 92nd ball of his innings you know something is afoot. And something was afoot at the County Ground on the final morning of this match. With two hours play the most that could be expected, and perhaps no more than half an hour, in a bitterly cold wind if it found your seat, perhaps seven hundred and fifty people gathered to watch the dénouement of this match. At the start, Somerset needed another 105 runs to win with four wickets standing in a low-scoring match. At the end of the third day, most I spoke to had thought those odds, plus a new ball due after 12 overs, heavily favoured Essex. But cricket is about more than odds and statistics. It is also about strength of will if you have a bat or a ball in your hand, and intuition if you have a seat beyond the boundary. As people walked to their homes, buses, cars or trains on the evening of the third day after a long recovery from 78 for 5 to 216 for 6, a still, small voice must have been whispering in their heads, “Something is afoot. This might just happen.” In response, the brain would have quoted the odds and Somerset’s catastrophic collapses on the first day at Southampton, the final day at The Oval and twice in this match. And yet, that bit of intuition seeded by that long third day recovery by Lewis Gregory, James Rew and Craig Overton will have kept insisting, “Something is afoot. This might just happen.”

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A crushing defeat – Surrey v Somerset – County Championship 2025 – 25th, 26th and 27th April – The Oval.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Surrey v Somerset 25th, 26th and 27th April. The Oval.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), D.P. Sibley, O.J.D. Pope, J.L. Smith, B.T. Foakes (w), D.W. Lawrence, R.S. Patel, J. Clark, A.A.P. Atkinson, J.P.A. Taylor, D.J. Worrall.

Somerset. S.R. Dickson, A.M. Vaughan, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (c) (w), K.L. Aldridge, L. Gregory, M. Pretorius, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Overnight. Somerset 283. Surrey 321 for 7. Surrey lead by 38 runs with three first innings wickets standing.

Final day – A crushing defeat

It happened quickly when it happened. Somerset had gone into lunch already in difficulty at 30 for 2, still 54 runs behind, with Sean Dickson unlikely to bat. Those two wickets were only the beginning. Less than six overs after the restart, Somerset were 38 for 7, the first two of those wickets falling within four balls of the resumption. As had been the case throughout the match, the Surrey bowling was accurate and piercing. Rarely did a ball present itself to be hit, there was always something to keep out, and all were bowled with more pace than Somerset had been able to muster in the Surrey innings. Surrey’s catching was exceptional too. It all spoke of a team bursting with skill, discipline and the belief of a side which had just won three consecutive County Championships. Given that Somerset had lost a bowler of the quality of Matt Henry just before the start of the season, and Craig Overton just before the start of the match, they had come out of the first two days remarkably well. They were behind in the match, Surrey were 38 runs ahead with three wickets standing at the start of play, but on the first two days Somerset had started well, fought back hard after a first innings middle order collapse and were still in the game when the third day started.

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Rearguard action – Hampshire v Somerset – County Championship 2025 – 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st April – Southampton – Final day

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Hampshire v Somerset 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st April. Southampton.

Hampshire. M.G. Stoneman, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.J. Prest, T.E. Albert, B.C. Brown (c) (w), L.A, Dawson, B.R. Hampton, J.K. Fuller, K.J. Abbott, B.T.J. Wheal.

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (c) (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Overnight. Somerset 184. Hampshire 194 for 3. Hampshire lead by ten runs with seven second innings wickets standing.

Final day – Rearguard action

The forecast for the day was not good, and the weather was worse. The stoppages came mainly in the form of bad light aided by some strategically timed rain. As I walked up the hill to the ground a quarter of an hour before the start, the floodlights were already on, and they never went off all day. And the sun didn’t shine until after the players had left the field for the last time. It was a day of waiting as much as watching. Twice the umpires led the players out to restart after a stoppage, once to find themselves leading them off again before a ball could be bowled, and once to lead them off three and a half overs after the resumption. Only 26 overs and three balls were bowled during the day and Somerset survived those for the loss of Tom Lammonby, although not without some anxious moments. In the end, Sean Dickson and Tom Abell, with some determined batting, held the crease for 22 overs and 56 runs in a pincer movement with the weather to hold Hampshire off.

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A chill wind blew – Hampshire v Somerset – County Championship 2025 – 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st April – Southampton – First day

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Hampshire v Somerset 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st April. Southampton.

Hampshire. M.G. Stoneman, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.J. Prest, T.E. Albert, B.C. Brown (c) (w), L.A, Dawson, B.R. Hampton, J.K. Fuller, K.J. Abbott, B.T.J. Wheal.

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (c) (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Toss. Hampshire. Elected to field

First day – A chill wind blew

It was a morning of two halves, a morning because that is all the play there was, steady rain after lunch saw to that. Somerset lost the toss on a day made for bowling and found themselves batting. After an hour, they were 57 for 1 and Archie Vaughan and Tom Lammonby looked like they were getting the measure of the pitch and the bowling, and like they were beginning to take control of proceedings. An hour later, after three wickets in 11 balls the players were walking off for lunch with Somerset six down, still six runs short of their hundred. They were in disarray, and their disarray was fixed on the scoreboard as if in aspic to bore into the minds of their supporters as the afternoon rain wiped out prospects of any further play. At the start, the cloud had been high and white, but it was soon formed of a smooth blanket with a forecast predicting an afternoon of the sort of steady rain which goes with that sort of cloud. On this occasion, the forecast did not err, and Somerset, in their distress, had to bear it, or thank it.

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