Category: County Championship 2026

“I’m going to sit in the sun” – Somerset v Sussex – County Championship 2026 – May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th – Taunton – First day

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

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day. “I’m going to sit in the sun.”

“I’m going to sit in the sun,” said the person who had begun the day watching the cricket with me in the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion. It could not be denied. It was bitterly cold sitting in the wind that blew across its face throughout the day. Clothing of choice consisted of anoraks, often another coat underneath, scarves and woolly hats. By the end of the tea interval there had been a mass exodus and barely twenty people of a relatively full complement at the beginning of the day remained. On the other side of the ground, in the sun for most of the day, lay the Hildreth Stand. That was very well populated from the start, and by the evening was virtually full, the occupants probably boosted by Trescothick Pavilion escapees taking refuge in the sun.

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Somerset battle Sussex and the rain – Somerset v Sussex – County Championship 2026 – May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th – Taunton – Third day

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County Championship 2026. Somerset v Sussex. May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th. 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 22 for 1.

Third day – Somerset battle Sussex and the rain

This was another day truncated by rain. Sixty overs had been lost on the second day. Another forty were lost on the third if you include the additional eight overs permitted because of the time lost on the second. The loss served to tighten the screw on Somerset’s attempt to take the 19 wickets they needed over the final two days if they were to win the match and re-ignite their early season challenge for the Championship.

The day began with hopeful weather signs. High white cloud, occasional patches of blue sky, and at the start, the sun shone. The forecast though, as on the first day, kept any optimism in check. The Quantocks and the other hills at least were clear as the players and umpires walked to the middle. The scoreboards on the other hand, in the time-honoured fashion of Taunton, went blank and received ironic cheers when they came to life midway through the second over. From my seat at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, the pitch looked as if it still retained a slight tinge of green, and first use of it on the third day went to Alfie Ogborne, River End, and Craig Overton, Trescothick Pavilion, young blade and seasoned warrior in harness together.

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Abell and Overton take control – Somerset v Sussex – County Championship 2026 – May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th – Taunton – Second day

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County Championship 2026. Somerset v Sussex. May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th. 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 335 for 5.

Second day – Abell and Overton take control

“That’s got to be … Surely …” was the comment from behind me in the lower section of the Trescothick Pavilion. But it wasn’t. Craig Overton had just struck a lofted drive towards the Trescothick Pavilion sightscreen about a pitch length to my left. The ball seemed destined to carry for six. Overton was on 95, but as the ball approached it began to die and landed a couple of yards short of the rope before bouncing into the sightscreen. Overton was en route to his third first-class century, Somerset were not far short of 500 and the hopes of their supporters that they might start to leave the disappointments of the two previous matches, at Taunton and Cardiff, behind them were rising. Overton had begun the day on 26, batting with Tom Abell who began on 74. When that ball failed to cross the rope, Abell had not long been dismissed, having reached his own century, and the question on people’s lips was, “When will we declare?”

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Jupiter Pluvius takes a hand – Somerset v Sussex – County Championship 2026 – May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th – Taunton – Final day

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

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A maiden first-class fifty to remember – Glamorgan v Somerset – County Championship 2026 – May 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th – Sophia Gardens – Final day

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County Championship 2026. Glamorgan v Somerset. May 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Sophia Gardens.

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

Glamorgan. Zain Ul Hassan, A.M. Tribe, K.S. Carlson (c), B.I. Kellaway, C.A. Ingram, S.R. Dickson, C.B. Cooke (w), T. van der Gugton, M.S. Crane, T.O. Norton, R.E. Hadley.

Somerset. J.F. Thomas, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.A. Lammonby, A.M. Vaughan, T.B. Abell, W.C.F. Smeed, C. Overton, L. Gregory, M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Overnight. Somerset 354 and 157. Glamorgan 229 and 140 for 5. Glamorgan need a further 143 runs to win with five second innings wickets standing.

Final day – A maiden first-class fifty to remember

The pattern for the day had been set when by midday Glamorgan had added precisely 23 runs in 15 overs. Under a casing of grey cloud, the bat had been beaten enough times without result for Somerset supporters to wonder if the cricketing gods were against them, and for Glamorgan supporters with high blood pressure to wonder if continuing to watch was a wise choice. At one point, Sean Dickson edged a ball from Lewis Gregory, bowling from the River End. It flew off the bat in a beautiful arc, head high through fourth slip when there were only two. My seat, high in the Castel Howell Stand at the Cathedral Road End, was in a line with the stumps and second slip. It was an ideal position from which to appreciate the perfect mathematics of the curve. But there were other mathematics involved. The single which resulted before the boundary fielder could retrieve the ball and throw it in added one more to the gradual accumulation of singles over the course of that first hour, each of which adjusted Glamorgan’s victory equation a little more tightly against Somerset.

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Another level awaits – Somerset v Yorkshire – County Championship 2026 – May 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th – Taunton – Final day

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County Championship 2026. Somerset v Yorkshire. May 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Taunton.

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

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, J.F. Thomas, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, W.C.F. Smeed, T.H.S. Rew, L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M. Pretorius, A.R.J. Ogborne.

Yorkshire. A. Lyth, F.J. Bean, J.H. Wharton, J.E. Root, J.M. Bairstow (c)(w), M.L. Revis, G.C.H. Hill, D.M. Bess, L.V. van Beek, J.A. Richardson, C. White.

Overnight. Yorkshire 162 and 365 for 9. Somerset 274. Yorkshire lead by 253 runs with one second innings wicket standing.

Final day – Another level awaits

The pattern of this match over the first three days had been remarkably similar to that of the previous match at Southampton. A first day dominated by Somerset. A second day on which the opposition fought back hard. A third day on which the opposition made enough progress to set Somerset a tough challenge on the final day. At Taunton, by the time Somerset had taken the tenth Yorkshire wicket early on the final morning they needed 260 to win. At Southampton it had been 288. In the 2020s scores of over 250 in the final innings to win a match were less infrequent than previously but still presented a significant challenge. At Southampton, the outcome was excruciatingly in the balance for the whole of the final day. It was the sort of day that some committed supporters are unable to watch other than in snatches so endlessly tense was it. Not until Tom Abell drove that final boundary, off Kyle Abbott, to the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand was it remotely clear who would win that match. The final day of this match never quite reached those heights.

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Somerset in the ascendant – Hampshire v Somerset – County Championship 2026 – April 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th – Southampton – First day

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County Championship 2026. Hampshire v Somerset. April 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th. Southampton.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Lewis Goldsworthy were unavailable for selection because both were replaced by injury replacements in Somerset’s previous Championship match under the ECB’s 2026 replacement player regulations.

Hampshire. T.E. Albert, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.J. Prest, J.S. Lehmann, B.C. Brown (c) (w), B.A. Mayes, L.A. Dawson, C.E. Yusuf, K.J. Abbott, E.V. Jack, S. Baker.

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

Toss. Hampshire. Elected to field.

First day – Somerset in the ascendant

From the upper reaches of the Colin-Ingleby Mackenzie Stand, with the Pavilion, or the John Arlott Atrium as Hampshire call it, to your left, the pitch looked to have a green tinge to it. Nonetheless, when Ben Brown, the Hampshire captain, won the toss he elected to bat. Perhaps the height of the thin white cloud blanket was a factor, or perhaps there was a thought that the pitch might take spin later in the match. By the start, the crowd, numbering perhaps twelve to fifteen hundred, was in good voice. It was warm enough to sit comfortably in the shade wearing an open anorak and without one in the sun. It was April weather that most cricket watchers would settle for. The crowd was of the traditional demographic for a Championship crowd: white, largely male and largely of an age to have the leisure to attend four-day cricket. It fitted with the bus which took me to the ground being largely populated by men who were all examples of the biblical three-score years and ten, give or take half a score years or so. That, and the varying collection of hats designed to protect from the sun and the obligatory backpack betrayed the bus as the one to take for the cricket.

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Purgatory – Hampshire v Somerset – County Championship 2026 – April 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th – Southampton – Final day

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County Championship 2026. Hampshire v Somerset. April 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th. Southampton.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Lewis Goldsworthy were unavailable for selection because both were replaced by injury replacements in Somerset’s previous Championship match under the ECB’s 2026 replacement player regulations.

Hampshire. T.E. Albert, N.R.T. Gubbins, T.J. Prest, J.S. Lehmann, B.C. Brown (c) (w), B.A. Mayes, L.A. Dawson, C.E. Yusuf, K.J. Abbott, E.V. Jack, S. Baker.

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

Overnight. Hampshire 238 and 336. Somerset 288 and 139 for 3. Somerset need another 148 runs to win with seven wickets standing.

Final day. Purgatory

The winning runs came when Tom Abell drove Kyle Abbott through mid-on to the boundary in front of the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand. I saw the stroke and I knew it was four. But I didn’t see the ball after it left the bat. I just knew. Sixty-eight years of watching Somerset play cricket leaves an instinct for such things. The winning hit came after three and a half hours of unbearable tension as a match balanced on a knife-edge at the start of play was still balanced there as Abell struck that ball. Every run, and they mostly came in ones and twos, had given another twist to the screw bearing down on every Hampshire supporter in the ground. And every ball brought the threat of a wicket which might be a body blow to the hopes of Somerset supporters. A body blow because the outcome of this match might define Somerset ‘s season as they pursued their century and a half long dream of winning the County Championship.

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A different team – Essex v Somerset – County Championship 2026. April 10th, 11th and 12th – Chelmsford – Day 3

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County Championship 2026. Essex v Somerset. April 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th. Chelmsford.

Somerset captain Lewis Gregory was not available for selection due to a chest injury. Craig Overton replaced him as captain.

Somerset. J.F. Thomas, T. Kohler-Cadmore/W.C.F. Smeed*, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T.B. Abell, L.P. Goldsworthy/A.M. Vaughan*, C. Overton (c), M.J. Leach, T. Shaw, M. Pretorius, J.T. Ball.

*Will Smeed replaced Tom Kohler-Cadmore as an injury replacement under the ECB’s 2026 replacement player trial regulations after 51 overs of the Essex first innings, and Archie Vaughan replaced Lewis Goldsworthy under the same regulations after 38 overs of the Essex second innings.

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, P.W.A. Mulder, C.W.J. Allison, M.J.J. Critchley, L.M. Benkenstein, M.S. Pepper (w), S.R. Harmer, S. Snater, S.J. Cook (c), J.A. Porter.

Overnight. Essex 149 and 131 for 3. Somerset 348. Essex trail by 68 runs with seven second innings wickets standing.

Final day – A different team

There was something different about the Somerset team that turned out in this match. Different to the ones that have turned out for many seasons past. Different to last year’s team, although with two exceptions the personnel were unchanged. The thing that was different was the same thing that was different in the Nottinghamshire match at Taunton the week before. Somerset teams have always had the ability to overcome the opposition, often coming from behind with inspired victory charges which defeat the odds. Durham at Chester-le-Street in 2025 springs to mind as a classic match won in this way. The victory in this match was different. The demolition of Essex did not look inspired and, once the match was underway, it did not come against the odds. It did however look systematic, ruthless and unforgiving. In the face of the pressure which resulted, Essex wilted and succumbed. Systematic ruthlessness may not be the Somerset way, but it was mightily effective.

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