Category: Uncategorised

Overton shows fight as Essex dominate – Essex v Somerset – Championship 2025 – 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th September – Chelmsford – Second day

'farmer white'

Championship 2025. Division 1. Essex v Somerset 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th September. Chelmsford.

Tom Abell was unavailable for selection under the ECB concussion regulations, Alfie Ogborne due to a back injury and J.T. Langridge due to a side injury. 

Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, J.F. Thomas, T.A. Lammonby, J.E.K. Rew (w), T. Kohler-Cadmore, L.P. Goldsworthy, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, L. Gregory (c), M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Essex. D. Elgar, P.I. Walter, T. Westley (c), C.W,J. Allison, M.J.J. Critchley, M.S. Pepper (w), N.R.M. Thain, S.R. Harmer, D.A.J. Bracewell, C.E. Bennett, J.A. Porter. 

Overnight. Somerset 339 for 6.

Second day – Overton shows fight as Essex dominate

Craig Overton began and ended the day striking at Essex. In between, Essex held sway, and despite the second intervention from Overton, threatened to dominate the match. There was some early joy for Somerset. Lewis Goldsworthy reached his second first-class century three years after his first. The first came in the long drawn-out battle with Lancashire at Southport in 2022. The Chelmsford century took him 191 balls. The Southport one, 207. At Southport, he was instrumental in holding the middle of the innings together, At Chelmsford, his was the innings around which the middle and lower order played. As to Essex, Dean Elgar and Paul Walter quickly put Somerset’s performance into perspective, grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, and went a long way towards finally securing Essex’s First Division place, if indeed it had ever been in serious doubt.

Read More »

Cricket for aficionados of the longer game – Nottinghamshire v Somerset – County Championship 2024 – 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th June – Trent Bridge – Second day

'farmer white'

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

Due to someone in my household testing positive for COVID, I opted not to attend this match. 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. Matthew Renshaw had departed Somerset at the end of his contract.

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 326 for 8.

Second day 24th June – Cricket for aficionados of the longer game

This was Somerset’s day. It took a while, and some effort, to take the two outstanding Nottinghamshire wickets. But once that was done, Somerset’s new-found batting mettle took them through the day. They batted for the most part with iron composure and steadily accumulated runs as if they were coming off a production line. Try as Nottinghamshire might, they only occasionally interrupted Somerset’s progress, and no sooner had they done so, then it began again. This was cricket for the aficionado of the longer game. Ninety-six overs without a single six, despite one of the boundaries being virtually as short as the regulations allow. In the first 15 overs after tea, there were only two fours off the bat, but 51 runs were scored, 3.4 runs an over, precisely the pace of the Somerset innings as a whole. It was remorseless, tightly controlled batting across 85 overs, and it put Somerset in prime position to forge a significant lead.

Read More »

A wonderful game of cricket – Somerset v Leicestershire – Metro Bank One Day Cup 2024 – Semi-final – 18th August – Taunton

'farmer white'

Metro Bank One Day Cup 2024 Semi-Final

Somerset v Leicestershire – 18th August – Taunton

Somerset had finished top of their group and qualified for a home semi-final.

Somerset. G.W. Thomas, A.R.I. Umeed, L.P. Goldsworthy, J.E.K Rew (w), S.R. Dickson (c), B.G.F. Green, A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach, R.P. Meredith.

Leicestershire. I.G. Holland, S.D. Budinger, L.J. Hill (c), A.M. Rahane, P.S.P. Handscomb, O.B. Cox (w), L.P.J. Kimber, L. Trevaskis, T.A.R. Scriven, R.I. Walker, C.J.C. Wright.

Toss. Leicestershire. Elected to field.

A wonderful game of cricket

This was a match between two teams denuded of their best players by selection for The Hundred, playing in a competition which has received no television coverage and precious little press coverage. It was a match played in front of a crowd of about three and a half thousand. And yet, from my seat in the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion, it bore comparison with the classic encounters of the Gillette and Benson and Hedges Cups and the John Player League in their heyday, forty or fifty years before and the incredible atmosphere which accompanied them. Times when the crowd seemed as much a part of the match as the players.  

Read More »

Cricketing Annihilation – Kent v Somerset – County Championship 2022 – 26th, 27th and 28th September – Canterbury – Final Day

'farmer white'

County Championship 2022. Division 1. Kent v Somerset. 26th, 27st and 28th September 2022. Canterbury.

Jack Leach and Imam-ul-Haq were unavailable for this match.

Kent. T.S. Muyeye, Z. Crawley, D.J. Bell-Drummond, J.L. Denly, J.A. Leaning (c), O.G. Robinson (w), J.D.M. Evison, Hamidullah Qadri, C. McKerr, N.N. Gilchrist, M.R. Quinn.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, L. P. Goldsworthy, J.E.K. Rew (w), B.G.F. Green, C. Overton, K.L. Aldridge, Sajid Khan, J.A. Brooks.

Overnight. Somerset 202. Kent 405 for 7. Kent lead by 203 runs with three first innings wickets standing.

Final day 28th September – Cricketing Annihilation

Kent, their First Division status secure, cavorted through the third, and in the event, final day of this match as if it were a victory parade. It was a performance to which Somerset had no answer. Perhaps their energies had been spent in the Herculean defeat of Northamptonshire the week before which had confirmed their own First Division status. On the first two days of this match, they had been swept aside with, Goldsworthy’s first day resistance and Aldridge’s second day wickets apart, barely a whimper. Overton’s efforts with the ball may have been more than they appeared because, with the third morning barely underway, he limped off the field mid-over for the second time in the match. He had too, kept Kent to three and a half runs an over, less than any other Somerset bowler. Brooks, Green and Abell had all conceded five to the buoyant, irrepressible march of the Kent batters.

Read More »

Swamped – Kent v Somerset – County Championship 26th, 27th and 28th September – Canterbury – Second day

'farmer white'

County Championship 2022. Division 1. Kent v Somerset. 26th, 27st and 28th September 2022. Canterbury.

Jack Leach and Imam-ul-Haq were unavailable for this match.

Kent. T.S. Muyeye, Z. Crawley, D.J. Bell-Drummond, J.L. Denly, J.A. Leaning (c), O.G. Robinson (w), J.D.M. Evison, Hamidullah Qadri, C. McKerr, N.N. Gilchrist, M.R. Quinn.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, L. P. Goldsworthy, J.E.K. Rew (w), B.G.F. Green, C. Overton, K.L. Aldridge, Sajid Khan, J.A. Brooks.

Overnight. Somerset 195 for 9.

Second day 27th September – Swamped

Kent, perhaps driven by the importance of bonus points in their drive to remain in the First Division by staying ahead of Warwickshire, hurtled across the second day like a speedboat crossing a lake with only the occasional ripple to impede its progress. The Somerset bowling, for the most part, was swept aside by Kent’s bow wave and left trailing in its wake. Kent’s pursuit of batting points was only rarely ruffled. In short, it was a rout. By lunch, 30 overs into their innings, Kent were 149 for 0. On one occasion three fours were struck in three balls during a segment of play in which 31 runs came in three overs. By the 21st over, Somerset were using their sixth bowler. In the first hour of the innings Kent scored at a run a minute. The musings of the previous day that a score in excess of 180 might give Somerset a chance had been pushed aside like a floating twig in the path of Kent’s boat.

Read More »

Bob Willis Trophy ~ Worcestershire v Somerset ~ Final Day ~ 9th September ~ Through to the final

'farmer white'

All Bob Willis Trophy matches are being played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus restrictions in place. This report was therefore written following a day watching Worcestershire CCC’s live stream of the match without which the report would not have been possible. The stream was watched throughout with the commentary muted and with notes being taken to enable the author to replicate as far as possible his experience of watching matches live; and to enable him to form his own view of the play.

Bob Willis Trophy. Central Group. Worcestershire v Somerset 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th September 2020. Worcester.

Somerset. B.G.F. Green, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, E.J. Byrom, S.M. Davies (w), C. Overton, L. Gregory, J.H. Davey. M.J. Leach, J.A. Brooks.

Worcestershire. D.H.K. Mitchell, J.D. Libby, T.C Fell, J.A. Haynes, B.L. D`Oliveira, M.H. Wessels, O.B. Cox (w), E.G. Barnard, J. Leach (c), J.C. Tongue, D.Y. Pennington.

Overnight. Somerset 251 and 193. Worcestershire 200 and 58 for 2. Worcestershire need 187 runs to win with eight wickets standing.

Final day. 9th September – Through to the final

In the end, on the final day, Somerset pushed over their wall. Worcestershire resisted in phases, and at times raised the level of anxiety in Somerset supporters’ minds more than is comfortable. At one point the Worcestershire batsmen made a dash for the line, but throughout the innings no partnership lasted long enough to apply the persistent pressure to Somerset necessary to force a win. At the crunch, the Somerset bowling proved too strong for the Worcestershire batsmen on a pitch on which each innings total was lower than the one before. It was a day of greater tension than the end result or the cold facts of the result portray. Throughout the final day Worcestershire were under the greater pressure, but only at the very end did the task seem beyond them. Until then, however regularly Somerset took wickets, Worcestershire’s target always seemed within range of an exceptional innings or a determined partnership.

Read More »