County Championship 2017 ~ Lancashire ~ Third day ~ Battle of wills

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Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th September 2017. Somerset v Lancashire.

Overnight. Somerset 335 (SM Davies 111, TB Abell 46, MW Parkinson 4-68, TE Bailey 3-40). Lancashire 133 (SJ Croft 41, MJ Leach 5-47) and 28-0 (f/o). 

14th September. Third Day.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 15 September 2017 8.31 a.m.
“Umpire Nick Cook was seen looking expectantly at the sky beyond the Trescothick Stand where the weather was coming from on this third day as a brief smattering of rain swept the ground. Groans. Then the deep rising roar of an approaching Spitfire filled the air and most eyes were on the sky. It curled away behind the flats having taken another peek at the cricket. You watch cricket at what is now the Cooper Associates County Ground for sixty seasons and never see a Spitfire, and then two come along in the same match. May it presage two five wicket hauls in the same match for Jack Leach.
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County Championship 2017 – Lancashire – First day – Battle Royal

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Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th September 2017. Somerset v Lancashire.

Toss. Uncontested. Somerset required to bat.

12th September. First Day – Battle royal

Farmer White (IP Logged) 13 September 2017 7.49 a.m.
“I know they start Championship matches at 10.30 in September. They have for years. Unfortunately, that was not at the forefront of my mind when at the beginning of July I arranged an important appointment for 9.00 a.m. on the first day of this match. And so it was, with another delay on the way to the ground, I arrived at the ground three quarters of an hour after the start. I was not as desperately anxious as I might have been because I caught a glance at the scoreboard as I came over Priory Bridge Road and into the town for a car park. I could see a ‘0’ in the wickets column and the name ‘Trescothick’ as one of the batsmen. It is amazing what relief a name and a digit can bring to the overanxious mind.Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ Lancashire ~ Second day ~ Somerset rampant

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Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th September 2017. Somerset v Lancashire.

Overnight. Somerset 330-9.    

“No appointments today so it was straight to my perch at the windy end of the top of the Somerset Pavilion. Although from the gale that swept the Terrace all day I imagine those at that end of the seating would contest my claim. I was there for the start to see Jack Leach cut McClaren beautifully to the Caddick Pavilion and then, in the next over apparently almost literally hold his bat out horizontally to dry only for the ball to fly up off the top edge and Somerset were all out for 335.

Lancashire needed 186 to avoid the follow on. 186 all out is the first cricket score I can remember with certainty. For that reason and perhaps because of what followed on from it the events surrounding it always reappear in my mind when the number 186 comes up in a match. Given what did follow it I hope it has no resonance for this match.Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ Needs Must ~ Warwickshire

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NEEDS MUST 

~   WARWICKSHIRE   ~  

“Two batting artists at work painting a wonderful picture of movement on that spinners’ canvas prepared in the middle of Edgbaston. Oh, that we had a Degas to capture these two in this mood on a real canvas.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Edgbaston. 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th September 2017. Warwickshire v Somerset.           

This match was, by general consent among Somerset supporters, a ‘needs must win’ match. Somerset had 23 points to make up over the sixth placed side if they were to be safe from relegation. If they lost to Warwickshire they would almost certainly slip into last place, for Warwickshire, in last place, were only 13 points behind Somerset, and the gap to sixth place would probably then be virtually insurmountable. I watched this match on a live stream. In those days the live stream came in a small panel, perhaps two inches by three, in the middle of the computer screen. How far things have come in that short time.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 9 September 2017 7.48 p.m.

“And for those at the match this is what it was like not being there (at least for me).

Unable to travel to this match the commentary and live feed it was. When I could get to my laptop. I don’t do smartphones so when I am not at home it is silence, for gone are the days when, in extremis, you could buy successive editions of the evening paper with ‘Latest Cricket Scores’ in the ‘Stop Press’ column, see the score, and wonder who was out and how many they were out for. Many a Sunday School outing to Exmouth was spent waiting for the Stop Press in the next edition.
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County Championship 2017 ~ Reality again ~ Essex

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REALITY AGAIN 

~   ESSEX   ~ .

 “Chelmsford is not a pretty ground and it looks faintly, if charmingly, decrepit. Not the sort of place you expect to meet a cricketing steamroller breathing fire. But for those who would like their cricket to be played in the aura of the 1950s it is the place to go.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Chelmsford. 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st August 2017. Essex v Somerset. 

Essex had dominated the Championship table from early in the season and by the time of this match were powering towards their first Championship for a quarter of a century. It was a remarkable performance for a team which had only been promoted at the end of the previous season and had only spent three seasons in the First Division since the Championship split into two divisions in 2000. They became the first team to win the First Division in the year following promotion. I travelled to watch this match in the midst of the land of my exile. A long way from home I wrote a ‘whole match’ post after I had returned to Somerset.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 4 September 2017 10.44 p.m.

“Here is my very belated post on the Essex match for anyone not at the match and still interested. Other things to do and defeats are harder to write about than victories, at least for me. I have tried to weave in some thoughts on what I saw as a key reason for this particular defeat. I have written of this match simply as I saw it. As a battle of wills as much as a battle of skills.            Read More »

Somerset T20 2017 ~ Somerset battle against Nottinghamshire

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NatWest T20 Blast Quarter-Final. Trent Bridge. 24th August 2017. Nottinghamshire v Somerset.

Somerset’s 151 for 6 in 20 overs looked well short of a par total. It was nonetheless defended tigerishly with the ball and in the field.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 27 August 2017 6.51 a.m.

“It wasn’t quite as close as Trego’s brilliantly judged catch in the end but Somerset fought hard in this match against a superior T20 team. They only lost contact with the opposition in the last few overs. The diminishing target gave the Nottinghamshire batsmen the confidence to attack on a pitch on which it had looked more difficult to get the ball away than it does on many T20 pitches.

As to the catch I thought it was clean and clearly so. I probably had one of the better views. I sat at right angles to the flight of the ball on the side of the ground where the catch was taken. There was clear air between Trego’s hands and the grass when he took the ball and it did not bounce. I immediately and involuntarily said, “That was clean.” The local Somerset supporter sat next to me instantly said something similar. It was an exceptional catch, Trego diving full length down the line of the ball. Had it bounced it would probably have hit him full in the face. Read More »

Somerset T20 2017 ~ Myburg spectacular

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This match, which contained a spectacular innings from Johannes Myburg, came towards the end of Somerset’s 2017 T20 campaign. Somerset needed a win to sustain their challenge for a place in the quarter-finals. The match was decided off the last ball.

NatWest T20 Blast. Taunton. 13th August 2017. Somerset v Glamorgan.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 14 August 2017 8.46 p.m.

“As I walked out of the ground it seemed Somerset had dug a hole for themselves, helped considerably by the Glamorgan openers, dug themselves out of it through sheer hard work, gained a secure footing at the top and then fallen straight back in again for no apparent reason. Usually when I leave a one-day game at Taunton the crowd is either bubbling after a victory or contemplative after a defeat. Bemused would be a better description after this defeat. It had been as if a runner coming from the back in a race found themselves breathing freely and moving smoothly ahead of the opposition only to find their legs turning to sponge as the line approached.   Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ Hard pounding ~ Surrey

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HARD POUNDING

~   SURREY   ~ 

“The Quantocks had given up the unequal struggle and the cloud had enveloped the ground as much as the applause. But what memories remain of that golden miraculous afternoon.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th August 2017. Somerset v Surrey.

The Championship resumed for one round of matches the day after the T20 match against Surrey who remained at Taunton for the four-day game. The question was could Somerset build any momentum after the stunning and unexpected win at Scarborough a month previously. Tom Abell returned to the captaincy after a few unsuccessful appearances in the T20 competition. Lewis Gregory, after his spectacular foray into captaincy at Scarborough, was now finally unable to play for the remainder of the season following surgery on a longstanding back injury.

 7th August. First Day.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 8 August 2017 at 8.42 a.m.

“Perhaps the most important thing I saw yesterday were four primary school age children playing cricket in the car park and another still carrying a pair of inflatable batons from the previous day’s T20 so he at least had been brought to both games. I saw five others, or perhaps the same five, waiting for autographs by the Caddyshack only to all set off like a flock of Cooper Associates County Ground seagulls, in hot pursuit of Steven Davies’ six, presumably for the honour of throwing it back. They were foiled because it fell at the foot of the out of bounds, for this match, temporary stand. There were four or five children of a similar age in the top deck of the Somerset Pavilion from where I viewed today. Hopefully from small beginnings children at Championship matches in numbers will return perhaps gradually drawn in by T20 where they proliferate. Read More »

Another Somerset miracle against Surrey

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NatWest T20 Blast. Taunton. 6th August 2017. Somerset v Surrey

“Another full house, although as always with full houses there were groups of empty seats visible in the Trescothick and Somerset Stands. The lower deck of the Somerset Pavilion was tight packed, mainly with County Championship age members including, for a change in this form of cricket, me. The family stand bristled with furry headbands and inflatable batons and the temporary stand was pretty well full. I had time to count another 42 watching from the flats including a good impersonation of a row of parrots on a perch at the front of the roof terrace. It was a crowd that buzzed in anticipation of another classic game. I am not sure it was a classic but it certainly held the attention and as far as I could see no-one left.
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A classic T20 encounter ~ Somerset v Middlesex ~ 2017

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NatWest T20 Blast. Taunton. 23rd July 2017. Somerset v Middlesex.

Somerset won the toss for the fifth time in succession in their 2017 T20 campaign after a long delay for a wet outfield before the match got underway. There had been a colossal downpour an hour or so before the match was due to start. There was concern about the area in front of the Somerset Pavilion which remained wetter than the rest of the outfield. The match was reduced to 16 overs a side. 

“Well what a game and what a collection of smiling faces of all ages around the ground afterwards. And what a performance by the Somerset team with Middlesex almost matching it. What a game you get when two teams go hammer and tongs at each other like that. And what an atmosphere. And a cricket atmosphere at that. Not even a hint of a Mexican wave. Just a couple of ripples of ironic pantomime cheers from the Somerset Stand at a mystified Middlesex miss field. Read More »

Tempest at Uxbridge

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NatWest T20 Blast. Uxbridge. 16th July 2017. Middlesex v Somerset.

After two defeats and the worst of an abandoned match at Cardiff Somerset travelled to Uxbridge, and so did I …

“We had long since booked seats on the coach to London to see ‘Bat out of Hell’ at the Colosseum on Friday night, and ‘The Tempest’ at The Barbican on Saturday afternoon. Mayhem and Magic. We were in the back row of the ‘gods’ for both. We are like that. It gets you in to see two or even three ‘shows’ for the price of one. It proved an inspired choice. The staging of both was spectacularly, brilliantly, magically in the case of ‘The Tempest’, inspired and the ‘gods’ may have been the best place in the house for both stages are vast. Had I had to judge between the two I would have been hard put to make a choice. Which is the better stroke Trescothick’s cover drive or Hildreth’s on drive? It was that good and that close.
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Corey Anderson’s Somerset spectacular – The Oval 2017

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I wrote match reports on a number of Somerset’s T20 matches in 2017. The first was at The Oval with references to Beau Nash, Henry Fielding, cricket at Hambledon. The occasion was spectacular, so was the match and Corey Anderson, in his first match for Somerset, played as spectacular a T20 innings as anyone is ever likely to see.

NatWest T20 Blast. The Oval. 9th July 2017. Surrey v Somerset.

I watched this match from square of the wicket in the Peter May Stand at The Kia Oval.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 10 July 2017 11.27 p.m.

“As my London bound coach turned on to the M4, the modern usurper of the old Great West Road from London to Bath, I read Henry Fielding’s ‘Tom Jones’, forerunner of the modern novel. It was written in the age of ‘Beau’ Nash when Bath was being turned into one of the premier summer retreats of London ‘society’ and just before Hambledon flourished as England’s premier cricket club and started the process of regularising cricket’s rules. Read More »

County championship 2017 ~ Scarborough Miracle

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And so, to July in Somerset’s gruelling 2017 season and the miracle of Scarborough. I attended fewer away matches in 2017 than I have been able to of late. Scarborough was one I did not attend. Instead I followed it from, as I put it in my report, 253 miles behind fine leg. Although there were more defeats to come, Scarborough was the turning point of the season. There is a report on the first day, summaries of the second and third days and a post-match review written just after the match. The review looks at where Somerset were and to the future for the Somerset team. As I saw it in 2017 …

As usual in this series the original reports are contained within quotation marks and are in a darker font. 

SCARBOROUGH MIRACLE 

~   YORKSHIRE   ~  

“It is not the win of itself, nor the win in the context of this season, nor just the manner of the win but the shape of the team which won the victory which lends the feel of history on the turn.”


Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Scarborough. 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th July 2017. Yorkshire v Somerset.Read More »

Pink ball blues

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The introduction to this report was written during the winter of 2017/18. It remains as it was written then. Things have moved on in relation to pink ball cricket, but the issue of Championship crowds, except in a few counties like Somerset, has not. This post includes an attempt at a light-hearted poem on cricket, at least from the batsman’s viewpoint, played with a pink ball. 

PINK BALL BLUES 

~   HAMPSHIRE   ~ 

“It was a perfect afternoon’s cricket in the middle of a lovely summer evening.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Southampton. 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th June 2017. Hampshire v Somerset.Read More »

Pink ball blues

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This poem was originally written to mark the first round of County Championship matches played with a pink ball in June 2017. Perhaps it should be resurrected after England’s batting demise in the first innings of the 2021 Ahmedebad Test. I am not sure why I did not think of the simple solution to finding rhyming words for poems earlier. Use the same word 43 times in 12 lines, well, if you include the plurals…

The Pink Ball Blues or The Batsman’s Lament

Swinging ball, seaming ball, spinning ball, skidding ball.
Old ball, new ball, soft ball, hard ball.
No ball, wide ball, dead ball, lost ball.
Quicker ball, bouncing ball, slower ball, flighted ball.Read More »

Valiant charge – the 2017 RLODC quarter-final at Taunton

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The latest in my series of ‘Farmer White’ match reports written during Somerset’s 2017 season.

VALIANT CHARGE

~   ROYAL LONDON ONE-DAY CUP QUARTER-FINAL   ~

“It was now that Elgar showed how a classical batsman can adapt to fast scoring in one-day cricket.” 

RLODC Quarter-Final. Taunton. 13th June 2017. Somerset v Nottinghamshire

A match in which well over 800 runs were scored in 98 overs. Supporters were on the edge of their seats until the very end as Somerset launched a ferocious assault on an impossible target.Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ So Close

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SO CLOSE 

~   YORKSHIRE   ~ 

“Yorkshire eyes perked up although the couple in front of me could not bear to applaud. Too tense. Too close. Somerset faces looked at each other. So close and yet now a little further away.”

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th June 2017. Somerset v Yorkshire.

In this match Adam Hose replaced Peter Trego. This was the first sign that the guard might be changing in the Championship batting line up.

9th June. First Day.

Farmer White (IP Logged) 10 June 2017 8.30 a.m.

“Isn’t it time Ryan Sidebottom retired?” said the incoming text just before the close after he had taken three Somerset wickets in his first five overs. And that after he had batted 18 overs to help add 31 for the last Yorkshire wicket with more ease than virtually any of the Yorkshire batsmen had shown. He is a remarkable player. Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ Signs of revival

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Somerset’s fifth County Championship match of the 2017 season after three defeats and a desperate draw. For the first time in 2017, Somerset got the better of a Championship match, although the first victory of the season remained elusive. Lewis Gregory made a stunning maiden first-class century and was inolved in a huge partnership with Dean Elgar who made 158. The debate about the fragility of the Somerset batting continues. The reports starts with a match preview which looks back at a fighting Somerset draw at Lord’s in 2013.

The match report itself includes a description of what it was like to be in London during the first London Bridge terrorist attack which took place during the course of this match.

As always the original reports are in a darker font and begin and end with quotation marks.

SIGNS OF REVIVAL 

~   MIDDLESEX   ~ 

“As to my weekend in London the Saturday night and London’s response to it will leave a mark long after the match…has merged in with memories of many other matches.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Lord’s. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th June 2017. Middlesex v Somerset. Read More »

County Championship 2017 ~ Narrow escape

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NARROW ESCAPE 

~   WARWICKSHIRE   ~ 

“It is therefore possible that Somerset may be operating in a perfect cricketing storm this year.” 

Specsavers County Championship. First Division. Taunton. 19th,20th,21st and 22nd May 2017. Somerset v Warwickshire.

The Championship to Date.

Just before the start of the next Championship match against Warwickshire I reviewed Somerset’s poor start to the Championship season in April which had brought much criticism from supporters. In fact, all the posts on this match were written in the context of and in part were a response to the growing sense of alarm among supporters at the direction the season, especially the Championship season and particularly the Championship batting, was taking.Read More »

Somerset in the Royal London One Day Cup 2017 – Part 2

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This post contains the ‘Farmer White’ match reports on the final three of Somerset’s 2017 Royal London One Day Cup group-stage matches.

The fourth, against Middlesex, was washed out by biblical quantities of rain. In place of the report which might have been written, had it taken place, is a look back to the Gillette Cup semi-final of 1977 between Middlesex and Somerset, also at Lord’s. It too was rained off on five seperate days, before being settled in a 15 over “farce”, at least that was the view of Brian Close in his final season as captain of Somerset.

On the night before the first day on which the match was scheduled to take place, Elvis Presley died, an event which impinged on the day and which found its place in my report.

The matches include contest with Gloucestershire at Bristol, a consummate Somerset victory, in which Adam Hose made his mark with a stunning century which took the breath away.

The post ends with a couple of light-hearted ‘poems’ triggered by the prospect and the consequences of the rain.Read More »