County Championship 2025. Division 1. Nottinghamshire v Somerset. 29^th, 30^th, 31^st July and 1^st August. Trent Bridge.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke (w), J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, D.Y. Pennington, Mohammad Abbas.

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

Toss. Nottinghamshire elected to field.

First day – An idyll of Somerset batting

The omens were not good for Somerset. The sky was overcast, the light indifferent, Nottinghamshire had a strong pace attack led by Mohammad Abbas and they had elected to bowl on winning the toss. Abbas’s second ball, from over the wicket and slightly angled in, cut in some more and kept low. Lewis Gregory shuffled across his stumps, raised his bat high to leave the ball and was struck on the pads. The appeal from in front of and behind the stumps was instant and convincing, more of a roar than a shout. The raising of the umpire’s finger was instantaneous, admitting of no doubt and Somerset were 0 for 1 with the sleep barely out of most spectator’s eyes. In Abbas’s next over, a ball, again slightly angled in, this time from around the wicket, perhaps straightened a trace. Tom Lammonby brought his bat forward to defend and edged the ball knee-high to Calvin Harrison at second slip. Somerset 0 for 2 and the cheer from the Nottinghamshire crowd of perhaps twelve hundred, perhaps a few more, reverberated around inside stunned Somerset heads.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Nottinghamshire v Somerset. 29^th, 30^th, 31^st July and 1^st August. Trent Bridge.

Nottinghamshire. H.Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke (w), J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, D.Y. Pennington, Mohammad Abbas.

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

Overnight. Somerset 438. Nottinghamshire 189 for 2. Nottinghamshire trail by 249 runs with eight first innings wickets standing.

Final day – “A painted ship upon a painted ocean” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” So Coleridge portrayed the ship of the Ancient Mariner becalmed in the doldrums. He could as well have used those lines to portray the second and third days of this match. So dead was the pitch, so uninspiring much of the cricket, so soft did the Kookaburra ball become after a dozen or so overs of each innings, or so it seemed from beyond the boundary, that Lewis Gregory opted not to bother with the new ball after 80 overs of the Nottinghamshire innings. Instead, he used the original for the whole innings, 159.2 overs, four balls short of double the usual allocation for a ball. Whether because of the effect of the comatose pitch on the first three days, or the reputation of the Kookaburra ball among County Championship spectators, the crowd had voted with their feet by the fourth day. At the start, I counted about 170 people in the stands prepared to continue watching. The crowd had grown to around 250 by lunch, but that was a fraction of the attendance on the first two days and only about a quarter of the attendance on the third day. The first three days had seen one of the highest attendances by Somerset supporters on the first three days of any of Somerset’s first six away matches in 2025. By the final day, perhaps a dozen remained.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 29^th, 30^th June, 1st and 2^nd July. Taunton.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection for personal reasons.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, , S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, I.P Kishan (w), L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, B.A. Hutton, F. Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas.

Overnight. Somerset 379. Nottinghamshire 214 for 3. Nottinghamshire trail by 165 runs with seven first innings wickets standing

Third day – Different gravy

As I meandered around the ground at the start of the afternoon session, extending my lunchtime walk to a second circumnavigation, stopping in the usual gaps between the stands, waiting for something to happen, someone said, “Notts are just ambling along.” He was far from being alone in expressing that view. It was that sort of day. Lazy in the heat, mainly accumulative cricket in the middle, and a match moving forward at a slow march. Even the Quantocks seemed to be asleep. Gone were the vibrant colours of spring which brought the hills to life as the cricket season got under way. Now those colours had faded as if the apparently endless summer heat had consumed their vibrancy, as indeed it probably had. But, for all that, one thing stood out above the rest of the day. An innings of sheer bliss and skill from Ishan Kishan, signed by Nottinghamshire for two Championship matches while their usual wicket keeper was away on international duty. As I had walked in the shade of the tunnel under the Lord Ian Botham Stand, a Somerset supporter who had travelled from the West Midlands said to me, unprompted, and with a hint of awe in his voice, “Kishan is different gravy. A class above anything else we have seen. Worth travelling just to see him.”

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 29^th, 30^th June, 1st and 2^nd July. Taunton.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection for personal reasons.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, , S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, I.P Kishan (w), L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, B.A. Hutton, F. Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas.

Overnight. Somerset 275 for 6.

Second day – Battling on

The second day of this match saw Somerset continuing to battle for match position with the Championship leaders. They did not lose ground, but neither did they gain any, the day ending with Nottinghamshire still retaining the edge, but with Somerset still in contention. Somerset made quicker progress with the bat than they had on the first day, but when Nottinghamshire batted, the first hour of Ben Slater’s innings apart, the cricket was often attritional, a form of the game which, in supporters’ minds, is becoming associated with the use of the Kookaburra ball in English conditions. Crowd numbers were well down on the first day when free members’ tickets appeared to bring hundreds into the ground. By my eye, upwards of a thousand came on the second day, but these were added to by another thousand schoolchildren in the Priory Bridge Road and Ondaatje Stands. They were organised in class blocks and for as long as they were there, the ground sounded like a school playground on an eternal last day of term.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 29^th, 30^th June, 1st and 2^nd July. Taunton.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection for personal reasons.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, , S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, I.P Kishan (w), L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, B.A. Hutton, F. Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day – Somerset battle

This was a key match in Somerset’s push for contention in the 2025 County Championship. After a disastrous, in cricketing terms, start to the season, which found them bottom of the Championship after four of the season’s 14 matches, they had achieved a near-miraculous turnaround when they defeated Essex from an apparently hopeless position in the fifth match. That led to three victories in succession and a climb to fifth place in the table. Then, at Edgbaston, they encountered the Kookaburra ball, notoriously resistant to wicket taking in English conditions, and a pitch which looked like it might last an eternity. Getting the better of the draw against Warwickshire, they moved above them in the table to end the match in fourth place, 21 points behind the leaders, Nottinghamshire. The outcome of their two matches against Nottinghamshire, this one, and another at Trent Bridge at the end of July, would be crucial if Somerset were to close the gap on the leaders, and on Surrey, two points behind Nottinghamshire in second place. At Taunton, in this the second of Somerset’s four Kookaburra matches in 2025, there was a bumper crowd, 3,000 at least, perhaps more. The ECB had designated this round of matches a red ball festival and Somerset had offered each member two free tickets.

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County Championship 2025. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 29^th, 30^th June, 1st and 2^nd July. Taunton.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection for personal reasons.

Somerset. T. Kohler-Cadmore, , S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), A.M. Vaughan, K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, M.J. Leach.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, F.W. McCann, J.M. Clarke, J.A. Haynes, I.P Kishan (w), L.W. James, L.A. Patterson-White, B.A. Hutton, F. Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas.

Overnight. Somerset 379 and 4 for1. Nottinghamshire 509. Somerset trail by 126 runs with nine second innings wickets standing.

Final day – Clinical Kohler-Cadmore

When, with 86 overs left in the day, Tom Lammonby swept Liam Patterson-White into the hands of Farham Ahmed at deep midwicket the ball might have been laser guided so accurately did it pick Ahmed out. It had not been the smoothest of Lammonby pulls. He had looked somewhat tucked up in the stroke and Somerset were 28 for 3, still 102 runs behind. “One hundred and thirty all out,” said the voice behind me in the lower deck of the Trescothick Pavilion. That all three wickets had fallen to Patterson-White’s slow left arm spin fed the tremor of anxiety which had driven the comment. Sean Dickson had already departed, leg before wicket to a ball from Patterson-White which had pitched on leg and straightened. He had already been beaten more than once by Patterson-White, never looked settled and two of his six runs had come off the edge. Lammonby had played a perfectly controlled hook off Mohammad Abbas, square to the Somerset Stand to a cry of, ”Shot, Tom,” but it was a false harbinger and the day ahead now looked long and fraught for Somerset watchers.

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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.

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. Somerset 293 for 4. Somerset trail by 67 runs with six second innings wickets standing.

Third day 25th June – A hard watch

As soon as I switched on the live stream it looked like a day for batting, and as it turned out, it was. The sky was blue, the shadows sharp, and the pitch had a decidedly benign attitude, although there was some, if predictable, turn for Calvin Harrison’s leg breaks. Watching the players and people in the crowd, when the camera caught them, it quickly became apparent that it was a hot day. The shady parts of the stands were better populated than the sunny ones while, between overs or when retrieving a ball from beyond the boundary, players moved about with that hint of tired reluctance that overtakes the body as a searingly hot day wears on.

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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. The live stream was watched with the sound muted to ensure the impression of the play which I developed was my own.

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.

Toss. Nottinghamshire. Elected to bat.

First day 24th May – Nearly but not quite

This was a day of hard labour for Somerset’s bowlers which brought both reward and frustration. There was some movement in the air, although much of it came after the ball had passed the bat. As to the pitch, it gave every impression of being content to leave all the work to the bowlers. The bowlers meanwhile, Craig Overton and Migael Pretorius in particular, stuck to their task. A late attack from Ollie Pope apart, the batters mostly had to work for their runs. Twice Somerset threatened to break the back of the Nottinghamshire innings with clutches of wickets, but twice Nottinghamshire redressed the balance with century partnerships. By the end of the day Somerset might have claimed a slight advantage. But for anyone watching in the Somerset interest, after those two century partnerships it had been a day of what might have been.

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd 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 418  for 2. Somerset 454. Nottinghamshire lead by 157 runs.

Final day 22^nd April – A merciful end

The forecast for the final day was awful. The rain was a little late in coming, but it came in time to put the remains of this game out of their misery before things had dragged on for too long. There was no prospect of a positive result, so flat had the pitch become and all bonus points had been allocated. The forecast and the state of the match had reduced the crowd to 200 at most, and most of those were eyeing the gathering clouds, perhaps hoping for deliverance. The third day had brought back memories of the pitches and fourth days of a decade and a half before when wickets falling on the final day could be as rare as August snow.

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd 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. Somerset 116 for 1. Somerset trail by 77 runs.

Second day 20^th April – Overton and Pretorius take the breath away

In the end, this proved to be a day of accelerating Somerset progress, at first gradual and then, like water unleashed by the lifting of a sluice gate, the runs gushed across most of the final session. The sun, as it did on the first day, shone all day, but the wind across the face of the elevated level of the Trescothick Pavilion continued with its unrelenting winter chill. The cricket held the attention across all three sessions, but in the intervals, the lack of access to the outfield at lunchtime and the closure of the Somerset Stand and the Brian Rose Gates still entered the conversation.

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd 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.

Toss. Nottinghamshire. Elected to bat.

First day 19^th April – “Come on Somerset!”

The Quantocks and the ground looked very different places. The Quantocks looked on, resplendent in the sun with the bright yellow of the oilseed set against a spring green background with one glorious sandstone-red ploughed field having pride of place. The ground was stark in comparison. Stark because the crowd was the smallest I can remember for the start of a Championship match at Taunton. It looked well down on the two thousand plus spectators which were commonplace on a sunny day before the pandemic. I would be surprised if it reached a thousand at the start. The pandemic doubtless had an impact, perhaps the chill wind, perhaps the cost-of-living crisis too, Somerset entry charges are among the most expensive in the country.

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County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd 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 20^th April – A bitter wind blows

On 25^th and 26^th 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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County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 25^th, 26^th and 27^th  June. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M.J. Henry, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. B.T. Slater, H. Hameed, M. Montgomery, J.M. Clarke, L.W. James, S.J. Mullaney (c), T.J. Moores (w), M. Carter, B.A. Hutton, J.T. Ball, D. Paterson.

Overnight. Somerset 163 and 268 for 4. Nottinghamshire 186. Somerset lead by 245 runs with six first innings wickets standing.

Final day 27th June – An astonishing victory

From the upper level of the Trescothick Pavilion it seemed that Somerset came out to play cricket on the first day, and Nottinghamshire played it better. On the second day, Somerset were a different team with a sharpened focus. Led by Craig Overton and Matt Henry they came out to dominate and then overpower the opposition and did precisely that. It was a shock to the Nottinghamshire system from which they never recovered and after which, on the third day, they simply disintegrated. When you have teams from the same level of cricket, their skills are not too far apart, and mindset is what matters. With the right mindset, every skill a cricketer has is sharpened and hardened. Somerset’s mindset changed between Sunday and Monday, perhaps aided by Overton and Henry bowling as they did, and Nottinghamshire wilted in the face of it on Monday and Tuesday.

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County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 25^th,26^th and 27^th June. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M.J. Henry, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. B.T. Slater, H. Hameed, M. Montgomery, J.M. Clarke, L.W. James, S.J. Mullaney (c), T.J. Moores (w), M. Carter, B.A. Hutton, J.T. Ball, D. Paterson.

Overnight. Somerset 163. Nottinghamshire 145 for 4. Nottinghamshire trail by 18 runs with six first innings wickets standing.

Second day 26th June – A match turned on its head

Somerset began the second day already facing the possibility of defeat. They ended it in a position from which they might force victory. A morning of sustained, attacking Somerset bowling was followed by an afternoon and evening of sustained Somerset innings building. The cricket was accompanied by a good crowd, large by post-pandemic standards and larger than the first-day Sunday crowd. It was a crowd which engaged with the play, willed, and in the morning and at the end of the day cheered its side on. It was a day of virtually unremitting Somerset joy. By the end of the day, Nottinghamshire, rampant on the first day, looked ragged. That may change after a night’s rest but at the very least they now have a fight on their hands.

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County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire. 25^th,26^th, 27^th and 28^th June. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M.J. Henry, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. B.T. Slater, H. Hameed, M. Montgomery, J.M. Clarke, L.W. James, S.J. Mullaney (c), T.J. Moores (w), M. Carter, B.A. Hutton, J.T. Ball, D. Paterson.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day 25th June – All out before tea

As at Chelmsford two weeks before, this match began with a one-minute silence for the three people murdered in a terrorist act in Nottingham while the Chelmsford match was in progress. Two weeks on, the silence was as intense as the Essex one had been the day after the event. Two of the victims were students, one with connections to Somerset CCC and one with previous connections to Essex CCC.

It was another very hot start to a day of cricket, and the stands were drenched in sunshine. The crowd was concentrated in the Trescothick Pavilion and the Lord Ian Botham Stand, the only covered sections of seating in the ground. Despite the summer heat of the weeks before, unlike the desert-like appearance of Chelmsford, the Taunton outfield, apart from a patch in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion, seemed an oasis of green. There was a tinge of green in the pitch too which had made it an ‘interesting’ toss to win, and it soon became apparent that the ball was moving off the pitch. There was an upbeat atmosphere, perhaps lifted by the exceptional win over Gloucestershire in the T20 encounter on the Friday before when, after an astonishing innings from Will Smeed of 78 from 42 balls, Ben Green and Kasey Aldridge had virtually taken Somerset home with a sixth wicket partnership of 48 in five overs before Craig Overton had put the match beyond doubt.

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