Durham and an RLODC reset?

By Grockle et al
August 10 2022

Peter Siddle has a niggle so today's Royal London game will be a debut for Alfie Ogborne the 18 year old left armer. It is also an attempt by Somerset to reset their 2022 RLODC campaign after a heavy loss to Nottinghamshire and an indifferent performance at Bristol on Sunday. Beautiful weather and a decent crowd as we switch off and on again in the hope of coming out of the traps a little better this week.

There is little change in the side to face Durham today. Sonny Baker returns for Max Waller who you could say was underbowled on a spinners wicket in Bristol on the weekend. Also Petere Siddle has a slight niggle and so Somerset give a List A debut to 19 year old Alfie Ogborne after his run outs in the two South West warm up matches.

The side is

Davies, Renshaw, Goldsworthy, Hildreth, Bartlett, Rew, Green, Aldridge, Ogborne, Baker, Brooks

Still no signs of the newly signed Andrew Umeed in a batting line-up that has failed to impress this tournament yet. It does seem strange that we sign a supposed specialist opening batsman and then don't play him in a cup that could allow himto get his eye in on his home wicket. One wonders what the plan of the signing was. George Bartlett has extended his contract to the end of 2024 so he is no longer batting for his career and hopefully will be a little freer in his innings. Jack Brooks also has extended his contract for 2024 and has a number of young hoefuls looking at his first team position - three of who are in this side. James Hildreth plays and has yet to impress while Lewis Goldsworthy has produced a decent innings in his last visit to the crease. Meanwhile Matt Renshaw has figured more as our first choice spinner than as the bat we need. James Rew has been released from the Lions squad to play in this game and he has been a steadying force in the batting when he has been at the crease in the past games... not bad for an 18 year old.

Ben Green wins the toss and puts the visitors in on a wicket with a short Caddyshack boundary. Jack Brooks opens his account from the MT Pavilion to Clark and starts with a maiden. Kasey Aldridge is given the ball from the River to Bushnell and he only goes for 3.... a decent start. By the 5th over (taking into account we were 15 for 5 this time last Thursday) we have held them down to 15 without loss.

The skipper comes on himself at the River for the 9th by which time Durham have 42 to their name and they add 5 to be 47 by the end of the 10 over powerplay. Sonny Baker is introduced for the 11th and the 50 arrives off 64 balls. Someone points out that we have yet to take a wicket in the Royal London at home this season at the start of the 12th and Bushnell becomes that first in the 13th as Baker gets him to top edge one to the debutant Ogborne. 60 for 1 and in comes captain Borthwick.

Lewis is asked to open his bowling account with the 19th and Alfie gets his chance from the MT with the 20th. A decent start going for 6 ad the batsman playing every ball. Durham have 93 for 1 by the 20th and the 100 comes up for the visitors in the 21st.

I wandered down to get a decent cup of coffee from the 'Bolting Horse' Box by the side of the MT and when I got back Durham have reached 232 but it's for 4 because Sonny has taken 3 for 15 - storming stuff - BUT Durham pass 250 before the end of the 39th over....Could be a plus 300 score.

Sonny seems to have played himself into this as he then gets Dickson LBW for 11 at 253 and moves his figures to 4 for 25!! It's still on but at least one of our bowlers is making it difficult for them!! But it also seems to have changed when he changed ends to the Rivewr after his first wicket.

258 for 5 at 40 overs becomes 259 for 6 as Alfie fires a rocket in from the Somerset Stand Boundary and Coughlin is run out for 5 by Kasey Aldridge standing at the non strikers end. Excellent piece of fielding but it needs to keep coming or there will be a huge demand on the Somerset batting line-up for improvement and we may still be home early despite the away side batting first.

As the score moves towards 300 one has to ask why the bowler with the second best figures in the game is not bowling. Alfie Ogborne has figures of 4 for 20 but has not bowled since that opening spell and with Durham on 300 in the 45th we are still going to Jack who has gone for 58 off his 8.4..... isn't Alfie worth a second punt when you are on the end of a bit of a kicking? The 46th over is given to Ben Green (by Ben Green?) who has gone for 63 off his 8... I'm not sure where the thinking is but it does not seem to be on having a 'flexible' approach. Maybe Alfie could have been used when Kasey was struggling a bit perhaps? Once the attacks setup is written down it seems almost impossible to change anything - Somerset have been too predictable for far too long unfortunately.

However, we do get some progress as Green gets Trevaskis to swing at one and Bartlett catches him at 317.

Sonny is back on for the 47th but from the MT end where he has not bowled particularly well - its assumed that Ben G will take the 48th and Jack will take the 50th. But Baker is on a run and has Mackintosh caught by Kasey for 28 at 329 and Sonny takes a well deserved 5-fer. Just before the end of the next over however, Durham pass their highest ever white ball score against us (from 2015 and it was for only 3 wickets) of 331.

The Sonny Baker day gets better as he skittles Gibson on 333 to take his best ever figures of 6 for 38 (replacing 3 for 46). A shining light in a moderately insipid bowling performance.

And Jack gets the last one via a Sonny Baker throw to run out the last man and we will chase 342!!

So Somerset need a sustained start to this reply if they are going to get anywhere near this total. It's not huge but it is demanding. Rushworth starts from the MT and both Renshaw and Davies get off the mark with 5 off the first. Gibson from the River is a bit more of a handful - Renshaw particularly finds him difficult as he produces a second over maiden. But one of these two has to STAY and accumulate and we are looking for more from Hildreth and Bartlett while we hope that the stability that has been Goldsworthy and Rew will allow us to move towards this score. e do not have much of a wagging tail with the last man standing with the bat being Brooks at number 8 to be honest so we can't leave it for the second half of the order to clean up after the front end today. 22 for 0 after 5. Just after that Davies hangs his bat out to dry and is caught behind off Gibson for 9.... it just isn't working Steve I'm afraid. In comes Lewis Goldsworthy with a real job to do.

With 32 on the board Matt top edges one very high. Coughlin seems to have it and then loses it in the sun and gets nowhere near it. The 50 over game gives someone who is dropped the chance to build on the 'Get Out of Jail Free' and at first Renshaw seems to be taking the opportunity with a drive over the close fielder for four. Unfortunately, he isn't going to be patient and fires the next ball straight into Trevaskis' gut and off he goes! Ho Hum 36 for 2.... calm down for heaven's sake these games aren't slog fests until later.

Out comes James Hildreth and up comes the 50 in the 11th. But he starts to struggle around the 55 run mark and is in some kind of hamstring difficulty which makes running between the wickets look a little uncomfortable. He isn't there much longer however as he whips one from Mcalindo to Bushnell with the score on 62 and we are 3 down in the 14th. Out comes George Bartlett with a game to save. Not been here before then George!! :-)

The two Somerset men look to establish a base for a push in the later overs and they have moved the score on to 94 by the 20th over - this leaves 250 from the last 30 to win. There does not however seem to be a plan on how to get there and although the 50 partnership comes up in 57 balls there's no real strategy except stay in and see how things progress.

This doesn't work for George who is caught by Dickson off Gibson at 118 for 34. In comes Rew but he isn't settled before Goldsworthy smacks one back to Borthwick but not high enough and the Durham spinner latches on to it. 120 for 4 and we are back to a new partnership with the Somerset skipper coming in as the last real established partnership who can take this game on.

The 150 comes up in the 31st and it looks like Rew at least has the brains to know that acceleration is needed and he starts to look for scoring shots with some success. This is what we want to see but it is a little late to activate this approach. However if we could be at 230 with 10 overs to go it could be on. Unfortunately when this is required there are always gamble to be taken and we don't have the wickets left or the tail to take them. James takes one to a ball that asks to be hit. Unfortunately he puts it to Gibson on the Caddyshack boundary and he holds on to it at 166. That is about it I would venture as Kasey Aldridge offers the last chance to make anything of this in the medium to long run. Right idea but one gamble too far.

Kaseyis LBW for 1 to Rushworth at 169 and while Jack Brooks can hit a ball this game is over with Green and Brooks at the crease and 160 required from 16 overs. It is only a matter of time and even if they get to 50 overs, they will not reach 342 at over 10 an over from here on in.

But then we entre the game that the captain had in his head. Ben was working in another game. We were 178 for 7 in the 34th over. We needed 343 and Alfie Ogborne and BSonny Baker to come. We'd thought getting to about 330 with 10 overs to go was a possible route to victory but we needed more wickets and we needed someone to take the game and smashit into submission.

Jack has a go, he is dropped, a real sitter at 193 and we thought maybe Jack would do it but a couple of balls later he pops one back to the bowler and he is gone ciuaght and bowled at 198. Ben Green is on 80 and Alfie walks out at number 10. THe skipper sees no option and so he starts to take the durham bowlers apart systematically and consistently. He had reached 50 in 55 minutes off 45 balls with 3 fours and 1 six.

Now he starts peppering the boundary on the Caddyshack side and straight like the shot is going out of style. Scot Borthwick has no answer to him as he murders everything sent against him. While Alfie scores 3 Green goes to 100 in 14 balls in 15 minutes wiith another four and 8 sixes. He was dropped at 208 and he made the visitors pay.

The 50 partnership arrives at 248 - the skipper has hit 47 of them. He takes 25 runs off the 40th over we are 247 for 8 by the 42nd over. He brings up the 250 with another massive six and then adds a second the next ball. There is a large amounts of chat in the Durham camp as Gibson tries to curb this onslaught. But he goes for 4 sixes in his over. The 43rd is no better as the partnership goes to 46 at the end of it. Alfie has still only scored 3!! Rushworth takes the 44th and for no apparent reason Alfie attempts a RAMP shot at the end of it when all he needs to do is get his skipper on strike!! 293 for 9 and we again think it is over though to be honest 45 from 5 is a hell of a lot closer than we expected. However, Sonny Baker is a number 11 and the only option is to keep giving Green the strike and hope.

From a game that was done, we are in a game that we could get very close to winnning it things happen that are almost unbelievable but few are leaving.

Baker works to get Ben on strike and every time he does the Somerset man gets boundaries, he isn't working in siingles unless it is the end of an over. Durham are working to keep Sonny in front of the bowler. Ben is not taking singles. But the score keeps going up as the in form batsman keeps putting the ball over the rope. It is great to watch as he goes past 150 in what seems like no time and we find ourself at the end of the 49th over needing eleven but with Baker on strike. Coughline takes the ball and his first is a bouncer which the young bowler avoids and takes the bye. Green is there needing 10 qwith 5 balls to get them in. The first one comes down and on 157 with no fear Greenstraight drives it towards the River stand.... only to be well caught by the diving fielder coming in!!!

An audible gasp and then disappointment - so magnificently close and yet so far away. wefail by 10 runs in a game we had no right to get anywhere nearpushed there by the will of a batsman captain who simply would not accept that this game was gone.

A standing ovation for Green from the crowd, his partner bat and the whole Durham team. Itwas MAGNIFICENT but it is still a loss. It's a proud one but with more support it might have been a victory - the questions is whether Green would have got that far had it been easier. But it really was an incredible innings and we were very lucky to be there to see it.

One for the annals of Somerset history. Well played skipper, sorry it was in vain but it was SUPENDOUS effort

157 runs in 106 minutes off 84 balls. He took us from 195 for 8 in the in the 37th oiver to 333 all out 2 ballls into the 50th.