MetroBank Game 3 - v Warks and a change of Weather
By Grockles
July 26 2026
The weather has definitely taken a turn on Family Day at the County Ground as we welcome Warwickshire to Taunton and the chance to turn our present 50 over campaign to a predominently winning one as we have one win and one loss so far. Big queues at the gates at 10 this morning so the hope of a decent Sunday crowd for this one. Warwickshire have won the
Metrobank Game 3 - v Warwickshire @Taunton Sunday 26 July 2026
It's a gloomier start today and a whole bunch of people are NOT in shorts this morning as the weather has definitely changed. Lots of people waiting to get in this morning though as it is Family Day at the ground. The toss has been won by Warwickshire and they have decided to bowl first. Before play there is a Guard of Honour and a minute's silence in memory of Sir Christopher Onjaadtje who passed away in his 90s earlier this month. A patron of the club for a long period of time who has a pavilion and the Indoor School named after him on the ground.
The Somerset side has a couple of changes from Friday;
Vaughan, Perera, Lammonby, Thomas, Goldsworthy (c), Connell, Theedom, Church (wk), Shaw, Ball, Langridge
We are using the same wicket as the one from Friday which means we are facing the same very short Somerset Stand boundary in this game. Ethan Bamber will bowl the first from the MT Pavilion (obviously not 'white ball' enough for the franchises) and must be seen as a real problem for the home side today as the highest CC1 wicket taker so far this season. He is bowling first to Archie Vaughan and takes out his off stump with his third ball without toomuch trouble. Through the gate and it's 1 for 0 as Vaughan passes Lammonby on the way out. His first ball to Tom L has him wondering if today is a good day to bat. Bamber starts with a wicket maiden.
Hannon-Dalby is also coming in from the River end so this is Warks first line opening bowling attack and it is good to see Sav make the first scoring shot driving the ball straight for four to get the scorebaord clicking over. Lammonby get off the mark in the third over. At the end of the 6th we have moved on to 13 for 1 courtesy of a weird bounce in the outfield that completely foxed the fielder as it bounced away from his at about 45 degrees to the Somerset Stand boundary.
Bamber is changed for he spin of Yates in the 10th as we move to 33 for 1 with most of the runs coming from the bat of Perera. The change becomes a dual one as 16 year old Charlie Taylor debuts in the 50 over by coming on at the River end for the 12th. The 50 partnership arrives in the 13th with Sav on 33 from 42 and Tom on 20 from 32. By 15 we have moved on considerably but we lose Perera as he goes down on one knee to Yates but misses the ball. After an age the Umpire decides he was in front and he has to go LBW for 39 from 49 with 5 four and a six. That was a mistake but you takes yer chances!!
Out comes Lewis to fnish off the 15th moving the score on to 73 for 2 by taking a single. Taz Ali comes on as the next new bowler in the 19th at 87 for 2 from the River. He is joined by young Taylor from the other end and the home side move towards 3 figures. We have another concussion check after a ball from Charlie and it is a bit surprising that the 12th man coming on to help is Riley Meredith - why is he still here? why is he doing duties? If he is here and doing official things, why isn't he playing in this?
The 100 arrives off an Ali wide in the 22nd with Tom very close to a 50 (47) with the skipper on 15. Lammonby moves to 53 off 63 balls from his fourth four pulled to the Somerset boundary at 110 for 2. Jake Lintott starts his bowling day in the 25th at 119 for 2. A flashed four to the Botham brings up the 50 partnership between the two at 123 for 2. We reach 124 for 2 at the halfway stage with Lammonby on 60 from 70 and his captain on 23 from 28.
Bamber returns for the 26th to partner Lintott and Somerset pass 150 during this bowling pairing in the 30th with a four off the bat of Lammonby who moves to a run a ball 80. Yates returns for the 31st and is greeted by a straight driven four from Goldsworthy followed by another more fortuitous one off a botom edge to the Botham for four byes. The two bats are looking to free their arms however earlier than is usually the case.
Lintott changes ends for the 32nd and his first ball brings up the 100 partnership with a single to Tom at 170 for 2. The third ball of the over however goes Warwickshire's was as the batting pair go for a sharp second and Tom does not make his ground and departs for 85 from 88 balls at 172 for 3. He is replaced by Josh Thomas after his excellent innings on Friday. we have to hope for a little more from him as although Johnny Connell, James Theedom and Ben Church follow him we are then into a pretty lengthy tail starting with Josh Shaw at 8.
Lewis goes to 50 at 198 for 3 from 57 balls with 4 fours. We then go to 200 at the end of the 35th from the returning Hannon-Dalby (who we have decided has a striking resemblance to the 'Kurt Barlow' figure in the TV version of Salem's Lot with David Soul and James Mason in it - yes, the 'Nosferatu' like gentleman).
The 50 partnership comes up between Goldsworthy and Thomas at 'double Nelson' in the 38th from 38 balls with Josh contributing 22 of the runs. The visitors bring back Charlie Taylor who definitely looks like a lot more than a 16 year old debutant bowler. He has significant pace for a teenager. With 10 overs to go (Powerplay 3) we have 236 with 7 wickets remaining, Bamber changes ends to the Pavilion and the push towards 300 must be on from here on in.
Josh finishes the 41st over with a brace of sixes into the Gimblett and the 250 arrives at 253 for 3 off the bowling of Bamber (9 overs 1 for 44). Goldsworthy looks to move along by straight driving Taylor in the next over as well as we seem to have decided to put the foot down on the accelerator. Thomas moves to 50 on 37 with 2 fours and 3 sixes at 261 for 3.
But he holes out looking for another when he is caught by Yates off Taylor without adding to his half ton at 261. In comes Johnny Connell to face Lintott who changes ends again. He shows his character as he goes down the pitch to Lintott and smacks him down to the pavilion rope to take us to 283 for 4 with 5 overs left in the innings.
Taylor will bowl out in the 46th with decent figures of 9 for 52 at the start of it. Lewis goes to 102 with consecutive sixes, one down the ground and the other into the Somerset. 102 from 88 at 298 for 4 with 7 fours and 2 sixes and an excellent captain's innings when his side needed it. He then takes a single to bring up the 300 with 4 overs to go.
Lintott removes the skipper at the start of the next over as Lewis goes up the wicket, misses the ball and is stumped for 103 from 90 balls. That brings Ben Church to the crease. He has yet to show his worth with the bat in the few games he has played so far. Connell sets out his stall as the next ball goes a long way into the Ondaatje car park. The next one doesn't go as far the other way and he is caught by Smith going for something on the Somerset side but he had to go for it. Johnny leaves for 16 from the 11 he faced at 307 for 6 which brings Josh Shaw to the crease. Lintott leaves another bowling visit to the West country with wickets 10 overs 69 for 3 as Shaw gets off the mark with a single.
Hannon-Dalby returns to complete the innings with 2 from the River. His first starts with 2 wides and further into it Josh picks him up and puts him into the Somerset without any kind of bounce. 319 for 6 with 12 balls to go and Bamber finishing his 10 from the MT with the 49th (presently 9/1/1/44). Ben fires him straight into the MT for six. He does fall to the bowler later in the over wafting at a bouncer and caught behind for 8 at 329 for 7. James Theedom comes in for his first innings for us in the 50 over though he has played in the side before in 2025. This is his first outing this season after coming on as a sub at Welbeck. Bamber finishes with 54 for 2 and Hannon-Dalby will complete the 50.
Wde move to 333 and then Shaw fires the ball literally straight up in the air. JT arrives and gets off the mark with a majestic four to the Botham to finish on a score of 337 for 8 with James Theedom not out for a run a ball 3. Hannon-Dalby finishes with 1 for 69. 339 is still our highest ever score against Warwickshire but it was a commendable effort and the visitors need 338.
The Reply
Josh Shaw will open the second half of proceddings from the River end to Jani of Jani and Yates, the Warwickshire opening pair. The 4th ball is SO fast it breaks Jani's bat at the bottom of the handle. The first is a maiden. JT Langridge will start from the MT end. 7 for 0 after two with all of them presently to Yates.
Yates looks to get off the strike off JT, he hits it to the left handed Tom Lammonby who swoops in, picks up and fires to break the stumps with the Warwickshire man well short. For the second game in a row we hit the stumps when it IS important!! 15 for 1 as Malik takes up the post of new bat near the end of the 4th over while Yates takes the stairs with his 15 runs.
JT looks very dangerous when he combines the length he bowls at with the right line. When he is slightly off target the ball squirts away at pace but when he gets it right it is pretty dangerous stuff. But when he gets it wrong it goes.
At the start of the 6th the score has moved on to 30 for 1 with the majority of the runs coming from the bat of Malik. We may have reversed the trand from the last game where the first overs were run abundant and then tightened up. Having said that, Josh's first 4 overs today are 10 runs better than his first 2 on Friday. Meanwhile JT will start his 4th having gone to 24 from the first 3.
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Highly doubt there will be any major changes to the Somerset squad though after being rested on Friday one might expect a rota to see Jake Ball comes back into the side at the expense of resting another seamer.
It's a quick move from one game to another so I would expect the preview to arrive sometime this afternoon and we'll be at the game tomorrow before quite a layoff with no cricket at Taunton until Tuesday week as next week's Metrobank games are all away.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:07:25:19:22:41 by Grockle.
Grey and overcast but we'll probably start on time. Big queues to get in at 10:15 today so a decent crowd I'd assume.
But we do need to keep his hand in for after it so it would be good to see him playing some of the games.
Fingers crossed...!