Metrobank Game 7 Away in Northamptonshire
By Grockle
August 9 2026
The last away match of the first part of the Metrobank 50 over competition and it has not been very fertile ground for Somerset. They will hope a young side will change that this afternoon as they chase a possible qualifying spot after smashing Surrey on Friday. Lewis Goldsworthy won the toss and will bat first
Metrobank Game 7 v Northamptonshire @ Northampton Sunday 8 August 2026
After the win on Friday against Surrey one wonders who will move or will be rested as we need to win both of our final games to be in with a chance of progressing. Sav Perera was left out of the Friday game as we tried a new opening partnership and although named he is out again for this one along with the very impressive Migael Pretorius - is he being rested?
The side that will bat first after Lewis Goldsworthy won the toss is;
Lammonby, Connell, Goldsworthy (c), Vaughan, Thomas, Lamey, Roberts, Church (w), Shaw, Leach, Ball
No Theedom, no Pretorius and, given our lack of batting assets, no Perera. Somerset stick with the new opening pair and will hope to post a big total for the spin and seam attack to defend.
I'm off to Ruishton for part of the afternoon so I will have to pick up when I get back. The good news it that the opening pair got through the Powerplay and with 11 overs gone they had reached 51 without loss.
Unfortunately that did not last because in the 12th over Connell went for 22 from 34 balls at 53 for 1 caught by McManus bowled by their version of Leech. A decent start but can we get a decent score and can we defend it away from home?
This is a summary so the answer to the first part of the question is the NO we cannot get a decent score. Tom Lammonby top scores with 40. Only Goldsworthy and Thomas join Connell with over 20 and the rest managed teens and single figures with Ben Church left not out on 10 in the 47th over with only 189 on the board. We lost out last 5 wickets for 59 overs as Keogh (4 for 35) and Chahal (3 for 35) took us to the cleaners.
The Reply
A little hope came at the start of the reply as Jake Ball and Josh Shaw started with wicket taking overs as Miller and McManus made no runs and were both gone after 9 balls at 5 for 1 and 10 for 2. But that was about it. Too small a score and too little penetration meant that Luke Proctor (85 from 76 with 12 boundaries) and Nathan McSweeney (69 fro 76 with 9 boundaries) had already put the game away before the 3rd wicket went to Archie with Proctor caught behind at 146 for 3.
George Bartlett came in and added 19 to put the game to bed with 20 overs left Northants winning by 7 wickets. The opening bowlers and the skipper all did their job with the ball going for around the 4 runs an over mark. The other four bowlers used (spin from Vaughan and Leach and seam from Roberts and Lammonby) went at above 7 and it really wasn't all that hard for the home side.
Amazingly, we can still qualify for the next stage given a bunch of things happening because Lancashire lost today. A win against them on Tuesday is the minimum we'd all like to see and then let the rest of the stuff fall where it will.
Very disappointing game after Friday.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:09:22:56:53 by Grockle.
and Away 
type of season
Can we do the kind of damage we seem capable of at Taunton at other team's venues? It hasn't been that way this season to any real extent and we need to win both of our last games to move up from the fifth spot in our section of the tournament. It's that or nothing.
We went with the young team against Surrey and handed them their backsides well and truly but what willl we choose from the 13 man squad for the Sunday game
The squad is;
Parera, Vaughan, Thomas, Lammonby, Connell, Goldsworthy, Church, Lamey, Shaw, Theedom, Roberts, Leach, Ball
No Migael Pretorius and again no Langrdige though he was named in the Surrey squad but not tomorrow. I'm not sure why Miggy is out - it seems strange if he is being rested as he was our best seam bowler on Friday and there are only two important games to go.
The question will be whether we play Jack or not and it will probably mean Josh Shaw will return to the side for experience
The website pervies is here;
Northants Preview
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:08:19:18:41 by Grockle.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
They name the same 13-man squad on duty when they lost to Nottinghamshire on Friday: McSweeney (capt.), Bartlett, Chahal, Guthrie, Knight, King, Leech, Louw, McManus, Miller, Procter, van der Merwe, Weatherall.
We may, of course, never know
Perera’s absence is a complete mystery. I thought he was doing very nicely..
Ho hum.
Grizzers
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Some puzzling selection choices and some very erratic performances on the field, ranging from superb to well, pretty much the opposite.
Not entirely sure where that takes us in terms of future progression tbh..
Let's hope we can finish off more positively v. Lancs. on Tuesday.
Grizzers
Players unable to deal with the Northants spin attack. No middle order anchors who can rotate the strike. Juniors going for risky shots, when experience ought to have told them otherwise.
Where does that leave us? A county rich with a pipeline of high quality batsmen, bowlers and wicketkeepers. We are playing in a competition, well supported by our fanbase, that the ECB wants to sideline to the corners of the universe.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:09:16:56:14 by Somerset LaLaLa.
The alternative - Somerset complete their MBODC challenge on Tuesday and the squad get an early night, followed by a week to rest and niggles and get the red balls out of the cupboard under the stairs to practice ahead of the resumption of the County Championship.
If I'm honest I know which one is likely. And which one I think I'd prefer.
This leaves Leics, who have completed their 8 matches - at the top on 20 points and with currently the best NRR. This leaves four teams - Notts, Lancs, Surrey and Kent, who won today, all on 16 points and Northants, whose big win improved their NRR on 12 points with Somerset (whose NRR similarly was squashed), and Warks, who also won today.
Notts play Surrey on Tuesday, so one of these two will join Leics on 20 points and likely qualify. It's not guaranteed though - if Lancashire beat Somerset, and Kent beat Warwickshire there will be 4 teams finishing on 20 points, so will come down to NRR.
But if Somerset beat Lancashire they could still qualify - but it will need Kent to lose to Warwickshire. But not by too much, or their NRR could take them above us . And we would also need a helping hand from our neighbours up the M5, who are the only one of the 9 teams in the group who definitely can't qualify, either to beat Northants, or to run them close, giving Somerset a chance if they improve their NRR enough whilst beating Lancashire.
Only one thing's for sure; Somerset v Lancashire won't be affected by the weather.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:09:19:06:14 by Bagpuss.
Very strange how our form in our home and away results is so widely different. What is the deciding variable in such changes?