End of the 'Kooky' phase - Notts in Nottingham

By Grockle
July 29 2025

Trent Bridge at the end of July - the last game before the 'Franchisefunland' of August. The weather is overcast but very warm. It rained overnight but is now dry. Notts have won the toss and will bowl first - not really surprising to be honest. No TKC in our line-up as he stays home to await the birth of a little KC? The skipper will probably open with Josh and it could be an interesting morning in these conditins with the Aussie ball.

CC1 - v Nottinghamshire @ Trent Bridge Tuesday 29 July 2025

The two sides behind Surrey meet in the last game with this lovely Kookaburra ball 2 games since they did the same in the West Country. The weather is overcast and muggy for the first morning and the side that won the toss (Notts) has decided to bowl first (shock horror). The pitch is well over to the right side of the ground which makes that boundary almost within touching distance.

Somerset go into this one without Tom Kohler-Cadmore in one of the opening slots. The announcement of the side suggested that Lewis Gregory will open with Josh Davey.

The rest of the eleven is

Lammonby, Abell, Rew, Banton, Vaughan, Overton, Pretorius, Leach, Ball

So no TKC (parental duties), Ogborne or Goldsworthy with Ball probably being preferred because of his familiarity with Trent Bridge from his time here.

As expected Gregory and Davey open against Abbas. He has movement off the seam first ball and the moves and doesn't bounce. It hits the skipper on the ankle playing no shot and he is LBW to the second ball of the game!! Somerset 0 for 1 and Tom Lammonby at the crease before he will have had time to make a cup of tea.

The first over ends with no scoring and Hutton takes the second from the building site that is going to be the refurbished 'old' pavilion. No scoring in the second over either.

Abbas is a handful in the 3rd over as well and he has Lammonby caught by Harrison in the slips at the end of the over and we are 2 down without a run on the board. Not the greatest of starts to a 4 day game as Thomas Rew walks out.

The first runs come off the Davey edge to the boundary wide of third slip and we finally get off the mark with a four.

Pennington takes over from Hutton for the 10th over with Somerset on 16 for 2 with Davey making the majority of those with 11 while James is still finding his batting feet on this pitch. The grey cloud looks to be here for the morning and so conditions are going to remain a problem for the batting pairs up until at least lunch. It is not going to be an easy first morning.

Abbas continues at the other end and that persistence results in hinm having Davey caught behind after 53 minutes in the 13th at 25 for 3. He goes for a stubborn 12 but he still goes and Tom Abell is in before the end of the first hour as the Notts bowler moves on with his 7th over at 14 for 3 with 3 maidens in his spell.

It isn't the easiest of first mornings given that by the end of the 15th over (still from Abbas) we have moved on to 26 for 2. James finally comes on to replace the opening bowler from the Radcliffe Road end for the 19th and during his second over, we go past 50 and reach 52 for 3 at the end of the 21st. Rew has moved on to 20 from his 45 and Abell is looking to match him with18 from 34.

Harrison gets his first outing of the game for the 25th from the Radcliffe End so we see how spin will operate on this wicket before lunch on Day 1. The 4th wicket partnership makes things a little more palatable at 75 for 3 as James changes ends but it has still been a bowler's morning (one in particular in fact). They also then bring on Eddie McCann to have a look at it from the other end at 83 for 3 in the 28th.

At lunch we've moved to 90 for 3 with James Rew having half of them from 67 and his partner Tom Abell with most of the others (30 from his 58). Other than that sparse pickings for the others. A rocky start has developed into a better session but Notts still take it pretty definitely. It's a little brighter but the cloud cover is still pretty heavy so Abbas must be loking forward to desert after his lunch one would imagine.

Back on in brighter sunshine, though the cloud cover is still pretty extensive, Patterson-White continues the Notts 'let's give all our spinners a go' plan as he bowls a maiden to Tom Abell Penington gives us a bit more speed from the Radcliffe Road but neither opening second session over produces any runs. The runs do come and Rew goes to 51 from 75 in the next Patterson-White over though it isn't until the one after that that Somerset reach 3 figures from a Tom Abell carve through the covers for four. Another pulled boundary takes followed by a more guided flick through the covers on the on side moves us to 111 for 3 after the 33rd.

Tom joins the Somerset keeper/bat on 50 from 79 with 8 fours wth the score on 124 for 3. The 100 partnership arrives one run later as these two pull us by the bootstraps back into this first day. James in particular is taking to the bowling and batting with a freedom that has not been part of his usual process for most of this season he goes to 74 from the 100 he has faced with a second six into the stand on the shorter side of the ground.

Harrison takes over from the pavilion end. The 150 arrives in the 42nd and with it Abbas returns to the attack - a little later than expected to be honest and very much to the approval of the Nottingham faithful. He gets movement with his first delivery and this becomes a different game immediately!!.

The 150 partnership has arrived off 202 balls and these two are both looking confident and in charge. Notts react by returning Hutton to the old pavilion end to try and break up this pairing. However they move on, keeping pace with each other and as Rew reaches 90, his partner is just behind him on 80 from almost the same number of balls as they push the county score to 13 runs from 200 taking into account that they came together at 25 for 3.

Abbas is replaced by Patterson-White for the 53rd over (he's still only gone for 27 from his 15 while taking the only 3 wickets today so far) and we go back to spin. It doesn't stop Rew but he does nearly go to a high top edge before he reaches 3 figures with 100 from 138 with 8 fours and 3 sixes. At 21 that is his 11th first class 100. It adds to the 3000+ first class runs he already has. 204 for 3 as James returns the pace from the old pavilion.

McCann is on to bowl the 62nd (only his second over) and Tom Abell bats out a maiden on 99. He then faces Harrison from the other end and runs the 3 that takes him to 3 figures (102) from 165 balls with 15 fours. 226 for 3 also brings up the 200 partnership from 305 balls. Excellent fortitude from both men and the best I've seen them play this year.

It's interesting to see their respective first class figures and especially their conversion rates. James has 11 hundreds against 10 50s in his 52 matches while that was Tom B's 18th 100 with 40 50's in his career of 140 matches.

At Tea Somerset have pulled themselves back into this one at 227 for 3. James Rew on 108 and Tom Abell on 103 and we bat through a session without losing a wicket after losing 3 in the first 53 minutes of the first one!! That is a bit of progress.

After Tea Somerset's progress continues. The 250 and the first bonus point arrives in the 71st over bowled by Harrison. The 250 partnership arrives at 276 in the 78th over with Rew going into his shell a little while his compadre pushes the score along and moves back into synch with him against Patterson-White and James.

At 281 and with the 81st over, the new ball is taken and Abbas returns. But progress continues and in the 86th over Somerset pass 301 and gain their second bonus point. Rew has moved on to 148 from 236 balls while Abell is still jjust over 10 runs behind him on 134 from 6 balls less. Chances are few and far between but Rew gives one off Hutton at 148. It would have been a hell of a take but it comes to nothing as he moves to 149 and then to 150 from 239 balls with 12 fours and 3 sixes at 310 for 3. It is the second time this season he has made 3 figures and also the second time he has passed 150. He was out for 152 against Worcestershire in the first game of the season and he passes that score moving to 320 in this game and taking his personbal score to 155. Meanwhile Tom Abell is still keeping pace and will face Dillon Pennington from the old pavilion on 145 and at 328 he passes 150 (151) in 245 balls. It also brings up a 303 4th wicket partnership with Rew providing 146 and Tom adding 151 (the rest in extras).

At 335 they pass the Dasher Denning and ITB all time record Somerset 4th wicket partnership with 4 and a half overs to go in the day.

Finally at 338 Tom pulls Pennington to James and ins caught in the deep after passing 8000 first class runs at 156 after a 313 4th wicket stand. Brilliant innings just when his side needed it!! Out comes Jack Leach to 'nightwatch' at 338 for 4. The umpires bring them off for bad light at 338 for 4 with 2.4 overs left.

Looks like stumps has been called as the hover cover is coming on and the groundstaff are starting to work on the wicket.

Day 2

The weather in the early morning just up the road from the ground suggested that the second day may be interrupted by weather and it did look unlikely that we would start on time at 10 this morning The umpires had a look at about 10:30 and there is no covering on the pitch with players going through their pre-game motions so the present assumption is that we will start on time.

After the 4th wicket heroics yesterday from James Rew (still there in and unbeaten 162) and Tom Abell who was caught in a 'trap' (hooking to James) he probably would have seen had the concentration of reaching 156 (his highest career score in frist class cricket) with 19 fours in a 5 hour innings not got the better of him. This morning sees Jack Leach and our keeper looking to push on to 350 and beyond from 338 for 4. As the umpires took the players off not an over after Abell's dismissal there are 16 and a half overs before the cutoff for batting points at 110. They may push Jack to go for it after his 'nightwatch' duties are now over so they can get on and if he goes get Banton on with license to put bat to ball. The conditions suggest that there will be movement for Abbase first thing this morning as was the case yesterday so it could be a dangerous strategy though the weather situation suggests that the game may see disruptions later in the 4 day duration. Things will be what they will be. On we go!!

We start on time though presently they haven't added the 2 overs we lost. But action starts early as Jack goes caught by James off the bowling of Pennington to his first ball and in comes Tom Banton (with strapped finger?) to face Abbas' first game. It seems, as they went off at 6:01 swe do not get the extra stuff because we were after the official end time... cricket rules huh?

Thne 350 arrives in the 102nd over with Banton having moved on to 10 while Rew has only added 2 runs to his overnight score. It is slow going again on at the start of this second day and the ball is doing enough to make the bats wary of big explansive shots early on.

Rew finally goes without adding too much to his Day 1 score, he is caught by Clarke from the bowling of Pennington for 166 from 278 with 14 fours and 3 sixes... great innings and he receives a well deserved round of applause for his efforts as he departs passing Archie Vaughan on the way out to the middle at 355 for 6 in the 104th over of the innings.

The fact that they did not send in Pretorius or Overton suggests we will not see them pushing hard for the 400 score before the 110th over and the innings will settle into an accumulative mode from here on in. We'll settle for the 3 bonus points one imagines.

Hutton replaces Abbas for the 107th at 361 for 6 and Banton swings like a farmer at his first ball and is caught behind for 14. That was mindless!! Seems the highest Somerset first class scorer of all time has another side to his game.

Out comes Craig Overton at 361 for 7 to replace him. At the 110 point we have added 30 to the overnight score for the loss of 3 wickets so the game is not exactly going on 'apace'. The rate per over is presently less than 2. James and Hutton are keeping the bats honest at 372 for 7 at the end of the 112th with Vaughan on 8 from 26 and Overton on 8 from 21.

At 279, an outside edge to a delivery from James and we are 8 down with Miggy P replacing Vaughan who leaves for 15 caught behind. An over later and Patterson-White brings spin back into the equation before the lunch break and just before the interval Notts revert to the dual spin approach with Harrison coming on at the old pavilion end and lunch is taken after his firsty over at 396 for 8 with Overton on 18 from 41 and Pretorius on 7 from 18. A session that completed the mammoth innings of James Rew but didn't do much else in terms of moving the game on all that far. However we have had afull session with no rain suggested at all and the skies over Trent Bridge look much healthier than they did when we started at 11 am.

The lunch interval ends and quite soon afterwards so does Migael's innings as he is caught and bowled by Calvin Harrison for 8 with only 1 run being added by his partner to the pre-lunch score. Jake Ball comes out to generous applause from his former support base plus some 'welcome back' balls from Pennington in his return over. After 2 'head' balls Jake responds by hitting him for four through the covers, taking Somerset beyond the 400 mark to 402.

Patterson-White comes on, probably to allow for a change of ends, for the 125th at 409 for 9. However, it seems not as Harrison stays on at the 'Stuart Broad' end for the next one and Notts go to dual spin. The two bowlers set about their task with some gusto as they move the score in to the 410s and then the 420s. At the end of the 130th the partnership is worth 34 and the score has progessed to 431 for 9 with Overton on 27 from 57 and Ball with 21 from the 37 he has faced.

Pennington does finally change ends and come in from the Broad end for the 133rd but the partnership continues and is starting to be of frustrating significance to the home side as it moves to 41 pushing the innings total to 438. However that is where it ends as Ball is finally caught and bowled by Patterson-White for 24 leaving Overton not out for 31.

So at 2:30 in the afternoon and with 57 ovefs left in the day skipper Hameed and his opening partner Slater come out to start the reply against Lewis Gregory opening from the old pavilion "Stuart Broad" end. He bowls a decent first over and they have 2 before Craig starts his account from the other end. With his 5th ball he bowls Slater playing no stroke to a ball that should have been hit and he goes for 4 bringing in McCann and leaving Notts 6 for 1 after 2 overs. Not really sure what Slater was thinking but COve seemed very pleased with the result.

Jack Leach appears with the ball in the 7th over which does seem a little early!! He has chosen the 'Broad' end to start from at 26 for 1. Both the home bats seem to like this option and it may be a little early to ask the spinner to move the compass on a game as they take 9 from his first. After the 10th over of the innings the score has moved on to 41 for 12 with Overton bowling well at 15 for 1 off his 5 and Leach b owling a maiden for his second to record 9 runs from his 2. Hammed has 20 and McCann has moved on to 14.

Hameed gives Jack the straight 'long handle' in his next over putting him into the 'old' pavilion buidling site for six after which Pretorius takes over from Overton at the Radcliffe Road end and is immediately dispatched for four by McCann to bring up the Nottinghamshire 50 (52).

Jack does seem to getting something from the surface as he has the Notts bats prodding and poking at balls outside their off stump but nothing goes to hand as of yet. He has introduced an amount of caution into their play however. The pressure is also increased as Miggy P gets the length a little better in his second over and bowls a maiden. Hameed and McCann still reach a 50 partnership from 81 balls at 56 for 1 however so the game is well poised as we move to the end of the second period of the day. However, the Somerset 'press' is most definitely in place. With Pretorius running in and banging it in on a length and Jack wheeling away at the other end. There is a question about whether McCann was dropped on 20 off Leach as the ball deviated sharply and went to the right of Rew. From the spinner's reaction the Notts bat may have got something on it and the keeper did not keep hold of it but it is hard to tell from the replay whether there was any bat or glove contact or not. It would have been a hell of keeper catch had it stuck and been given but as the pair did not take a run there is no way to tell what occurred.

Tea arrives at 78 for 1 at the end of the 23rd over with Hameed on 40 and MCCann on 30.

Jake Ball starts his bowling day after the break from the Radcliffe Road end. Jack will continue from the other end, probably for the next day or so!! The next event is the Notts 100 arriving frm a two off the edge of McCann's bat in the 27th. This is quickly followed by Hameed passing his own 50 via Leach in 87 balls with 7 fours and a six. McCann is not far behind him (slightly akin to the Rew/Abell partnership in the earlier innings) but they pass the 100 partnership first at 106 for 1. McCann would pass his own personal milestone in the next Ball over (the 30th) but he slashes at one and is caught behind at 48 looking up to the heavens and thinking "What have I done?" Joe Clarke arrives at 107 for 2

8 overs later with Craig Overton taking over from Ball at the Radcliffe, the score has only moved on to 133 and Hameed has just moved into the 70s. The pace presently is mind meltingly slow though Gregory returns to the other end and nearly has Hameed LBW with a yorker that knocks him off his feet trying to keep it out. He survives, probably got a bit of bast on it though it might also have just been going down the legside.

The 150 is passed in the 42nd over with Hameed still leading the way with 79 while Clarke provides valuable support on 13 in the 43 run partnership created since McCann's departure. Gregory and Pretorius are bowling tightly but little is happening with the ball off the surface or in the air and it is a long time until a new ball can offer something more and that will be tomorrow morning at best as there are only 13 more overs to be bowled tonight. Both sides have managed the over rates (Somerset +3 and Notts +4) very well - with spinners coming more into games with this ball (sometimes out of desperation rather than because the ball offers anything) the rates have improved in these games.

Jake Ball returns to the Broad end for the 43rd ans during the next over the Notts pair get a 50 run partnership from 34 balls (mostly from the skipper's bat) which is surprising as the total seems to be moving forward at snail's pace which is obviously an optical illusion!!

In the 48th over Somerset try their other spin option Archie Vaughan from the Broad end for the first time at 171 for 2. Hameed is on 92 but he treats the young bowler with respect for the first four balls before sending him straight over the Old pavilion boundary and moving to 98. They then try Josh Davey for the first time from the other end - it's 'new bowler hour' at Trent Bridge with 6 overs to go in the day. His first is a maiden.

Hameed moves to 103 with a straight four off Vaughan to bring up his ton from 172 balls with 15 fours and 2 sixes. His county move on to 187 for 2 with 2 overs to come in the day's play. Josh finishes his spell today with 3 overs, 1 maiden and 4 runs. Archie will finish the day's play from the Broad end, his 4 overs have gone for 14 while Notts have reached 189 for 2 with Hameed on 103 and Clarke on 26.

That is it for the day and we all come back tomorrow with.. well who knows what expectations there ought to be for this one. Notts need 100 runs to avoid the follow on I suppose so that's something to think about... :-)

Day 3 and 4

Unfortunately that was the end of my involvement in the game as I suffered from a retina detachment in my left eye sometime on Wednesday night and spent the next 4 days moving between eye hospitals and operating thetres trying to save the sight in my left eye before it went for good. Hopefully thanks tot he wonderful NHS staff at Newark and Mansfield centres and then the superb Bristol Eye Hospital staff I can look forward to a little more time seeing things.

However in the 6 hours I spemnt at the Newark Urgent Care Centre on Thursday Somerset managed to take one more wicket on the unresponsive pitch with the pretty unresponsive ball. Notts skipper Hameed reached the 200 point and beyond before Tom Lammonby ran him out and the home side went into the last day still in their first innings some 70 odd runs ahead. Josh Davey and Jake Ball found something in the ball on Day 4 morning (they bowled 156 overs with it as there seemed little point in changing it) and Notts finished with 544 runs in a match with no real chance of any other result but a draw (Hameed with 208 and Jack Haynes and Lyndon James in the 70s).

Somerset did their best to make it hard for themselves and had lost 4 wickets for a score of just 184 (Tom Abell 47 Tom Banton 31) before the captain's shook hands and we took the draw. With 3 batting bonus points but only 1 bowling point (for the second time against Notts this year) we come away from this game with 12 points.

THE SCORECARD

The ludicrous Kookaburra phase of the ECB great experiment is over and we move into the "Franchise Fun" part of the domestic season when the counties continue while a lot of their name players chance roles and go elsewhere to play the ECB's little fantasy future game.

Meanwhile the squad minus 8 and their hehad coach move into the Metro 50 competition with a game against Cornwall on Monday and the first full tournament game against Middlesex at Radlett on Tuesday next with skipper James Rew in charge and Paul Tweddle taking over the coaching role.

End of the 'Kooky' phase - Notts in Nottingham

Posted by: Grockles.com (IP Logged)

Date: 29/07/2025 10:59

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:08:04:21:22:30 by Grockle.

'Notty' questions for the trip to Trent Bridge

Posted by: Grockle (IP Logged)

Date: 27/07/2025 13:43

Somerset end the middle phase of their season with the visit to Trent Bridge this week for the last 'Kooka' 4 day game.

After this the squad changes considerably, though not as drastically as it has in past Augusts - we only lose EIGHT significant players AND our first team coach this year!! So the question is, how do we balance the need for points with the prep for the 50 over material we will face next month without between 50 and 60% of our regular red ball squad for 2025.

Batting wise, we will lose Ben Green to his predicted new county as he returns to Leicestershire for the last 2 games of their CC2 before the August 'Franchise Fun'. He may return to us and captain the Metrobank, he may not as it will be a last hurrah for him probably.

Tom Banton is carrying a finger injury so will we play him in this one or let him recover before he goes off somewhere else for a month?

Tom Lammonby is staying with us this August so that will be new for him - he may even get some cricket in!!

Will we keep opening with Josh Davey in the 50 overs or will Andy Umeed appear as a significant player in the only form he has really succeeded in (his contract is up for renewal at the end of this season).

A Rew will keep but will the older one play this game and then give up the gloves to his younger brother - he really did not have a good game standing up in the Durham game.

Where is Kasey Aldridge now in our thoughts? How does he relate to Migael Pretorius in the next month as Jake Ball goes "a'franchising". They may well be working with each other at Durham next year it seems so what is his value to us at the end of this season if that is the actual case?

We did not bring Alfie Ogborne into the equation last week (though a number asked what Jake offered that her didn't in that game) Is it time to give him a run for a game as he may be important in September in preparation for next year perhaps?

Riley Meredith was officially 'not available' for the Durham game so I assume he is not for this one either and probably will only play for us again in the Blast quarters and - if we get there - the finals.

Jack, Archie and Lewis Jr are presently going nowhere in the next few weeks so one would assume they will continue.

With all that to look at will there be many changes in the side for the Notts game?

A number of comments suggest that some people would like to see some forward thinking and the inclusion of Alfie (if not then what IS his future with the county?)with Craig and Miggy P possibly in the bowling attack. Other than that one woiuld not expect the batting to change unless Tom B is allowed time to recover - not an unreasonable decision as we need him hale and hearty in 6 weeks time.

No preview yet so no squad to relate this to. I will do that when something is released.

(Sm72)