ABell Chimes in after some Clangers

Rogers and Out reports on tough 1st day at Taunton

 After two previous visits to Taunton this season, I travelled west once again, more in hope than expectation, to see the first day of our crucial penultimate Championship match against Somerset. I subsequently discovered from the BBC website that we had only lost one of our last sixteen Championship away matches at Somerset. Sadly, that sole defeat was the last time I’d seen us play them away in a four day game, so the omens didn’t seem that good after all.

I arrived at the ground in good time and took up a position on the benches adjacent to the Old Pavilion, which, I believe, the locals refer to as ‘The Hill’. I sat with Bristol Rob, Mike TA1 and several other Somerset stalwarts, and had an enjoyable day in their company. The pitch was very green indeed and with the initial overcast conditions, it was no surprise to hear that we’d won the toss and inserted our hosts. Joe Denly was a late addition to the team, replacing the presumably injured Paul Stirling, and Gurjit Sandhu got the nod over James Harris for Steve Finn’s place. Ollie kept his position as the spin option over Ravi Patel. For Somerset, Craig Kieswetter was making a welcome return to action after a couple of months out after a serious facial injury received against Northants in July.

Tim Murtagh opened the bowling for us from the Old Pavilion end and commenced with a maiden to Marcus Trescothick. Gurjit Sandhu bowled the second over from the River end to Johannes Myburgh, who dispatched the last ball of it to the boundary to open Somerset’s account. However, in the sixth over with the score on thirteen, Trescothick fell to the first ball he’d faced from Sandhu. He wafted at a wide ball without conviction, and Sam Robson took a straightforward catch at gully. Nick Compton came in at number three for Somerset but it was evident that batting was quite tricky on this pitch. The wicket was showing signs of variable bounce, particularly from Murts, who beat the bat on several occasions. Gurjit was also bowling reasonably well but perhaps guilty of not making the batsmen play enough. Compton hit him for two boundaries in the tenth over, but he perished three overs later, when Dial M got one to nip back and flatten his off stump. Somerset were now 32/2. Taunton born youngster Tom Abell replaced Compton at the crease and got off the mark with a boundary from a Murtagh delivery. However, he had an escape soon after when Eoin Morgan put him down at third slip. Toby Roland-Jones had replaced Gurjit at the River end, and with Dex replacing Murts at the Old Pavilion end, Somerset found scoring hard as the Middlesex duo bowled with accuracy and economy. On several occasions, the edge of the bat was found but the ball invariably dropped short of the expectant slip cordon. Lunch was taken with Somerset on 63/2 after 34 overs, with the unexpected bonus of our over rate being plus two ! Myburgh and Abell were still at the crease, on 30 and 17 respectively. Dex had the remarkable figures of 8-7-1-0. After lunch, the Somerset run rate continued to be below two runs per over.

In the fourth over after lunch, Toby took a deserved wicket when Simmo took an excellent catch low to his right to dismiss Myburgh, who had taken 114 balls to make a hard earned 34 runs, leaving his side on 70/3. Andrew Hildreth joined Abell in the middle, and it was the junior of the two who hit TR-J for two fours in the 44th over. Both batsmen battled away in the tricky conditions, riding their luck on a few occasions with edges through the slips for boundaries. Abell had been dropped again when on 28 from the bowling of Toby, when Malan shelled a routine chance at second slip. Abell recorded a hard fought half century when he thumped Sandhu for four with the last ball of the 52nd over. However, he fell in unfortunate circumstances in the next over when Dexter managed to deflect a Hildreth drive on to the stumps to run him out. Somerset were now 119/4 and the returning Craig Kieswetter received a warm ovation as he walked to the crease. He showed no signs of any lasting damage to his confidence when he hooked a TR-J short ball behind square for six, and although he top-edged it, there was enough momentum for it to carry the fielder on the boundary. This effort gave him a boost and he single-handedly set about increasing the run rate with some fine shots on both sides of the wicket, with TR-J’s figures suffering as a result. Consequently, Hildreth was more than happy to let his partner do the lion’s share of the scoring. Kieswetter’s quick fire fifty was recorded from just 56 balls, taking 13 runs from the previously economical Rayner in the 70th over. However, Ollie had the last laugh in the 76th over when he deceived him with flight and bowled him for an excellent 69. He’d made the vast majority of the 84 run partnership with Hildreth leaving Somerset on 203/5.

Our nemesis from the 50 over defeat at Lord’s was next to bat, namely Peter Trego. However, once again, runs were becoming hard to find until the second new ball was taken, when Trego dispatched Murtagh over the rope twice in the 81st over. Hildreth eventually completed his half century after 130 balls in the 84th over, but for a man apparently out of form, it had been a gutsy, hard working effort. Our over rate had reached the heady heights of plus four, but we eventually slowed down to complete our 96 overs pretty much by the close of play time at 5.30. We had one last chance of a wicket when Dex missed a close range shy at the stumps after a mix up between the two batsmen, but Somerset closed on 266/5, with Hildreth on 70 and Trego 26. Bowling figures for us were Murtagh 1/44 from 23, Sandhu 1/77 from 20, Roland-Jones 1/79 from 21, Dexter 0/36 from 20 and Rayner 1/27 from 12.

Although the general consensus was that honours were even, I think Somerset will be more pleased than us. If, as seems very likely, they make more than 300, I think we’re going to have to, at the very least, match the resolve shown by the majority of the Somerset batsmen (Myburgh, Abell, Kieswetter and Hildreth in particular) which has put them in a good position. We were a little unlucky with edges that didn’t carry and we beat the bat many times, but we desperately need a good batting display by the big guns at the top of the order to gain some bonus points to ease the pressure on us in that last game at Old Trafford. I’m sure I won’t be alone in checking the weather forecast for the North West religiously next week !