Seconds Watch – Leonard and Rew combine on Rain-Shortened Day

The visitors were given a torrid time on the first day, Ned Leonard and Jamie Rew combining to remove the top three batsmen for 23 runs. Before rain stopped play in the early afternoon Ned Leonard had picked up 5- 29 and Jamie Rew has taken six catches

  • Mike Unwin

Mike Unwin

Mike moved to Montacute (4.5 miles from Yeovil) in 1952, he started watching Somerset in 1956 and has been a supporter ever since. In retirement, when not at the County Ground or Taunton Vale watching the Somerset Second XI, he can be found, volunteering at the Ilminster Arts supporting the Stock and Sales system or in the Somerset Cricket Museum cataloguing the collection items and putting them online, on the museum’s website www.somersetcricketmuseum.co.uk

Second XI Championship Somerset Second XI v Gloucestershire Second XI, May 3rd – 6th 2021, Taunton Cricket Club, Day 1 Gloucestershire 90-6 Ned Leonard 5-29

Somerset Squad: Eddie Byrom, Ben Green*, Will Smeed, Sam Young, James Rew+, Jamie Baird, Ned Leonard, Alfie Ogborne, Max Horton, Max Toohey, Ari Karvelas and Zen Malik was named by Second XI Coach Greg Kennis.

Newcomers to the team include Alfie Ogborne, a left arm bowler who plays for Sparkford (and is in the Somerset Emerging Player Group) , Max Horton, a right arm off spinner who performed superbly for the Under 17s last summer. Max Toohey, from Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, aged 19, a Left hand bat & slow left arm bowler, Ari Karveles from South Africa, via MCC young players and Kent a right hand bat / bowler and Zen Malik a right handed bat who has played for both Staffordshire and Surrey 2nd XI.

Gloucestershire Squad: The strong looking Gloucestershire squad is: MAH Hammond, BAC Howell, JMR Taylor, GFB Scott*, GL van Buuren, WL Naish, JD Warner, MR Trotman†, HJ Hankins, GCH Barlow, AK Russell, MB Shepherd

Somerset won the toss and elected to bowl.

As ever with second-team games a lot of the interest is in who is included, notably, no senior 1st X1 members are in the squad making the selection for the Hampshire game on Thursday even more intriguing.

Our old friends from North Bristol, went into lunch on 74/5, fully justifying Ben Green’s decision to bowl first. Gloucestershire had quickly lost familiar faces Bennie Howell and Jack Taylor (0-2) followed soon after by Miles Hammond. Ned Leonard and wicket keeper Jamie Rew combining to dismiss the top three batsmen in the first 12 overs for only 23 runs.

Equally well known to Somerset supporters, George Scott and Graham van Buuren then steadied the Gloucestershire innings, however, Jamie Rew continued his remarkable performance, catching both Scott and van Buuren off the bowling Leonard and Karvales respectively, giving Ned Leonard the remarkable figures of 11-2-24-4 at the lunch interval.

In the six overs available after lunch before the forecast rain set in, Leonard and Rew combined again, this time dismissing Jared Warner for a duck.

As the heavier rain set in, play was abandoned for the day, Gloucestershire closing on  90/6, In an excellent ‘day’ in the field, Ned Leonard had picked up a fivefor (14-4-29-5) and Jamie Rew took six catches for Somerset.