Day 4: Somerset Second XI 342 (Roelof van der Merwe 115, Kasey Aldridge 80) and 256 (Lewis Goldsworthy 56, Ben Green 42, Pittman 4/38), Nottinghamshire 2nd XI 299 all out (Zak Chappell 77, Matt Carter 62, Marchant de Lange 5/68) and 249 (Martindale 42, Neal 48 not out, de Lange 3-67). Somerset 2nd XI win by 50 runs.
Last night we said that the outcome of this match was ‘too close to call’ and from a scorebook perspective so it turned out to be with Somerset taking the final wicket with 5 overs left in the days play, but in fairness, once the five top order batters had gone leaving Nottinghamshire on 80/5 it was a matter of when not if.
Nottinghamshire started the morning on 14/1 having lost opener Budinger who was caught by Roleof van der Merwe off the bowling of MdeL for a second ball duck on Wednesday evening.
On the final morning the Nottinghamshire top order batters were blown away by Marchant de Lange captain Ollie Sale and Ned Leonard. The wickets fell as follows: Montgomery caught Aldridge bowled de Lange 27, Schadendorf caught Green bowled Sale 30, Harrison c & b Sale 10, King c & b de Lange 12 and Chappell bowled Leonard 7, leaving Nottinghamshire in the perilous position of 98/6.
The middle and lower order however refused to give in lightly, making the Somerset bowlers fight until the end. The seventh wicket partnership of 42 runs was broken by Jack Harding when he had the experienced Matt Carter caught by Will Smeed for 37.
The equally experienced Jake Ball only contributed 1 run, a catch by Lewis Goldsworthy from the bowling of Ben Green saw Ball walking back to the pavilion. 8/153.
Somerset were still not to have it their own way and the ninth wicket partnership of Martindale and Neal added 57 runs, before Martindale was caught by Goldsworthy off the bowling of Kasey Aldridge. We did anticipate that Lewis Goldsworthy would have a say in the final outcome in yesterday’s report but with his spin not his catching ability!! (9/210 in the 82nd over).
So the finale, the stubborn resistance of the last wicket pairing of Neal and Pettman was broken by Ned Leonard when the latter was caught by Kasey Aldridge for 10, leaving Neal on 48 not out.
Do they sing Blackbird after a Seconds victory? I have to confess I don’t know as I was so engrossed with the fortunes of the First XI, however with iPad and iPhone and the dual streaming of the two matches the whole of the CACG knew what was going on!
What a wonderful 4 days of hard fought 2nd XI cricket – do join us on the live stream, or even consider a visit, on Monday May 2nd for the next 4 day Second Eleven Championship match v (them up the road) Gloucestershire at Rockhampton.
Scorecard here
