Somerset v Nottinghamshire, County Championship Division One, CACG Taunton, 19th to 22nd April 2024. Day One
Anyone who heard this week’s Somerset Podcast (and if you haven’t, all you have to do is click this link) will know that I was alone in being adamant that Sean Dickson should not be retained in the side for this game.
So I am very happy to be working my way through a large slice of humble pie.
My “conditioned” Somerset Cricket Brain” looked at the final session of this first day at tea time with a little trepidation. Would Matt Renshaw continue his very promising start to the season, would Tom Lammonby continue his sublime 2024 form?
Somerset, or more specifically, Dickson, set out to confound all that, he rattled along merrily in the final session of the day. He walked off unbeaten at the end of the day on 70 off 102 balls, 12 of which he dispatched to the boundary. Renshaw was pedestrian by comparison, his 34 took 91 balls and was supplemented by an imperious six the ball before he departed. It sounds greedy but it would have been so nice to have all ten wickets in hand at the close.
Josh Davey (in the absence of Jack Leach) had the nightwatchman duties. Speaking of Leach perhaps Dickson was motivated by Leach playing as a specialist opener earlier in the week at Headingly for the Twos! It is hard to say if Dickson has decided to change his approach this season as it is a pretty small sample size so far this season. But on the evidence of this contribution it seems he and the coaches may have.
The only shame is that I don’t have a Sean Dickson image to use for this piece so this graphic from the club’s twitter feed will have to suffice (Ben Warren, if you are reading this …… please…..)
All of this supplemented a very fine two session bowling display which set the table for the last session batting performance.
Haseeb Hameed will have better days in his captaincy career. He is clearly an adherent to the adage of win the toss and bat first, and dutifully followed that mantra despite the return of the Dukes ball, the likely help from the conditions for the bowlers in the first session and the looming brooding presence of one Craig Overton, one wicket short of 400 for his county.
Haseeb Hameed will have better days as a batsman too. A wild swish to the first ball of the game was perilously close to seeing his innings end. A reprise two balls later resulted in him playing on, departing for a third ball duck and giving the older twin the milestone.
Overton set a tempo which Somerset were able to maintain all through the first session, tight controlled line and length, threat without outright hostility. And it bore fruit with three wickets at a cost of only 72 runs in the first 29 overs. Craig tucked into his meal with figures of 1-18 off 8 overs, his skipper even more contentedly with 2-7 off 6.
Joe Clarke who now keeps in place of the coach’s son looked, immediately after lunch as if he might be the man to bring his side back into the ascendancy. But he got his side no further than 118 when he departed for 39. Notts clawed their way to 153-5 at the start of the 50th over, but you sensed they were trying to swim against a very strong tide. And in the space of three balls they were swept away by, who else, Craig Overton.
Montgomery, for a top-scoring 48 and Harrison, pouched by the skipper for 0.
From there, it was a case of when, not if. 63 overs, 193 all out, neat as you like to end the afternoon session extended because the visitors were 9 down at the time of the scheduled interval.
The wickets were spread across the five bowlers, 2 for the rather expensive Pretorious (you have to wonder why we have invested in him and then sent Ben Green to Leicestershire this week) – hopefully I’ll be eating more of the same pie later in this game for saying that, but I suspect I am not alone in thinking that. Lewis’ 2-19 off 11 at under 2 per over, Josh Davey 1-26 at 2.17 and Craig 3-57 of a titanic 18 overs.
Notwithstanding being handed a huge advantage by their opponents this was a very fine effort from the bowling attack. Just think how much better it would have been if Kasey has played! But that is to be churlish at the end of a very good day for Somerset County Cricket Club. A delightful way to start the championship season at Taunton.
