County Championship Division One, Cardiff, Day Four – Glamorgan 229 and 285-8 (Dickson 76 Hadley 50) beat Somerset 337-9 (Abell 86, Thomas 71) and 157 (Abell 71) by 2 wickets
Sean Dickson left Somerset last season feeling more than a little aggreived.
Sean Dickson was signed by Somerset to make
red ball runs.
The fact that he didn’t and with a wealth of young batting seemingly ready to step up the brains trust at Taunton decided, despite the T20 heroics, Sean was surplus to requirements.
If revenge is a dish best served cold, Dickson must have spent the whole of a chill of South Welsh winter in the retribution kitchen. He recorded his third half- century in as many games – a streak he never came close to in his time at Taunton. But as it turned out his was a bit part role in the final day drama.
I speculated in yesterday’s post on whether the Cricketing Gods would smile on Somerset thanks to Tom Abell’s stellar efforts. Well they didn’t.
Having been victims of the first debut hat-trick in the Championship in 120 years they were frustrated by Glamorgan’s night watchman no 11. Entering the game with a batting average of under 6 with a highest score of 15 and having faced a maximum of 54 balls in an innings.
When Glamorgan clinched victory as the clock ticked towards 5 Hadley was still there having faced 231 balls unbeaten on exactly 50.
Somerset had given him two lives earlier in the day but that shouldn’t detract from his mammoth effort.
From a Somerset point of view you couldn’t make it up. But you have to tip your cap to the young Aussie for above all a monumental display of concentration that is way beyond the majority of number 11s.
This was a gut-wrenching result for Somerset. Transforming their season from one of being in contention to at best mid table mediocrity. And they only have themselves to blame.
If you took Tom Abell’s efforts away it’s a pretty sorry tale. If you look at the tail ends of the final sessions on the the first two days you’ve got a contribution of 41-9!
The James Rew experiment didn’t work.
Dropping Archie Vaughan down the order didn’t achieve the desired results.
And Somerset’s two spinners contributed just 9 overs in the game.
To quote Fred Trueman, ‘I’ve no idea what is going on out there‘
I’ll leave you with this thought. Somerset traditionally slow starters got off to a superb start and with games against Yorkshire and Glamorgan to come this correspondent for one was getting a little giddy.
Not so much now.
