County Championship Division One, Taunton, Days one & two – Somerset 526-8 (Abell 119, Overton 111, Rew 86, Abell 74*, Lammonby 73) Sussex 22-1
Half way through the final Championship game of this first segment of the season the equation for Somerset is simple. Two days, 19 wickets.
After letting a dominant position slip mid was through the first afternoon they have worked their way back into a strong if not yet match winning position thanks to the stalwart efforts on the part of Tom Abell and Craig Overton.
Both have been first team regulars for over a decade. There is a decent case to be made that neither has had a better start to the season. And here, after seeing their side through to the end of the first day they both prospered on a much interrupted, staccato second day to take their side past 500 and record their third and second championship hundreds of the year.
And there was still time for Craig to put his personal exclamation point on the day with the wicket of Tom Haines deep into the final session.
But before we get into the detail, please indulge me for a brief explanation of a change of direction for SomersetNorth. What started as something written out of a deep love of Somerset cricket and a yearning for the conversations about our shared passion with my Dad which had sadly ended a few years earlier, something for fun and a chance for a number cruncher by day to be an amateur wordsmith in the evening had become a burden.
The pressure to grow the blog, build a following and post almost daily, allied to the spiteful news of a vocal few, turned a bit of fun into a nightmare.
The last couple of years were a bit fallow. The love for Lewis, Abes, CraigO and Co undimmed but the words didn’t flow so the posts dried up.
The ‘26 iteration of the site is more relaxed. I’ll write what I want when I want, reliving those conversations with Dad.If I want to write about a couple of days is one post I will, if I want t write about a championship game in one go I will.
So here are yesterday and today’s thoughts in one post. I promise I haven’t re-written day one this evening.
Day One – Opportunity Lost
Somerset 335- 5 (Rew 86, Abell 74*, Lammonby 73)
A quick look at the close of play score and you’d be entitled to be a happy Somerset supporter. A closer look and you’d think not so much – a good day that could have been much better.
Both Tom Lammonby and James Rew were cruising when they got themselves out to a couple of what can be at best described as ambitious efforts. Rew later told Anthony Gibson that he was beaten in the flight …. hmmm.
If this sounds harsh so be it. If Somerset are to haul themselves back into contention this season this was a golden opportunity for both to make ‘Daddy Hundreds’, 170-2 became 214-4 and there was work to be done by.…..Tom Abell
Do it he did. Ending the day unbeaten on 73 made off 136 balls – yet again just what his side needed. Tom sits this evening with 651 Division One runs at an average of a shade over 81.
At a time when all the attention of the front pages is on the King of the North perhaps it is an out time the back pages anointed the South’s equivalent.
Abell has always been mature beyond his years but the 2026 version of the former captain is a quantum leap further. He has had an innate sense of what the situation requires but this year has added to delivery to assessment.
Without Abell’s careful stewardship and Overton’s equally diligent albeit shorter contribution Rew and Lammonby’s profligacy would have been even more damaging.
But, despite the sixth wicket pair’s unbroken 56 the job is nowhere near done. Somerset need to bat beyond lunch on the second day as this is a game which looks like wickets will be hard to chisel out. Bat long, bat big first up and out all the pressure on your opponents.
While the events of last weekend in Cardiff dealt a hammer blow to my early season optimism. And meant that only a win this weekend could keep the flickering embers of hope alive.
In that context the morning session tomorrow is pivotal for this season.
Day Two – Selflessness in the Name of Somerset County Cricket Club
It is a source of great pride that the current Somerset side contains so many home-grown talents. 9 in this game. On a frustratingly interrupted second day it was the four most cherished of the nine that, in their own ways demonstrated what they, like me, love about Somerset cricket. Tom Abell, Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory and Jack Leach all made significant and selfless contributions that got their side into a position which looked possible when Rew and Lammonby’s profligacy would were going so beautifully yesterday afternoon.
For me the nature of each contribution over and above the numerical value, said so much about these four.
We probably won’t have room for four more pavilions at the Cooper associates County Ground in the years to come but boy do this quartet deserves to be recognised in some tangible way at the ground when they retire.
Abell’s third century of this season took his aggregate to 696 at an average a dint under 80, only Ben Ducket has a higher average (amazing what an unbeaten double hundred does to your stats. Abell’s numbers leave me with no more statistical superlatives but the intangible measure – if such a thing existed (or could be calculated) – of value to the team would propel Abell way ahead of anyone else. James Rew, Josh Thomas and Craig Overton, all at different stages of their careers and therefore all with different needs from a batting partner have benefitted massively having Tom at the other end.
Here the sixth wicket partnership advanced from its overnight 56 to 146 before Abell went looking to add the quick runs his side needed once the fourth batting bonus point had been comfortably secured well within the 110 overs.
By that point Overton was batting with the freedom his previous diligence had earned and he too went to three figures in the final session.
I said yesterday that it was important that Tom and Craig hung around on the second day. Even allowing for the impact of the rain delays they did so and some.
Lewis Gregory enjoyed his 30 ball cameo before he was caught behind and not before he had admired Jack Leach’s quick fire 17, including joyously, a maximum.
Any side who don’t get to bat until the 130th over will know they have work to do. The fact that the rain meant this was late on the second day adding to the challenge.
While there has been little indication that the bowlers will find a huge amount of assistance on this surface the chances are we have seen the best of it from a batting point of view. Taking 19 wickets will not be easy but Somerset’s six-pronged attack need to deliver if we are to go into the break for the T20s with any serious title ambitions.
