Small expectations
County Championship Division 1
Somerset v Essex.
Day one
The weather is fine as I leave Langport at 8.30 on Monday morning for what is, indisputably, the Championship decider, but the forecast is grim. It is hard to see how Somerset are going to be able to take the 20 Essex wickets they need in the intervals between the heavy rain, light rain, showers and thundery showers that we are promised over the course of the next four days, and expectations are moderated accordingly.
But at least Tom Abell wins the toss and Somerset can bat first. The only scenario that could reasonably end in the win we need is runs on the board, and then lots of Essex wickets, with or without Somerset having to bat again. The pitch, which is the same one used for a World Cup game and the Women's Ashes Test, looks bare of grass. There's not much doubt that it will take spin - hopefully not too extravagantly, given that Somerset still have a final warning hanging over them from last season's tie with Lancashire. How ironic to win the game, and then lose the Championship by virtue of penalty points! Our two BBC Essex commentators, Nick Gledhill and Dick Davies, are doing their best to keep broad grins off their faces at a combination of the memory of Saturday night's Vitality Blast last ball triumph at Edgbaston and the weather forecast, but the mood in the Essex camp is clearly sky-high, hangovers notwithstanding!
The Somerset innings starts all too typically, both openers back in the pavilion inside four overs, and the dreaded Simon Harmer - 78 Championship wickets to his name - not even into the attack yet. Hildreth and Abell re-build intelligently, the former using his feet to try and disrupt the Essex bowlers' lengths. but when Harmer does come on, batting immediately looks very difficult indeed, with inconsistent bounce to go with occasionally sharp turn. He strikes twice in the 21st over - Hildreth LBW to one that turned just enough to beat the inside edge, Banton going in similar fashion to just his second ball. Bartlett survives what is almost a chance to backward short-leg, again off that man Harmer, and it is almost a relief when the rain arrives at 12.15 and off they go. That'll be it for the day, I pronounce.
However, there is plenty to occupy us in the several hours that will inevitably elapse, given the presence of Sky TV, before the umpires call time for the day. First, there is a presentation to Marcus Trescothick, to mark his retirement at the end of his 27th year in Somerset colours. In all forms, he has played 618 games for his county, scoring (by my reckoning) 29198 runs and taking 618 catches, his 445 in first-class cricket being 52 more than the next man, the great J C 'Farmer' White, and he played 409 first-class games for Somerset, as against Banger's 296. That record may one day be beaten, but one that I'm fairly sure won't be is his longevity with just one county. Even the best players don't go on for anything like as long as they used to (Ted Tyler played his last game for Somerset at the age of 55), and they switch counties far more than used to be the case.
It is sad that Marcus' Somerset playing career should have ended in anticlimax - just a handful of runs, and being given out caught off his thigh pad at Guildford in his final innings. More than one of his legion of faithful followers points out to me that, loss of form or not, he might just as well have been played in this game, given that the no doubt expensively acquired Murali Vijay has only added six to his tally of 36 runs in his seven innings. But we can console ourselves with so many memories of Trescothick's 'bucolic majesty'. I shall be able to picture him at the crease until the day I die. And, even better, he'll certainly not be lost to either the game, or to Somerset. A career in coaching beckons, and if he's half as good at helping other batsmen as he has been at scoring runs himself, he'll be a very good coach indeed. So au revoir Banger. It has a pleasure and a privilege to have been able to watch you bat - and catch - these last 27 seasons.
In the temporary press box - acquired to house the unprecedented (in recent times) number of national correspondents who've descended on the County Ground - conversation turns to other departures. We know Tim Groenewald is off, to Kent, after four and a half seasons of honest toil, while Yorkshire are apparently keenly interested in Eddie Byrom (as well as Dom Bess). There is even a suggestion that Steve Davies may be on his way, having scored nothing like the weight of runs that was expected of him when he joined us from Surrey in 2017. The option would have been to give the gloves to Banton, but that's suddenly looking not such a bright idea, given that he and Lewis Gregory have both been selected for the England T20 squad for the series in New Zealand in November. That, in turn, could mean an IPL contract for either or both them, and that would rule them out for the first part of Somerset's 2020 Championship campaign. Still, I'm delighted for the pair of them and their selections do perhaps show that the selectors don't always focus on just one end of the M4.
The rain eases briefly in mid-afternoon, but any slim hops of play are swiftly dashed when the clouds roll in again, and the umpires call things off at 4.45. In the interview room afterwards, James Hildreth confirms both the Somerset strategy and the fact that the pitch is taking spin. He is up-beat about the meteorological prospects for play tomorrow. I wish I shared his confidence!
Somerset v Essex.
Day one
The weather is fine as I leave Langport at 8.30 on Monday morning for what is, indisputably, the Championship decider, but the forecast is grim. It is hard to see how Somerset are going to be able to take the 20 Essex wickets they need in the intervals between the heavy rain, light rain, showers and thundery showers that we are promised over the course of the next four days, and expectations are moderated accordingly.
But at least Tom Abell wins the toss and Somerset can bat first. The only scenario that could reasonably end in the win we need is runs on the board, and then lots of Essex wickets, with or without Somerset having to bat again. The pitch, which is the same one used for a World Cup game and the Women's Ashes Test, looks bare of grass. There's not much doubt that it will take spin - hopefully not too extravagantly, given that Somerset still have a final warning hanging over them from last season's tie with Lancashire. How ironic to win the game, and then lose the Championship by virtue of penalty points! Our two BBC Essex commentators, Nick Gledhill and Dick Davies, are doing their best to keep broad grins off their faces at a combination of the memory of Saturday night's Vitality Blast last ball triumph at Edgbaston and the weather forecast, but the mood in the Essex camp is clearly sky-high, hangovers notwithstanding!
The Somerset innings starts all too typically, both openers back in the pavilion inside four overs, and the dreaded Simon Harmer - 78 Championship wickets to his name - not even into the attack yet. Hildreth and Abell re-build intelligently, the former using his feet to try and disrupt the Essex bowlers' lengths. but when Harmer does come on, batting immediately looks very difficult indeed, with inconsistent bounce to go with occasionally sharp turn. He strikes twice in the 21st over - Hildreth LBW to one that turned just enough to beat the inside edge, Banton going in similar fashion to just his second ball. Bartlett survives what is almost a chance to backward short-leg, again off that man Harmer, and it is almost a relief when the rain arrives at 12.15 and off they go. That'll be it for the day, I pronounce.
However, there is plenty to occupy us in the several hours that will inevitably elapse, given the presence of Sky TV, before the umpires call time for the day. First, there is a presentation to Marcus Trescothick, to mark his retirement at the end of his 27th year in Somerset colours. In all forms, he has played 618 games for his county, scoring (by my reckoning) 29198 runs and taking 618 catches, his 445 in first-class cricket being 52 more than the next man, the great J C 'Farmer' White, and he played 409 first-class games for Somerset, as against Banger's 296. That record may one day be beaten, but one that I'm fairly sure won't be is his longevity with just one county. Even the best players don't go on for anything like as long as they used to (Ted Tyler played his last game for Somerset at the age of 55), and they switch counties far more than used to be the case.
It is sad that Marcus' Somerset playing career should have ended in anticlimax - just a handful of runs, and being given out caught off his thigh pad at Guildford in his final innings. More than one of his legion of faithful followers points out to me that, loss of form or not, he might just as well have been played in this game, given that the no doubt expensively acquired Murali Vijay has only added six to his tally of 36 runs in his seven innings. But we can console ourselves with so many memories of Trescothick's 'bucolic majesty'. I shall be able to picture him at the crease until the day I die. And, even better, he'll certainly not be lost to either the game, or to Somerset. A career in coaching beckons, and if he's half as good at helping other batsmen as he has been at scoring runs himself, he'll be a very good coach indeed. So au revoir Banger. It has a pleasure and a privilege to have been able to watch you bat - and catch - these last 27 seasons.
In the temporary press box - acquired to house the unprecedented (in recent times) number of national correspondents who've descended on the County Ground - conversation turns to other departures. We know Tim Groenewald is off, to Kent, after four and a half seasons of honest toil, while Yorkshire are apparently keenly interested in Eddie Byrom (as well as Dom Bess). There is even a suggestion that Steve Davies may be on his way, having scored nothing like the weight of runs that was expected of him when he joined us from Surrey in 2017. The option would have been to give the gloves to Banton, but that's suddenly looking not such a bright idea, given that he and Lewis Gregory have both been selected for the England T20 squad for the series in New Zealand in November. That, in turn, could mean an IPL contract for either or both them, and that would rule them out for the first part of Somerset's 2020 Championship campaign. Still, I'm delighted for the pair of them and their selections do perhaps show that the selectors don't always focus on just one end of the M4.
The rain eases briefly in mid-afternoon, but any slim hops of play are swiftly dashed when the clouds roll in again, and the umpires call things off at 4.45. In the interview room afterwards, James Hildreth confirms both the Somerset strategy and the fact that the pitch is taking spin. He is up-beat about the meteorological prospects for play tomorrow. I wish I shared his confidence!
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