Craig Overton and Lewis Gregory saw Somerset cross the line as Somerset beat Essex. Photo: Getty Images/Harry Trump
Already the first division of the County Championship would come down to a two-horse race if Essex beat Somerset. Essex would have had three wins, champions Surrey two and all other counties no wins.
But Essex didn't win. In a two-day shootout on a poor pitch in which no batsman scored 50, Essex lost by three wickets at the end of a glorious sunny day.
Somerset entered this round of championship matches in third place, albeit without a win. Piecing together this victory, which was far from pretty but instilled a spirit of resilience in the young cricketers, they allowed themselves to dream that the first county title could come within these current players' lifetimes.
Somerset resorted to pragmatism after their last game at home against Nottinghamshire, when they prepared a dry pitch, selected their New England player Shoaib Bashir and fought back with a draw. Gone were all the notions of spin (they didn't score a single goal) and in came a fifth seam and a grass pitch that offered both carry and seam movement: a bold move when Jamie Porter and Sam Cooke were in the away team, but it worked Somerset dispatched Essex on the first day but conceded a first-innings lead of 28. The home seamers had to bend their backs on the second morning, and they did, well-trained by Lewis Gregory. Former England and Nottinghamshire bowler Jake Ball produced one of the most accurate innings to complete his home debut with four wickets.
Jake Ball impressed on his home debut with four wickets. Photo: Getty Images/Harry Trump
Somerset still needed to score 167, their highest score of the match against Porter and Cook, who took all 10 of their wickets in the first innings, and it was also a fascinating insight into the extent to which their youngsters – no matter how brilliant their white-ball cricket has been – still want to win the county championship.
Overseas openers Matt Renshaw and Sean Dixon started strongly – Dixon hitting Shane Snater for a four and a six in the first two balls after tea – but the Dukes' batting continued to gel and wickets fell. Tom Lammonby's first two shots left him without a hit, while Andrew Umeed showed off some superb front-foot drives and drives. Significantly, Simon Harmer, the Championship's leading player, was not used until fewer than 50 runs were needed, and even then he was given only two overs.
Tom Banton used to be the new Jos Buttler and England's T20 batsman, but during the crisis he put his head down and hit the ground like an old-timer, contributing a vital 29 from 50 balls. James Rew was taken out before the finish but several one-handed moves kept his seamers from continuing to work.
Essex head coach Anthony McGrath said: “When we arrived here for training last Thursday the ground was almost under water. and the wicket was wet, but both teams wanted to play, and that was to their credit.
“It is not for me to say whether the pitch is suitable for first-class cricket. The result was a fast-forward game that I'm sure audiences loved. Thirty-seven wickets falling in two days certainly meant a few dull moments.
In another First Division match, Lancashire's batting reached new heights of fragility when Wes Agar and Kent's Nathan Gilchrist turned them over in 30 overs and made them Follow. In Division Two, Joe Root made an unbeaten 92/90 against Glamorgan.
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