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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Tanya Aldred

County cricket: Somerset thriller with Lancashire ends in tie – as it happened

Tom Bailey
Catcher Tom Bailey and bowler Keshav Maharaj are mobbed after combining to dismiss Somerset’s Jack Leach and secure a tie. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock

Tanya Aldred's county roundup

Close of play scores

Division One

Lancashire 99 (M J Leach 5-28) & 170 (S J Croft 51, M J Leach 7-74)
v Somerset 192 (L Gregory 64 no, K A Maharaj 4-65)
& 77 (K A Maharaj 7-37)
Somerset (11pts) tied with Lancashire (11pts)

Surrey 351 (R J Burns 90, D Elgar 75, R Clarke 56)
v Essex 126 (R Clarke 4-28) & 13-0

Nottinghamshire 448 (B T Slater 109, B M Duckett 80,
K C Brathwaite 71, S R Patel 54) v Yorkshire 258-4 (G S Ballance 104,
T Kohler-Cadmore 57 no)

Hampshire 191 (E Barnard 6-50) & 176 (T P Alsop 64, W D Parnell 4-23,
J C Tongue 4-38) v Worcestershire 120 & 120-8 (K J Abbott 5-35)

Division Two

Derbyshire 251 (B A Godleman 95) & 171 (A L Hughes 57)
v Glamorgan 121 (A P Palladino 6-29) & 16-1

Gloucestershire 296 (C D J Dent 82, B Charlesworth 77 no,
E Bamber 4-81) v Middlesex 182-7 (D J Malan 62)

Kent 137 v Northamptonshire 76-8 (M J Henry 6-31)

Sussex 373 (C J Jordan 68, B C Brown 60, L W P Wells 58,
T J Haines 56, B W M Mike 4-57) & 100-6 v Leicestershire 133 (O E
Robinson 5-24)

Warwickshire 310 (I J L Trott 79, C J C Wright 54 no,
B J McCarthy 4-58) v Durham 224-7 (O P Stone 5-43)

Have more wickets fallen in a Championship day? Probably, but it doesn’t feel like it! What a game at Taunton on an autumnal dust-bowl, high-jinx or no high-jinx. And an honourable mention for Kyle Abbott who took a late-afternoon hat-trick that on another day would have stolen the headlines. Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Worcestershire 40 for 4, with an imaginary 208 needed to win. Apologies for the lack of updates, just writing the round-up.

Update from Chelmsford

And here, is that Bess stumping...

Worcestershire are chasing 240 to win... but are already 8/1, Daryl Mitchell, who has had a forgettable last couple of games, gone for a duck.

Still trying to make sense of that chaotic, ridiculous, knee-trembler of a match at Taunton. Here’s that last wicket

Things called off at Canterbury - only 19 balls bowled all day. And a century for Gary Ballance as Yorkshire trudge onwards, now 221 for 3.

Updated

And in other news, typically lovely piece on Alastair Cook by Vic and nice BBC radio interview where Cook says how important it is for him to play well for Essex over the next three years. Also this: “Clearly the responsibility for the people in charge is to protect Test cricket as it is very special”

Lancashire’s Keshav Maharaj is hugged by Liam Livingstone after taking the wicket to dismiss Somerset’s Jack Leach to tie the match.
Lancashire’s Keshav Maharaj is hugged by Liam Livingstone after taking the wicket to dismiss Somerset’s Jack Leach to tie the match. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock

I like this!

Jack Leach caught by Tom Bailey off Maharaj for a duck. Maharaj 7-37 - not bad for his second match. That’s curtains for Somerset’s Championship hopes I think, with or without the pitch inspectors. And good news for Lancashire .... that Roses match will be a cracker next week. Get ye to Headingley!

Updated

Somerset v Lancashire ends in tie

Oh my days - it’s a TIE!!!!

A view of the final scoreboard as Somerset are bowled out for 77 to tie the match.
A view of the final scoreboard as Somerset are bowled out for 77 to tie the match. Photograph: Harry Trump/Getty Images

Updated

“Why Lancashire won’t give up on Hass”:

...dot to dot...one ball left of Onions over

...and another...

...another dot...

Onions to Overton, no run...

....Meanwhile Yorkshire are chugging along fairly happily at Trent Bridge, 194/3. Gary Ballance 86 not out....

Holy moly, Bess stumped with scores level. Nine wickets down, and enter Jack Leach.

Dom Bess of Somerset is stumped by Dane Vilas of Lancashire off the bowlng of Keshav Maharaj.
Dom Bess of Somerset is stumped by Dane Vilas of Lancashire off the bowlng of Keshav Maharaj. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

That’s the tie.... one needed

Somerset 76 for 8 - two needed...

'
Match-winner? Lancashire’s Keshav Maharaj currently has 5-31.

Updated

Onions and Maharaj the bowlers v Overton and Bess the batsmen. I know where the wise man would put his money, but what does the wise man know? Eight needed...

Updated

That Overton lbw:

Ah, now it is tea at New Road. Hampshire 170 for 8 at tea, dining fairly comfortably with a lead of 241. Alsop last-man out for 64, a third wicket for Parnell.

Ye gods, the eighth wicket goes down at Taunton. Craig Overton lbw to Maharaj - his fifth wicket. Fourteen still needed, two wickets in hand.

Essex are all out for 126, and Surrey have enforced the follow-on.

And should Somerset fall short, they will become the ninth side in Championship victory to have failed to chase 78 or fewer to win.

Another wicket for Maharaj! Lewis Gregory gone for 12. Somerset 56 for 7, need another 22. Enter Craig Overton ...

No runs since tea at Taunton. Sorry I got in a bit of a muddle with those non-simultaneous tea intervals.

Tea-time scores:

DIVISION ONE

NOT TEA: Worcestershire 120 v Hampshire 191 and 163 for 6

Somerset 192 AND 52 for 6 v Lancashire 99 AND 170. Somerset need 26 to win.

Nottinghamshire 448 v Yorkshire 159 for 3

(not tea) Essex 126 for 9 v Surrey 351

DIVISION TWO

Warwickshire 310 v Durham 117 for 3

(Not tea) Sussex 373 AND 29 for 2 v Leicestershire 133

Gloucestershire 296 v Middlesex 87 for 2

Derbyshire 251 AND 64 for 3 v Glamorgan 121

Bad light stopped play: Kent 137 v Northants 76-8

Ok, so that’s tea at Taunton. Lancashire 52 for 6...with hope and doom scrapping it out for supremacy in the south west. Tea round-ups to follow when I’ve boiled the kettle. Mother-in-law’s shortbread to sweeten the tongue.

Updated

No!!! Westley out for 49! Essex 87 for 8 - Riki Clarke 4-27, Tom Curran 3-20. This is too easy, you hear, too easy.

Matt Parkinson into the attack at Taunton.... Bess hammers the last-ball full-toss for four. Thirty needed, four wickets in hand.....

Young Ben Green, on first-class debut, was still there as I started this sentence but not there as I finish it. Somerset now 37 for 6, needing 41. This is Lancashire’s - isn’t it?

One for the diary: September 16-19, Berkshire play Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties Championship Final for the third consecutive year.

Ok, deep breath. Essex now 66 for five. Hampshire 95 for 6. Oh god and that’s another one at Taunton, Somerset now 23 for five. Leicestershire 133 all out. Derby 36 for 2.

And in the happy corner, Yorkshire 137 for 3. Durham lost a couple discretely, 77 for 2. Middlesex 68 for 2.

And from WashingonIrving at Taunton:

“Afternoon Tanya, afternoon all. Writing just as Tresco has been given LBW. Nice and sunny here at Taunton today, but just starting to cloud over.

In terms of wickets falling, I’d blame an equal measure of assistance to the bowlers and lack of application. Livingston’s wicket particularly sticks in the mind - having hit Leach back over his head for a six, he charged down the wicket and skied it to Bess. There were a couple of stumpings to batsman who also got a bit carried away.

The pitch is spinning. The guidance from ECB says that pitches can spin “moderately” from day one, and “excessively” from day three. “Excessive” spinning from day one warrants a rating of “below average”. How you judge between the two, I don’t know.

As I’ve been writing Onions has just picked up another and is now on a hat trick...”

Somerset enter the door marked DOOM: 20/4, Abell plays inside the line of a ball from Maharaj and is stumped.

A stat courtesy of the BBC. Twenty-five years ago Lancashire were set 88 to win at Taunton, and were bowled out for 72, nine wickets for Andy Caddick.

12/3 now at Taunton. A ripper from Maharaj bowls James Hildreth.

And another wicket for Onions. Azhar Ali. Somerset 5/2, need another 73. Onions on a hat-trick.

Broader thoughts from Fantaloupe, BTL:

“On the collapse at Canterbury yesterday, the overhead conditions looked perfect for swing and the pitch looked a little uneven. From the angle I was at the bounce didn’t look consistent, with more than one attempted leave becoming a successful nick.

“On the leave, have they changed the way it’s being coached? Not just at the county game yesterday, but also at the test at the weekend, quite a few players were leaving by pulling the bat up, rather than inside the line. I think in three days play I saw at least three batsmen, with the bat somewhere between 9 and 11 o’clock, looking at the slips celebrating when they tried to leave a ball that bounced more than they expected.”

Onions does for the mighty Trescothick. Somerset 5/1.

Brook and Ballance doing it tough at Trent Bridge. Yorkshire 91 for 2. Leicester have made it to three figures, 102 for 9, a huge bouquet of autumnal fruitfulness to Callum Parkinson, 33 not out. Durham still wicketless.

Hampshire now 69 for 5, but they already have a lead of 140.

Lancashire opening with Maharaj...

Sorry should have said seven wickets for Jack Leach.

And that’s that for Lancs - 170 all out thanks to some old-fashioned slogging from Lamb, Onions and Maharaj (an exciting new dish?). They lead Somerset by 77 - I don’t think it’s all over yet.

Could anyone at a game drop me a line or post BTL - are these batting calamities due to climatic conditions or (gruffly) “not enough application”? Tricky to tell from my kitchen...

Updated

It’s raining again at Chelmsford. Glamorgan nine down for 121 (trail by 130) at The County Ground and Lancashire nine down with a lead of 53 at Taunton, still only 4 overs for Dom Bess.

Tricky batting conditions at Chelmsford and Essex struggling against the Surrey attack: 20/3. Dan Lawrence lbw to Tom Currran for 3. Come on Tom Westley, get it all out of your system against the (nearly) Champs.

Can I recommend a hot-water bottle to the lower back? It is making this a lot more palatable. So, another one down at Hove, Leicestershire 45-8, just the 328 behind. Robson out at Bristol, Middlesex 24/1. Glamorgan now 114/8 - Palladino 5 for 27. Raval and Brook going well at Trent Bridge and Durham still making progress magnificent, 23-0.

And the prize for batting this afternoon goes to Durham ...14/0

And so it continues. Leicestershire 39 for 7 (Robinson 5 for 18) Essex 10 for 2, wickets for Tom Curran and, of course, Morne Morkel. Hampshire 25 for 4 - that’s ten wickets in the day so far at New Road...

Updated

Lunch-time scores

DIVISION ONE

Worcestershire 120 v Hampshire 191 and 21 for 2

Somerset 192 v Lancashire 99 and 119 for 7

Nottinghamshire 448 v Yorkshire 14 for 1

Essex 7-0 v Surrey 351

DIVISION TWO

Warwickshire 310 v Durham 2-0

Sussex 373 v Leicestershire 20 for 5

Gloucestershire 296 v Middlesex 3-0

Derbyshire 251 v Glamorgan 94-7

Current score (late start): Kent 137 v Northants 71-8

Updated

Oh my days. Wickets, wickets everywhere: Bohannon out on the L of lunch, Lancs 119 for 7 with a lead of 26. Yorkshire 10/1 with 5th captain of the season Lyth out for a duck. Play due to start at Canterbury at one o’clock, full lunch scores to follow shortly. Can Essex at least bat properly? Please.

There’s something in the air. Surrey all out for 351. Last man out was Rikki Clarke for a spiffy 56. Gloucestershire all out 296, Ben Charlesworth stranded on 77. Glamorgan 86/4 and heavens alive, Hampshire now 15/2 in the wooden-spoon -for-bats game at New Road.

.
Hammer of the Fox: Ollie Robinson, 4 for 7. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Ah. As I mused briefly over the next meal, Leicestershire lost four wickets - no make that five. Currently 10/5. Two ducks and a one in that shambolic start. Robinson 4-7.

Updated

Notts in a hurry - now all out for 448. That gives the bowlers just less than half an hour to charge at Yorkshire before retiring for the pleasure of the famous Trent Bridge lunch. Incidentally my cupboards are bare - it’ll be the ‘umble humous sandwich again with some last dregs of rocket from the garden ( incidentally, and stop me if I’m boring you, but I see that the Guardian today recommends tinned chickpeas over dried. )

And Dane Vilas, hero of the last match, falls to Leach for a duck. Leach now has in his pocket 9-58 from the game. Lancs still four runs behind.

Top bowler in specs - first in a series of ... 4? (Devon Malcolm, Paul Allott, Daniel Vettori...?)

Ah - Livingstone chips to backward-point, another wicket for Jack Leach.

And at Hove, Sussex make an early breakthrough against Leicestershire. Paul Horton for a 2-ball duck. Sussex were bowled out for 373, adding fifty runs this morning thanks to some vigorous tail-wagging.

Worcestershire looking down and miserable now at lovely New Road, 114 for 9. Liam Livingstone seeing the ball beautifully at Somerset, fifty partnership up between he and Croft - Lancs have reduced the deficit to 23.

It is still damp and dark at Canterbury and they’re taking an early lunch, inspection at 12.15.

And, for all those FFS-Lanky-lurkers BTL, a breadcrumb of sustenance.

Nottinghamshire whizz pass 400, Patel and Matthew Milnes have hit 15 fours between them. Worcestershire’s eighth-wicket partnership have put on a valiant 30, though as I write that Whitely is out for 14.

350 up at Hove but Jordan out for 68.

And another wicket at Somerset - Bailey chips a ball from Craig Overton to mid-on! Lancashire 24/4.

The link for the live-stream from Surrey v Essex, below. Also the second-XI Championship final between Durham and Essex if you’re feeling a little more left-field this morning.

And another one 78/7 - Barnard a three-ball duck.

The Worcester collapse begins, 78/6 - Cox gone for 6, D’Oliveria for 15 - as Mick Jagger reaches into his pocket for Chance to Shine:

That’s the end of Trotty, out for 79. Warwickshire not-on-top yet at 217/7, though Durham’s batting has dug many holes this season.

Some Trotty of a morning - not many more Wednesdays left to enjoy him.

A couple of early wickets already: at Somerset, Karl Brown is lbw missing a straight one from Craig Overton, Lancs stumbling at 11/3. At Chelmsford, Will Jacks is out for 16, a third wicket for Siddle. Surrey 271-5.

Summary

Here’s the culprit at Taunton:

Paul Allot’s view: “The pitch is below average and verging on poor in my view.”

Updated

Ah, looks like a delayed start at Canterbury...

Hello and welcome again to the first of the autumn rounds. Day two, though you might not believe it from a quick glance at the scoreboards. Twenty-two wickets at Ciderabad – with the sniff of the pitch inspectors curling through the autumn mists. Conspiracy or cock-up - we wait to hear. But either way, Lancashire are in trouble. Further stump-rattling at Canterbury, where 18 wickets fell, and at the bottom-of-the-table rumble at New Road where the players pitched in with 14.

Surrey made serene progress at Chelmsford, with 90 from Rory Burns in front of watching selector James Taylor and man-whose-boots-he-might-fill, Alastair Cook. Quick runs at Trent Bridge, including a hundred from Ben Slater, where a late rally by Yorkshire left Notts 332-7. Jonathan Trott starts the day unbeaten on 67 at Edgbaston, Sussex are in a good position against Leicester, bottom-team Glamorgan had a good day against Derby and Gloucester made steady progress at Bristol.

Tanya will be here shortly, but in the meantime here is a roundup of yesterday’s action:

Lancashire are in deep trouble in Division One of the County Championship against Somerset at Taunton after again failing to fire with the bat.

The England hopeful Jack Leach took five for 28 as the visitors were skittled for 99 on the first day. Somerset did initially struggle in reply, slipping to 97 for seven at one point, but a spirited unbeaten 64 from Lewis Gregory helped them to 192. Lancashirewere seven for two in their second innings, Leach again having struck twice.

Ben Slater’s 109 helped Nottinghamshire reach 332 for seven at the end of the first day against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge.

Slater put on 182 for the first wicket with Kraigg Brathwaite (71) while Ben Duckett also weighed in with 80. Matthew Waite took three for 72 as Yorkshire remained competitive. Hampshire fought back after being bowled out for 191 by the bottom side, Worcestershire, at New Road. Ed Barnard claimed six wickets for 50 as Hampshire, for whom Sam Northeast top-scored with 48, failed to make the most of winning the toss. Worcestershire struggled to build on that fine start, slipping to 68 for four in reply.

In Division Two promotion-chasing Kent also hit back after being shot out for 137 in another low-scoring encounter. Ben Sanderson, Nathan Buck and Richard Gleeson each took three wickets as Northamptonshire took charge early on at Canterbury but the tables were soon turned. Northants collapsed to 71 for eight in reply, before bad light stopped play, after six for 31 from Matt Henry. The leaders, Warwickshire, ended the first day against Durham at Edgbaston on 184 for six. Jonathan Trott was unbeaten on 67 on a day when only 68 overs were bowled. The bottom side, Glamorgan, bowled Derbyshire out for 251 at Derby thanks to three wickets apiece from Timm van der Gugten and Graham Wagg. Billy Godleman fell five short of a century. Glamorgan closed on 20 without loss. Chris Jordan was unbeaten on 52 as Sussexreached 323 for eight against Leicestershire at Hove. Tom Haines (56), Luke Wells (58) and Ben Brown (60) earlier hit half-centuries.

Gloucestershire ended the first day of their clash with Middlesex at Bristol on 208 for seven. Chris Dent led the way for the hosts with 82.

Updated

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