Last week spin did the trick and this week seam. Somerset’s bowlers are keeping the dream alive. For some time now the final-round showdown between Yorkshire and Middlesex at Lord’s has been heralded as a winner-takes-all battle. Now that might not be the case as Somerset chase an unexpected maiden Championship title.
In beating Warwickshire inside three days at Taunton the spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess, the latter left out here, took 16 wickets between them as Chris Rogers’ side put themselves within 22 points of the leaders, Middlesex, and 21 behind the reigning champions in second.
Craig Overton and Jim Allenby, who took three wickets apiece on Monday, did not play against Warwickshire but they settled into things quickly and made full use of the seam and swing on offer during a muggy Headingley day.
That was not the only help they received, however. A number of Yorkshire’s batsmen gave their wicket away too cheaply in an innings that spanned the first two sessions and in which only Tim Bresnan and Jake Lehmann made it into the thirties.
Overton and Allenby were excellent as they consigned Yorkshire to their lowest first-innings total since 136 against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in May 2014. They eventually won that match on the way to the first of their back-to-back titles.
This is quite obviously not the way Jason Gillespie would have wanted to start his last home match in charge of Yorkshire. He has not lost a Championship fixture here since the 2013 opener, their first season back in Division One, when they were bowled out for 98 by Sussex.
Somerset, invited to field first, dominated from the moment Overton had Alex Lees caught at first slip with the opening over’s final ball, although Lehmann attacked briefly before lunch and Bresnan looked as comfortable as any home batsman as he tried to guide the tail.
There was the odd slice of luck. The catch taken by Lewis Gregory at third slip to help Overton get rid of Gary Ballance was the obvious example. Gregory fluffed the initial chance before lunging down towards his bootlaces to grasp a ball that also seemed to ricochet off his knee.
However, Yorkshire, without the seamer Steven Patterson for the rest of the season because of his father’s ill health, will not complain. They will be more concerned with the fact that their play lacked diligence.
“When the end goal is in sight, you can go a bit harder at it and come unstuck,” their captain, Andrew Gale, said in the buildup to this match when discussing the title run-in. It was a comment that sprung to mind as wickets tumbled with a flash here and a swish there.
“The beauty is, there’s no pressure on us,” the Somerset bowling coach, Jason Kerr, said. “We’re chasing the title, guys are ahead of us, we’ve almost got nothing to lose. We can play the brand of cricket we’ve been playing.
“We’ve prided ourselves on discipline with the ball and we’ve done that brilliantly here. The bowlers got their rewards for utilising conditions perfectly.”
Jack Brooks at least managed to raise home hopes with the early wicket of Tom Abell, trapped lbw after tea, but there was very little else to cheer for a stunned home crowd as Rogers and Marcus Trescothick prospered during their unbroken 107 stand before bad light halted play seven overs early.
After play, Gale called on his side to show their “true Yorkshire grit”. He said: “We’re going to have to dig deep and bring some of that out, for sure.”
