Championship cricket is so virginal in these delightful parts – Sussex visited for a washed-out four days on an adjacent pitch last year – that a discussion was held before play between the groundsmen and officials as to what they should name the two ends. They settled, rather straightforwardly, on the Railway End and the Athletics Track End. On Sunday, when rain is forecast, they will become the Benham End and the Lake End respectively. Quite why, no one knows.
Their names are trivial but the ends were notable cricket-wise. It was from the Railway, where the bowlers are backed by a substantial slope and a small sightscreen, that the first five wickets of the day fell. It was not until Peter Trego trapped Dawid Malan – who had held Middlesex’s innings together with 69 – in front an over before the new ball was due, that the Athletics Track End had any joy.
First impressions, backed by an unimpressed departing batsman, suggested it may have been lucky to do so.
Earlier, Lewis Gregory was afforded first use of the Railway End and snared Joe Burns caught at the wicket. Sam Robson, watched by his brother Gus and looking in fine fettle, was cover driving impressively and flicking through midwicket. He shared 46 with Nick Compton, then 55 with Malan – who was off the mark with a stunning cover drive but was struck on the hand on 20 – before Robson slapped Tim Groenewald to point. Groenewald’s next over saw a scoreless Eoin Morgan prod meekly half-forward and edge behind.
It was also from the Railway End that, in the day’s 19th over, Compton, on 18, was struck cleanly on the helmet by a brute of a bumper from Jamie Overton, who – although wicketless – bowled with the pace and venom that so excites England. Angus Fraser, watching on in his dual capacity as national selector and Middlesex director of cricket, will have taken note, but also looked forward to Steven Finn – replacing the rested James Harris – bowling from that end later in the match. Overton had Michael Bates, the sprightliest of stumpers, calling upon every ounce of his technique and athleticism to rein in sharp, lifting deliveries.
When hit on the helmet by one that seemed to follow him, Compton – whose technique sees him stand tall, still and straight, thus making it difficult to duck or sway below such deliveries – fell to the floor. He was helped from the field by Middlesex’s physio and underwent tests before returning to bat some five hours later, evidently unaffected as he took on Overton’s short ball, before being trapped plumb in front by Gregory.
A ball later, Tim Murtagh was on his way, edging to second slip. Finn kept a superb yorker out to deny Gregory a hat-trick, and his fifth wicket.
Never mind, the first ball of his next over did the trick, Finn’s middle stump uprooted – Middlesex 283 all out and Somerset’s fine day wrapped up.
