The bad weather predicted to hit Nottingham did not materialise, allowing for a wicket-laden and hugely entertaining day of cricket – albeit a disastrous one for the home side – as Somerset picked up their first win of 2015 in dramatic fashion.
Nottinghamshire crumbled to 114 all out and, although their victory target of 248 was always going to be difficult in testing conditions, this was a surrender.
They lost six of their top seven for only 59 runs within 20 overs against some impressively accurate bowling from the Somerset seam attack. Craig Overton was particularly potent, bowling briskly from the Radcliffe Road End and being rewarded with two wickets caught in the slips. The seventh-wicket partnership was starting to bear fruit when Riki Wessels edged to the slips for 30 off Lewis Gregory and, as Luke Wood trudged to the crease, with 167 runs required, the writing was almost certainly on the wall. Wood quickly followed, the extra half-hour was taken and Harry Gurney was left with 3.5 overs to negotiate. It was too much for him and he lost the bail from his off-stump to give Somerset a 133-run victory.
Earlier Somerset had done their best to squander their valuable 86-run first-innings lead. They have been guilty throughout the season of dreadful collapses. In a carbon copy of the first innings Somerset’s captain, Marcus Trescothick, lost his middle stump in the first over to Vernon Philander for nought. It was only the second time in his 22-year first-class career that Trescothick failed to score in both innings of a match. Trent Bridge is not a favoured batting venue; in 32 first-class innings on this ground he has not scored a century.
The wickets fell quickly and regularly. Philander picked up another in his second over when Johann Myburgh edged to slip. The visitors lost a further five wickets for 82 in 24 overs and it became clear how vital that first-innings lead was. A 39-run partnership between Alex Barrow and Gregory took Somerset’s lead past 200; Barrow looking far more fluent than he has all season.
After an early tea it took only four overs to wrap up the Somerset tail, Philander, who had been a handful to face throughout, finished with three for 47.
Nottinghamshire had begun the day trailing by 117 with two wickets remaining. Only 11 runs were added before the first of those fell, when Jake Ball steered the ball gently into the hands of backward point. This left Samit Patel to try to protect Gurney from the strike. It was a job Patel did admirably, refusing singles while playing some powerful shots that took him past a half-century before holing out to long-off.
