If the first day of this fixture was the one which made Somerset’s maiden title possible, day two proved to be the one when they displayed genuine title quality as they gained a lead of 245 and then powered towards victory with the ball late on.
Somerset began the day 38 runs behind with nine wickets in hand, but the reigning champions were always expected to hit back with the ball after their nightmare start to this penultimate fixture of the summer. With this in mind, Somerset were going to have to show their mettle. And they did.
Lewis Gregory, with a career-best unbeaten 73, was one of four men to pass 50 in an innings which included a couple of other valuable contributions from Peter Trego and Craig Overton.
Yorkshire were far from their best but they bowled well in patches and threatened to drag themselves back into the match. Ryan Sidebottom claimed his first five-wicket haul of the season, while Liam Plunkett bowled aggressively immediately after lunch.
“With the ball, we haven’t been as disciplined and ruthless as we’d like,” Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s outgoing coach, said. “That’s the one thing we can reflect upon. When you score 145 in your first innings, it’s a real challenge to get back into the game.
“Ryan Sidebottom has been the outstanding bowler but you can’t rely on one man to do all the work or one batter to score all the runs.”
Batting conditions were easier than day one but far from easy, as Somerset’s middle to lower order did the bulk of work before reducing Yorkshire to 37 for three second time around.
Chris Rogers and Marcus Trescothick, who made 63 and 73, fell to Sidebottom and Plunkett before lunch as 123 for one became 164 for four. But Jim Allenby and Trego shared 64 for the fifth wicket either side of lunch to steady things.
The Yorkshire bowlers came out with gusto after lunch with Sidebottom and Plunkett in tandem. Plunkett softened up Trego before the veteran left-armer Sidebottom had him caught behind for 46, and when Adil Rashid had Allenby caught behind for 50, Yorkshire had kicked the door ajar.
But this was the impressive thing about the visitors, who have won three of their last five matches. Every time Yorkshire had a sniff, Somerset averted danger, with the prime example being a seventh-wicket century stand between Gregory and Overton, who hit the patchy Rashid for two big sixes over long-on on the way to 38.
The combative Gregory hit nine fours in his fifty on the way to beating his previous career-best 69 against the White Rose at Taunton in 2014.
Despite missing out on a fifth batting point after tea – with Sidebottom taking two of the last three wickets to fall – Somerset’s good day was not done, as Gregory had Alex Lees caught at slip and Tim Groenewald bowled Gary Ballance and Andrew Gale.
Both sides will now be hoping for some Lancashire resistance against Middlesex across the Pennines.
