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Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 12 September, 2017 18:05
We lost 4 pretty quickly, SP, but - thankfully, Jack put a stop to it.

Lancs must be sick of his batting.

And he'll get them with the ball later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2017 18:07 by AGod.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
wsm fan 12 September, 2017 18:19
Great great day.
In the context of our season possibly our best yet.
Great fight from the batters.
Eddie deserves a special mention. Him surviving that session meant Tom & SD could cash in after lunch. Useful efforts from Dom & Jack to edge us well above par.
Need to back it up tomorrow & be lucky to miss any showers.
If we could squeeze in 60/70 overs and spin them out for 100/125 lead we'll be well set.
Yorkies getting smashed.
Middlesex rainec off on a lovely sunny London day.
We have had worst days this season!

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 12 September, 2017 21:29
AS expected, SD suggests we're reasonably pleased with our position.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Mike TA1 12 September, 2017 21:43
Just an observation, when the new ball was due at 80 overs I believe they would have gone off through bad light if the new ball had been taken, the light had improved when the new ball was taken later on.

Did Lancs keep the slow bowlers on so as to keep on playing? good for them if they did.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Angell Face 12 September, 2017 22:05
"Taking the positives from the day's play", as Maynard might say, first Byrom. Begining to look like an opening batsman. Knows that his job is to anchor one end. I know he's only getting 30's and 40's but he's starting to get them regularly. Abell, I didn't see his dismissal (went to make a cup of tea) but he looked confident and settled and if he got a good 'un well done the bowler. Davies, I know he gave at least one chance but you don't find many chanceless centuries.
I probably won't make the start tomorrow but I'm sure that Leach and Groenwald will get us another bonus point and then we can get among them. I feel an innings victory coming on!!

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
wsm fan 12 September, 2017 22:23
The usual correlation between the success or not of a days play and the number of posts strikes again.....

1 or 2 regular contributors seem to have gone a little quiet!? Long may it continue if we have another 2 or 3 days as good as today.....

Roll on 10.30, avoid the showers and 100% back our bowlers to gain us a chunky 1st innings lead, AGAIN

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Tom Seymour 12 September, 2017 22:55
Cometh the hour, wsm, cometh the man!

Forecast not good for tomorrow - the weather one that is.



A glass half - empty or a glass half - full?
Regardless, both glasses need filling up.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
brt1919 12 September, 2017 23:00
Agree on the Byron comment, if he can get his average up a little & mostly regular 30/40's, I'll take that. It's still quite astonishing that only today has one of our players hit 600 for the season, but what a great day's play when you take into account proceedings elsewhere.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
wsm fan 12 September, 2017 23:13
Welcome back Tom!
Any praise for Eddie? Tom? Davies? Maynard!?
A full balcony all clapped the SD hundred too.....
As did 99% of the crowd from what i could see, he and Hildy are real class, so much time when they get going

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Scrumper 12 September, 2017 23:39
A lot of weather is forcast for the next few days, hard work for the ground staff.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
wsm fan 13 September, 2017 00:11
Only 12 & 1 possible if BBC to be believed.
Very much showers if anything so lets be positive and hope we get close to a full day in.
Anything over 2 session should be plenty to get into the 3rd innings.....

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Wickham 13 September, 2017 07:37
A very good batting display - especially since (from the live feed) there seemed to be a bit in it for the bowlers, with some balls turning quite sharply. Fingers crossed that the weather doesn't spoil today's play.

The live feed is an excellent innovation for those of us not able to get to Taunton - though very much second best, compared with a day at the cricket.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Grockle 13 September, 2017 07:44
Very grey in Bicknoller but presently dry and the BBC weather map shows the blue storm stuff above the West. Wind in Avonmouth 70 mph. But off to Anglia now.

Blustery and showers/sunshine today and tomorrow.



(Sm72)

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Farmer White 13 September, 2017 08:49
DAY 1

I know they start Championship matches at 10.30 in September. They have for years. Unfortunately, that was not at the forefront of my mind when at the beginning of July I arranged an important appointment for 9.00 a.m. for the first day of this match. And so it was, with another delay on the way to the ground, I arrived at the ground three quarters of an hour after the start. I was not as desperately anxious as I might have been because I caught a glance at the scoreboard as I came over Priory Bridge Road and into town for a car park. I could see on the scoreboard the ‘0’ in the wickets column and the name ‘Trescothick’ as one of the batsmen. It is amazing what relief a name and a digit can bring to the overanxious mind.

Into the ground via the Brian Rose Gates. Not as informative a way to enter the ground as it used to be because the temporary scoreboard next to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion is not visible from the entrance like the old scoreboard was. Not that the old scoreboard was the most reliable source of information given its propensity to deliver ‘fake’, or at least out of date, news. Where wickets are concerned out of date is as good as fake.

The news was updated as I bought my scorecard. First a huge appeal. Then a pregnant silence. Then a cheer from the fielders at the birth of a wicket followed by gentle applause from the crowd as Trescothick walked off. Out in the 20s again but he and Byrom had got Somerset a start. 39 for 1. Then off to find a perch in the top of the Somerset Pavilion, passing as I went a curious group of individuals on Gimblett’s Hill looking pointedly at their watches and gently shaking their heads at me.

Given there was an excellent crowd I was surprised to find a perch quite so easily at the far end of the elevated section just in time to see Bartlett pinned uncomfortably, neither forward nor back it looked, lbw. 44 for 2. It looked very much like his lbw at Edgbaston had looked on the small screen of a live feed. Something to be worked on perhaps. He is only 19 but he is having something of a baptism of fire. Sport has no hiding places especially in the First Division of the County Championship.

A cover drive of perfection from Hildreth to the Somerset Stand started to settle me in my seat. Byrom then unsettled me with a missed sweep off Parry and then recompensed with a pugilistic back foot drive for four before he airily paddled a full toss for a single. I am never sure about the sweep in the Championship before a batsman is very well set and sometimes not even then. I have seen too many good spin bowlers go straight through it to the stumps.

Somerset started to make headway, a sumptuous Hildreth cut back of square to the Ondatjee to the fore. The Lancashire boundary fielding was not what I had expected from a Championship contender, even a somewhat distant one. Davies, their keeper, was kept busy gathering in throws like conkers falling randomly from a Horse Chestnut on a windy day. Byrom led a bit of a charmed life, chopping one onto his boot, or so it looked, in the process. Hildreth meanwhile was playing as if he could charm boundaries from the trees. One off Parry defied orthodox description. It was swatted off his pads like a conker on a string into the Somerset Stand boards. Another, a late cut off Jarvis to the Trescothick brought cries of “Ohhhh!” from the crowd.

It didn’t last. McClaren was moving the ball from the Somerset Stand End. Hildreth defended forward, the ball moved in, took the inside edge and, just, the leg bail. 90 for 3. Abell walked out to the warmest of receptions on a chill Autumn day at least in the sunless Somerset Pavilion, my white Somerset hat superfluous except I do not feel properly attired, as they say in the Lord’s Pavilion, without it. Lunch at 103 for 3 was a faintly reassuring performance given Lancashire’s position in the table and the fact that the ball was moving for the seamers and showing signs of turn for the spinners.

The presenter doing a brief report for TV from the Somerset Pavilion Terrace told his camera Lancashire’s decision to insert Somerset had paid off with three wickets. I know this because he did the piece five times before he got it right. I am being descriptive not critical here given the number of rewrites this piece will have had before you see it. I was not convinced by his certainty. Neither the pitch nor the conditions looked easy. Somerset might just have established the base for a competitive score. The Quantocks thought so for the maroon parts of the patchwork which festoons them stood proud.

The scales edged towards Lancashire immediately after lunch as Byrom was bowled by McClaren for 38. 105 for 4. Byrom not quite reaching the 40s this time but another crucial anchoring role as the main runs came from the other end. Davies promptly played a backfoot drive of precision and power off Bailey to the Somerset Stand Boundary. At 122 for 4 and Abell and Davies striving to establish some ascendancy for Somerset another appointment awaited me outside the ground.

I was gone an hour. Somehow my anxiety level was lower than it normally is when I am away from the score perhaps Abell and Davies starting to suggest they might develop a stand. Nevertheless it was a pleasant surprise to return to the ground and realise they were both still there at 193 for 4.

I watched a while from the vicinity of the old Stragglers Bar. Davies was still playing in the same vein as he had been when I left. A late cut and a clip off his legs sounding as if both bat and ball were covered in velvet sending the ball unerringly to the boundary. If ghosts from the old Stragglers do inhabit that area they will have been drooling at Davies’ stroke play for at times it is almost ghostly quiet in its execution. Abell barely seemed to get a ball to face although it cannot have been that way throughout the partnership for he was on 42 to Davies 49. Half a dozen or so overs later still starved of the strike he edged Parkinson to Livingstone at slip for 46. 224 for 5. Enter Trego.

Once Trego had found his feet he let people know with three boundaries in succession off McClaren one a late cut to the Trescothick stand as deft and well placed as if Hildreth had played it. When the spinners came on, now turning the ball regularly and in the case of Parkinson effectively, Trego lost his fluency and his wicket to a stumping against the leg spinner shortly after Tea.

The Tea interval brought a smooth blanket of cloud which stayed to the end. For a period, if periodic discussions between Stephen Croft and the umpires are any indication, the spinners stayed on beyond 80 overs because had they not the Umpires would have taken them all off.

Beneath the cloud from above the Quantocks approached head on to the Somerset Pavilion an aircraft with lines as pure as the stroke play of Hildreth and Davies. It looked very familiar even head on in the distance. Then, as it sped towards us as unerringly as one of those Davies boundaries the unmistakeable roar of a Merlin engine broke through the cricketing buzz of the crowd. The elliptical wings of a Spitfire then graced the sky as it turned a perfect quarter circle in the direction of the flats and then another in the other direction to somewhere behind the Somerset Pavilion. It is Battle of Britain Day on the last day of this match.

Overton, replacing Trego drove Parry straight to the Botham Stand for 4 but soon fell to a slip catch off Parkinson. Bess replaced him and swept Parkinson to the Caddick Pavilion for four. Bess does not wait for the fight to come to him. Then Davies swept Parkinson behind square towards the end of the Somerset Stand the ball curving along the grass in a distinct arc, towards the Trescothick Stand, almost as perfect as that described earlier in the opposite direction by the Spitfire. Together they would have made a perfect scimitar cross.

By the time the Davies - Bess partnership had reached 20 Bess had 16 of them. He did not get much further falling for 17 to the persistent Parkinson now sometimes turning the ball sharply. Bess stumped it seems although no-one around me could work out what had happened as the bails were taken off and then subsequently a stump removed with Bess seemingly transfixed. 288 for 8.

The bonus point 12 runs away became an object of obsession with and around me as Davies and Leach picked a way through the spinners web a run at a time an over at a time. 296 for 8. Within a boundary and down came the rain. Ten minutes we waited. The rain came to nothing of consequence after an initial unpleasant burst. The umpires, or to be precise one of them, came out for a peek and then struggled to attract the attention of the players as he tried to beckon them out from the field rather than return to the Pavilion to seek them out. Davies and Leach stuck to their task. One run at a time, one over at a time they inched to 300.

Davies’ vigil ended at 111 with Somerset 321 for 8 but not before Leach had decided to set about Parkinson including a slog sweep which landed about half a dozen rows into the Somerset Stand. The crowd had much shrunk by the time Davies was out many having left at the interruption but most of those who had stayed rose to him and applauded him to within a few yards of the rope and then resumed as he crossed the rope into the Pavilion. Only the Lancashire innings will tell how valuable that innings was but of the Somerset innings he was the backbone in an extended bare-knuckle fight with the Lancashire bowlers on a difficult pitch.

The day had been a battle royal in which most thought Somerset had prevailed although time will have a say in that. 330 for 8 Leach and Groenewald took us to at the close with just an eye perhaps on 350 in the morning. A long shot possibly but it might be a crucial one if it comes off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 13/09/2017 08:50 by Farmer White.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Mike TA1 13 September, 2017 09:04
We have had quite a large crowd for most of the first day of CC matches this season, I am going to stick my neck out and say yesterday was the biggest, even the Somerset stand was well populated mind you it may have something to do with where the pitch was!

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 09:10
Would be fantastic to pick up the extra batting bonus point, it really would.

But, so long as the track doesn't start to flatten out, then I think we are in a fairly strong position - though their batting line-up is potentially troublemsome.

They have two that can be notoriously difficult to prise out - in Hameeed and Shiv - and another, in Liam Livingstone, who has made a spectacular start to his career - averaging above 50 overall and who dominated us totally in the first match-up with these guys.

So, even if the track continues to turn, then I don't expect a big first-innings lead. If anything, I'd guess there may be no more than 30 or so in it on first innings (either way) and that it then all comes down to the second half of the match.... if the track takes gradually increasing turn then we have every chance of prevailing. Conversely, if it goes the way of the Essex pitch, then Lancs would be the probable winners.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Loyal of Lhasa 13 September, 2017 10:17
That was a very fine day for Somerset cricket and a particularly fine report from the Farmer. One phrase - Davies and Leach picked a way through the spinners web a run at a time an over at a time - is as felicitous as anything Cardus or Arlott might have produced.

But really, Farmer, you're going to have to do something about these intrusive appointments. Surely meeting your undertaker twice in one day is somewhat premature for a man still only in the early autumn of your life.



LoL

Seventy-five Seasons a Somerset Supporter

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Loyal of Lhasa 13 September, 2017 10:30
Do people think we should declare when we reach 400 this morning?



LoL

Seventy-five Seasons a Somerset Supporter

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 10:33
There are times when Leachy looks well capable of developing into a genuine all-rounder.

What a superb shot square of the wicket off McLaren in that first over.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 10:35
Whoops - and then he goes and does that...a genuine number 11 dismissal (I know he was batting ten).

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Loyal of Lhasa 13 September, 2017 11:24
Seven runs off 66 balls. Very impressive.



LoL

Seventy-five Seasons a Somerset Supporter

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Streeter 13 September, 2017 11:29
Terrific spell. And just one bowling point for the yorkies.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 11:53
Treggggggggggggggggggggggggggoooooooooooooooooooooo

Suckered him - terrible shot from Hammeed!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 11:55
And that, Chunky, is where/when Hammeed should, absolutely, be criticized... if he spends ages playing himself in, then throws it away with a compulsive pull shot down a fielder's throat.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Streeter 13 September, 2017 11:58
Well that was interesting . Baby Boycs to happy hooker in a moment of madness. Treeeeeeegoo.
Even Hameed susceptable to scoreboard pressure.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 12:02
I think we ought to have a bat-pad man in on the off-side when Leachy is bowling to Croft. At the moment Croft attempting to defend by propping forward, playing late, slightly opening the face - better to encourage him to try to dab it into the on-side (against the spin).

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 12:08
You absolute BEAUTIES, Jack and Cove!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lovely flight by Jack to tempt Livingstone down the track and then Craig getting down from his great height to snare the chance that resulted as the ball dipped and spun away from LL.

GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
AGod 13 September, 2017 12:11
And now for the Guyanese crab - get him early and we will be in a GREAT position.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Phrench Phil 13 September, 2017 12:12
Dare we start to dream of the great escape?

On top, at present, in this match; Yorkshire with just the solitary bowling point and chasing 300plus to avoid the follow on and Middlesex 3 wickets down already in a match shortened to 3 days.

I am watching on the SCCC live stream - and many thanks for that - and it is really gripping.

Does anybody know what has happened to the BBC commentary? I managed to get it yesterday, but there is nothing but silence today.

Re: Somerset v Lancs CC1 - The Farmer speaks....
Streeter 13 September, 2017 12:15
Does anyone have any idea where the radio commentary is hiding ? It's not coming up as an option on the BBC live page .

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