v Northants CC2 @ Taunton Wednsday 7 September 2005

Scorecard

With still a slim chance of getting the third promotion point if we gain maximum points from our last two home games, we open against Northants with the possibility of weather having an influence and still without our first string pace attack.  Gareth Andrew is fit to start and is preferred to Simon Francis (who seems to have been relegated to the "needs to improve" brigade for the winter) but that doesn't really improve the quality all that much at the moment and the real onus is on a good performance from Charl Langeveldt in his last game (ever?) for Somerset before he returns home and Richard Johnson.

Ian Blackwell chose right and decided to bat first on a warm first day.  He was rewarded with a decent start with a good knock from Matt Wood (58) and another excellent number three score from Arul Suppiah.  Unfortunately the players at the other end seemed to get in and then get out which turned a promising first innings score into an average one.  John Francis contributed 8 while James Hildreth offered 25 and Wes Durston only 27. 

It was down to the captain himself to marshall his lower order after supporting the back end of Suppiah's innings to move us from a poor 190 for 4 to 396 all out - including a contribution of 98 from 122 balls from Blackie himself. We missed out by four runs on the final batting bonus point but we then needed a big performance from our bowlers to get the three they could and skittle Northants cheaply to set up the victory.

It didn't happen.  Despite Johnson and Langerveldt getting Love, Shafayat and White before they got to a hundred, we let Afzaal and Sales get away as pace failed and slow bowling couldn't keep the batsmen in check. 76 for 3 became 251 for 4 and (minus Wessels who went one run later) then 385 for 6.  It wasn't fast and it wasn't particularly pretty but it did make the game an almost certain draw, if Northants couldn't manage a win!

There was a strange incident where Jason Brown seemed to injure himself and was stretchered off with a 'serious hip injury', did not return to the field until the end of our innings, came out to bat at number 11 for them obviously struggling (why they asked him to is beyond me) and then was back in the field bowling on the third day after it must have got miraculously better!  We even saw Old Man Kepler fielding at one time!  But the cricket was getting nowhere.

They finished on 574 after their tail wagged vigourously through, Wright (71) Crook (91) and Louw (64), all of which added to the excellent century of Sales (154) and Afzaal's ton plus (112).  Our bowling figures weren't particularly ugly or particularly wonderful (all below 5 an over but few below 4), it was down to accumulation and the lack of quick wickets.  We just bowled a lot of overs to batsmen who were in and didn't get them out.

Johnson toiled and put in a couple of immaculate sessions for his 4 for 118.  Wes got 2 for 82 off 17 and KP bowled 19 overs for his one wicket for 74.  We wheeled away but we couldn't break the partnerships and they scored at 4.1 an over.

So with two days gone we trailed by 178 and they got amongst us early.  Matt Wood went for 4, Arul lasted 3 balls without scoring and a collapse seemed imminent.  Hildreth with 50 and Francis steadied the rocking front end with a partnership of 87 before Brown had JH caught by Shafayat.   Durston used his new found confidence to fight a rearguard with Frank Junior that nearly took us to the end of the third day but Northants kept plugging and finally were rewarded with the Francis wicket just before the close.  Ian Blackwell saw out the day with Somerset ending on 163 for 4, still 15 behind and a day of solid defence required to keep the opposition out.

In the end it wasn't required and we probably all breathed a collective sigh of relief as play was abandoned for the day in the muggy and drizzly conditions that are Taunton today.  A draw isn't enough and the captain was not happy with a performance that would have been seen as quite a coup a little earlier in the season.  Quite right too. 

The batsmen only fired singly and that left us without the total we needed.  The bowlers plugged away but don't really fire at all as a unit.  The slows spend their days keeping the rate down and the pace men don't rip out enough stumps.  While that is the case at Taunton we will struggle  - we may not lose but we'll fail to gain enough points to make us compete.  The off season will be all about getting the speed merchants up to consistent first class level and teaching the batsmen to perform as well on poor wickets as they do at home.

Another season in CC2 and achieving promootion will be harder next year. But we have a batting line-up now it seems. We also have some team belief and confidence - we just need a new ball attack really!  Not much to ask for is it?  Come back Caddick and let's finish 2005 (and Derbyshire) off in style on Wednesday week!!

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon