Somerset
Metrobank Game 5 - Chasing Foxes again
By Grockle
August 2 2026
Back to Leicester for the first time in a long time and for the first of two visitst this summer (CC1 game in September). Somerset look to get back to winning ways today going with the extra bowler and resting James Theedom and Theo Lamey to do so. Somerset have won the toss and will bowl first at Grace Road.
Metrobank Game 5 - v Leicestershire @ Grace Road Sunday 2 August 2026
Somerset arrive in the Midlands off the back of a loss in Canterbury on Friday and seem to have re-assessed the situation with a change to their emphasis in the side for today;
Vaughan, Perera, Lammonby, Goldsworthy (c), Thomas, Connell, Church (wk), Pretorius, Shaw, Langridge, Ball
Today they rest their young all rounder Theo Lamey and their young bowler James Theedom and return to a bigger seam attack with both Jake Ball and JT Langridge being called back into the elven after the assessment that they were a seam bowler short at Kent.
Lewis won the toss and has decided to chase today. This is semi unfamiliar terrain for the WQest country lads as the Foxes have not been regular opposition for a while. We did win here in a QF in 2024 but they have beaten us at Taunton last time they were there and it willnot be easy to get the win here today.
Steve Ezkinazi and Rishi Patel will open against Josh Shaw who produces a good first one going for only 1. Migael will take the other new ball opening spot and he gets the Leicestershire skipper as the ball goes away from Ezkanazi who edges to Church. The Foxes are 1 for 1 after 7 balls. In comes Ben Mike very early who scored 71 against Northants in the home side's last outing. Miggy seems to have got his line right straight up as he delivers two peaches to the new bat which both go past his outside edge. The second over is a very promising wicket maiden from the South African 1 for 1 after 2.
Patel finally faces a ball in the third and he is finding the job no easier than his team mates as Josh gets steepling bounce. He finally comes down the track and sends the ball through the infield for 3 as Sav catches it near the rope on the very big outfield. The commentators say it is the biggest playing area in the counties now.
Miggy is on fire though as he gets Patel with a back pad LBW to the fifth ball of his second at 6 for 2. He goes for 4 and it brings Hamza Shaikh to the crease against a bowler who has 2 for 2 from 11 balls. After 4 overs the home side are 6 for 2. The commentators think the decision was a bit doubtful on the quetion of height but it is still 'in the book'.
Shaw has a decent delivery that veers massively after the stumps and Church only gets a glove to one that goes for 4 byes - no one's fault but real movement. Grace Road has a decent crowd for this Sunday fixture. It is partly based on the Leicestershire initiative of letting kids in for free with paying adults - great idea from a club that seems to get their crowd economics right most of the time.
After 5 overs the bowlers have lots to feel satisfied by and Leicester have 11 for 2. We need to remember that a certain Ben Green will be batting in this game against his former club. Mike finally gets the runs going with a drive to the boundary in the 7th off Shaw who then gets the final word as he nips one back to take out Mike's middle stump for 9 off 15. The is Josh's first wicket in this competition it seems - surprised me I have to say as he has bowled quite extensively in these (yep - incorrect by the Foxes commentators - he definitely got wickets against his last club I believe - 2 in 2 balls in fact).
18 for 3 in the 7th brings Nick Kelly to the crease and he takes a single off his first ball and that's it for the over at 19 for 3. Kelly gets a bit more of a sight in the Pretorius fourth as he hits him for 2 fours and gets a free hit as well so the Somerset bowler's 2 for 3 becomes 2 for 14 as the Foxes move to 30 for 3
Josh is doing well with 12 for 1 off his first five overs - another maiden over as we hold the home side in a decent 'vice'. Pretorius finishes the 'Powerplay' and he has Kelly struggling to get bat on another absolute 'jaffa'. He is bowling gold presently as the pressure continues. Kelly comes back with a sumptuous drive for four but he is fighting to stay there.
After 10 overs Leicestershire have 34 for 3 and we wonder if there will be bowling changes after this first 10 onslaught? Shaw will continue with a 6th and Shaikh finally gets off the mark after 20 balls with a single through the covers but the Somerset man is not letting up. We also keep Miggy on to try and remove Kelly who seems to be the only bat capable presently of driving the opening bowling attack. 40 for 3 after 12.
The bowling change comes with the 13th as JT starts his work for the morning with a tight 2 runs off his first. He is joined by Jake Ball as a double change in the 14th. Kelly takes a liking to his second and sends a short wide one for four. Other than that its a tight start for 5 as the Foxes are struggling to get past 50.
They finally move past 50 with a straight drive for four from Kelly off the 3rd ball of the 15th. 57 for 3 as he hooks the next to register back to back boundaries despite outfield heroics from Jake as they take 11 off Langridge's second.
Jake only goes for 2 in his next but the Shaikh finally takes on the bowling as he sends the first six over Fine Leg in the next one to move himself to 11 from 35 and take the score to 66 for 3. JT comes back well but Shaikh still gets another straight boundary off the last ball to take 10 off the over and move them to 70. He takes a liking to the young left armer as he hits another 10 at the start of the 19th with two boundary shots in the first 3 balls to improve his scoring rate at the expense of the Somerset man. JT comes back well but has still gone for 34 from his 4 with 20 to Shaikh from 4 balls!!
Archie introduces spin for the 20th at 83 for 3. Kelly takes him for a straight six off his third to move the score into the 90s as Kelly himself moves into the 40s. After 20 it is 92 for 3 with Kelly on 44 from 43 and Shaikh on 28 from 47 as Ball changes ends with 0 for 9 from his three to this point.
Shaikh looks to go big but toe ends one to Vaughan for 29 from 51 at 94 for 4 in the 21st. Out comes Ben Cox the keeper. He has 3 by the end of the 22nd and a single at the start of Ball's 23rd moves the Foxes to 99. Kelly takes the quick one to move to 3 figures while taking him a run closer to a 50. Ball has gone for 14 off his 5 with a wicket as well an excellent front half for him today along with at least two of his team mates with the ball.
A misfield in the inner ring gives the New Zealander a 50. 51 from 54 for Nick Kelly. He has been the rock of this Leicastershire innings today with 7 fours and a six in his half ton. The drinks break comes at the end of the 25th with the home side having reset at 114 for 4.
The skipper opens his account with the 27th as Lewis comes on at 117 for 4 to partner Archie who took the 26th. He goes for 2 and they keep the pressure on. Leicestershire are going to have to put the foot down sometime soon.
Vaughan and Kelly have a bit of a tussle which the spinner wins as he has the Kiwi caught and bowled for 60 off 66 at the end of the 28th at 124 for 5. In comes Ian Holland, the US international to face the Somerset skipper.
At 30 overs it is 132 for 5 with Cox on 23 from 31 and Holland (Dutchy) yet to get off the mark. Double it up and the home side have to be aiming for 250 (par here is suggested to be around 260/270) while Somerset have to pressure them to be under the 250 mark. They only scored 18 off the last five soi Somerset are in the driving seat at the moment.
Cox takes over the lead bat role in the 30s. They need to keep wickets intact until they move into the 40s if they have any chance of a decent score. The spin duo are working hard to keep them in check as the 150 arrives in the 33rd from a Cox four from Goldsworthy.
At 159 in the 35th Cox miscues over the head of Josh Thomas who can't get back to catch it. It's classed as a drop but it would have been a great over the shoulder catch if he'd taken it. 162 for 5 with 15 overs to go.
JT is back for the 37th at 171 for 5 and the push will probably be on. He keeps them to 5. Archie will bowl out with the next one. Presently he has 40 from 9 to his name for his 1 wicket and he goes to 1 for 47 from his 10 - excellent bowling from the young man.
Cox goes to 50 in the next one from 55 balls with 6 fours including the confident one that takes him there. He gets another fortunate one just past Church's outstretched hand to take him to 55. Pretorius comes back for the 40th with 2 for 23 from his first 6 and he holds them to 5 from his 7th. 10 overs to go at 198 for 5 - you'd expect the Foxes to get past 250 at this point.
The 200 arrives in the 41st as JT runs conceded goes past 50 - by far the highest concession today so far. It's 209 after the over and the balance seems to be moving to the batting side as the run rate is starting to climb. The run rate has moved over 5 for the first time as Shaw comes on for the 43rd at 219 for 5. The score is looking to be getting up to the 280s one would suggest and Leicestershire would have taken that at 12 for 3 earlier on. They take 10 off the 43rd.
Jake takes the 44th as the Cox and Holland partnership becomes a worry to the visitors in the closing part of this game. 234 for 5 with 6 to go. And Holland goes to 50 with a straight back shot from Shaw at the start of the 45th. 51 from 51 at 238 for 5. This pair have put on about 112 so far - certainly what the home side needed as a base to make a game of this.
246 for 5 with 5 overs to go and they take 48 off the last 5 overs. This will be a big ask for the visitors and we will need the front five to go some to keep us in this game now. Jake takes his 8th with the 46th. The 250 arrives with a four from Cox in the middle of the over.
We fail to break the Cox/ Holland partnership until the 49th over when the excellent Ball finall gets Cox LBW for 89 from 80 with the damage already done at 279 for 6 In comes Ben Green with 8 balls to face and out goes Ben Green caught Pretorius bowled Ball with 7 balls left at 279 for 7. In comes Scriven to survive the hat-trick ball as Ball finishes with excellent figures of 3 for 40 from his 9.
Pretorius takes the last at 280 for 7. He goes for 9 mostly coming ftom Scrivens but he gets Holland with the last ball of the innings caught in the deep by Ball going for six at 77 from 67. The Foxes finish with 289 for 7 and you have to say that they got away from Somerset who had them on the ropes at 12 for 3. Excellent partnership in the middle overs from Cox and Holland despite some hard work put in by the bowlers. Migael Pretorius finishes with 2 for 57 from his 10. Josh Shaw ended with 1 for 47 from his 9. Goldsworthy went for 29 from his 5 while Langridge went for 60 from his 7. We need 290 to win this game and it is most definitely Game ON!
The Reply
Vaughan and Perera start the response against Holland and Archie hits the first boundary from the 5th ball of the over. He is then bowled with the last ball and it is 7 for 1 after 1 over skittled at the top of middle and off. Out comes Lammonby as Ben Green takes the second. Nothing happens in his first but he gets Perera flashing at a wide one with only 2 to his name in the 4th 11 for 2 with Tom on 2 from his 6. Sav is caught behind and the skipper is in the middle. He is off the mark with an outside edge single to finishe the 4th over at 12 for 2.
However, like the Foxes start, runs are very har dto come by from Holland and Green and by the 7thSomerset have 18 for 2 with Lammonby on 6 from 16 and Goldsworthy has not moved from 1 in the 14 balls he has faced.
After 10 we are not much better than our opposition were Holland and Green have both bowled 5 each and both have figures of 17 for 1. It is 29 for 2 with Lammonby on 15 from 23 and his captain with only 3 to his name from the 21 balls he has faced. Alex Green is first change for the 11th They take 7 from him but during the other Green's 12th we lose the captain as Lewis is caught by Kelly off Ben for 4 - an innings that never really got started to be honest and the visitors are 37 for 3, 2 balls into the 12th.
Josh Thomas (new man) and Tom Lammonby have a Leicestershire mole hill to clinb before it becomes a later mountain and a long innings ahead of them if they are going to make any reasonable dent in this game for their county.
They move the score but moderately slowly and by the close of the 14th they have moved to 46 for 3 with Lammonby on 23 and Thomas having moved on to 8 from 7. Tom looks to exert some authority by trying to bring up the Somerset 50 with a mighty smite to the boundary but he gets too much air on the delivery from Ben green and dies caught in the deep by Mike for the 23 at 46 for 4. He needed to be there as close to the end of this game as possible but he will not be. Ben Green may have got a golden duck but he now has 3 for 19 in his 7th over so he'll be up for this one.
Johny Connell comes out with another BIG job to do and they don't make it to 50 before the job gets even bigger as the exerpienced man at the crease Thomas is bowled by Alex Green in the very next over with only two added to the score by Connell. At the start of the 15th at 48 for 5 our last recognised bat with any experience is walking back and Ben Church is coming out. Green ahs 1 for 9 from his 13 balls and this game is probably all but over unless we get major heroics from the remaining men with the bat.
Church shows some fight however with a four to bring up the 50 (though it did go through the slips at a catchable height). Scriven and Rizvi are both introduced into the attack but the two Somerset men hold their own and keep the score moving however slowly. By the end of the 18th, the first spin over from Rizvi, Somerset have moved on to 64 for 5 with Connell on 6 from 8 and Church on 11 from 15. It's not looking all that promising but while the pair are still in and the runs are coming there is something to hope for.
With 20 overs gone we have scored 67 for the loss of 5 Church has 14 of them from the 22 he has faced and Connell still has the 6 he had when the last wicket fell from 14 balls at this point. Scriven will start the next 10 and then Somerset will have to re-assess again, if there is anything left to re-assess by then.
Johnny will not be there however, as he is ajudged LBW to Scrivens second ball fo the 21st and retires with the 6 he already has at 68 for 6. Migael Pretorius will either score one of those mercurial big scores we've seen him get or he will die trying early on. He tries to stay but a beauty of a third ball to him bowls him for zero at 68 for 7 with two to the Leicestershire bowler in the over. Out comes Josh Shaw to work at moving the score along. He gets off the mark and we move into the 24th as young Church continues to take the scoring role moving to 20 from the 30 he has faced. He faces the 31st from Rizvi and looks for a scoring shot to the boundary only to be well caught by Kelly diving forward and it is 76 for 8 with more than half the overs left.
They take the drinks break as JT Langridge comes out to face with us needing 214 to win from 26.1 overs (157 balls) at 8.18 an over with 2 wickets remaining and Rizvi with 1 ball of the 24th to come. Shaw has 1 from his 10 and his partner is not yet off the mark.
One has to say that pessimism suggests that we will do well to get to the end of the 25th over but we achieve that without further loss. Shaw has moved on to 4 from 15 balls while JT has 1 from 3. The next stage is the 30th over or the 3 figure mark. Neither is expected but in the 27th, courtesy of 4 Langridge boundaries, we are on the edge of it. A wide from Scrivens gives it to us just before the end of the over. JT has moved on to 18 from 11 while Josh has added another 2 to his 4 from the extra two balls he has faced. 100 for 8 means only another 190 to go in 23 overs.
By the start of the 30th over they have moved the score on to 117 when Alex Green finally gets one past JT who has made 32 from 23 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. He is bowled and departs for last man Jake Ball to take his place. He hits 2 fours and the score moves to 125 when he tries for a third and is caught by Eskinazi with the last ball of the 30th and we are all out for 125. Josh Shaw is not out 8 from 19 and we lose with 20 overs to go by the massive total of 164 runs.
Well that was a pretty pathetic batting performance and if we do take that the wicket was more difficult than expected it means we let the Foxes get away from us in the last 20 overs to a massive extent. We did not manage that game very well at all and have probably said good bye to any chance we have of showing in the second half of this competiti0on this year. It looked so promising a week or so ago and now it is nothing like as optimistic a situation.
We face Surrey next Friday in Taunton and we seriously need to re-assess the make-up of this side for that game even if they say they have lost a number of players in the teens from their 50 over setup.
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Sunday Preview
The squad for tomorrow holds few surprises;
Vaughan, Perera, Lammonby, Goldsworthy, Thomas, Connell, Church, Lamey, Pretorius, Shaw, Theedom, Langridge, Ball
The only questions are 1) Where is Jack Leach? 2) Which seam bowlers will play and which will be rested? The bats will all play if possible one would assume.
Vaughan, Perera, Lammonby, Goldsworthy, Thomas, Connell, Church, Pretorius, Shaw, Langridge, Ball
We win the toss and will bowl first
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:02:11:01:12 by Grockle.
Blame sits squarely on the shoulders of the diabolical Hundred. Lose many of your players to that, trim your large squad as we don’t have the money of the Test counties and welcome former players to the opposition. Today it is hello Ben Green.
In reality Somerset is a nursery club for others to take our stars. Only winning the Championship remains this season, when the summer holidays are almost done for most. And August has hardly began.
If you pick your bowlers to push for a gettabkle total then you have to expect your experienced bats will make a sensible attempt to get to that total. The first happened to a great degree though you would have expected your experienced bowlers to have been bowled out and your less experienced ones to have been protected if at all possible. That didn't happen and we were always 'behind that bloody Eight Ball from then on'.
Well we got there!! But the wickets didn't!!
On present form Jack Leach would arguably be a better option to open than Archie.
Very inexperienced team, but that really was extremely disappointing.
Grizzers
It manipulates and operates in co-operation with the MSM to skew coverage.
It swamps its audience with only one option and in order to do that it financially discriminates in favour of the professional cricketers it needs to make its protected August choice work.
It forces non franchise fans away from their home bases - though in doing that it does create outground cricket (not because it wants to though)
It attempts to hide the other options available from people looking for cricket who do not have extensive knowledge. It also tries to keep that extensive knowledge from them in the frnachise off season as well while advertising ludicrously early on MSM to keep them hooked in, though anyone bothering to look hard would you would think. Though some don't seem to if it takes effort - the summer footy crowd mostly I'd expect.
There is no finance or incentive from the central body to support professionals who for whatever reason might want to play 50 over cricket for their county. One wonders how many would make the choice if the media covered both and the salaries were comparable. Not sure - let s try it huh and see what happens
Finally - injuries in the franchise must be covered by taking from sides in the 50 over whatever the consequence of that while movements in the other direction are made as difficult as possible it seems.
i'm not sure the environment set up, in which the franchises operate protected from market forces as much as possible in an advantageous position in the season, means career professionals have any 'choice' which cricket they choose if they have any option at all. I
t's certainly a financial economic choice. Not sure it is a choice some would make if the money and exposure was balanced by the market in an openly competitive market situation. As it has gone on more professionals have expressed a dislike for lack of enthusiasm to play for sides that mean nothing particular to the squads ot the local base.
Earlier in the season at Tren Bridge one of the staff there asked me if Lewis Gregory played for a Hundred franchise in August and I had to tell him that not only did he play at Trent Bridge but he had captained the side to winning the trophy. This guy worked there and had no idea. He took holiday in August he said because the county didn't need him for the small Metro team they had in place and the media for the franchise was farmed out except for the women.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:02:19:41:46 by Grockle.
We were able to rotate the likes of Aldridge, Green ,Ogborne, JT Langridge ,Ned Leonard , Sonny Baker,Josh Davey and Ball at will. We've now lost four of these to other clubs and have only really added Shaw to this list.
Specialist subject....................?!
Grizzers
If we had Alfie available we might be in a better position. Fin Hill also did better last year than Johnny Connell has managed so far.
Other counties seem to be keeping more senior players who aren't featuring heavily in other formats but maybe that's because they are not as much in demand by other counties as Green, Davey and Aldridge.
Jack is available as far as we are aware but is not being considered. No idea why that is. He's presently playing league cricket and not even being part of a squad. It is a shame we aren't able to see whether Alfie would have made a difference.
However, I think the big difference between this year and last is the Rew brothers aren't in the side - we were always going to struggle to replace them.
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