Somerset
CC1 Sussex by the Sea
By Farmer White et al
July 29 2025
Farmer's look at the last day of our secnd game in lovely Hove. I thought I'd done a report on this one but it seems I didn't. Not that there was all that much to report on and Farmer gives you a good version of the last day and Somerset's 'death throes'.
County Championship 2025. Division 1. Sussex v Somerset 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th April. Hove.
Sussex. D.P. Hughes, T.J. Haines, T.G.R. Clark, T.P. Alsop, J.M. Coles, J.A. Simpson (c) (w), F.J. Hudson-Prentice, D.J. Lamb, J.J. Carson, J.N.T. Seales, S.F. Hunt.
Somerset. A.M. Vaughan, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), K.L. Aldridge, M. Pretorius, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.
Overnight. Sussex 294 and 501 for 7 dec. Somerset 201 and 125 for 4. Somerset need 470 to win with six second innings wickets standing.
Final day – Just a matter of when
“Well, that was an unexpected win.” Such was the view of one Sussex supporter expressed to a friend as they walked away from the ground after his team, newly promoted to the First Division, had won by 260 runs. They were but two of a number of home team supporters who walked along Selborne Road with a spring in their step after the match. If the discipline which newly promoted Sussex had shown, batting and bowling, throughout the match were to continue, it would not be their last win of the season was my thought. It was only the end of the second round of matches, but being tied for first place in the embryonic First Division table probably did not flatter their early season form. By comparison, Somerset had looked flat in this match, at the start at least. Perhaps they were still recovering from those gruelling 200 overs of a week before when they had failed to bowl out Worcestershire at Taunton on the final two days of that match.
The mood of Somerset supporters was very different from that of the Sussex one. “That’s our Championship challenge over,” one lifelong Somerset supporter had said to me at the end of the third day. Hopes had been high during the winter when Somerset had signed Matt Henry, the second most-effective pace bowler in the world in 2025 after Jasprit Bumrah. But Henry’s subsequent sickening fall onto his shoulder during a T20 International in New Zealand had come as a hammer blow. Although Somerset had announced that, because of the injury, Henry would not be available before May, most supporters, having seen replays of Henry’s fall, doubted he would be available for any Championship matches, or at best, two or three. Craig Overton, the talisman of the Somerset bowling attack, had been rested for this match too. There had been two views about that among the Somerset supporters I spoke to. The first, that it was important to rest him at Hove because he would be needed for the next three matches against the strength of Hampshire, Surrey and Essex, the first two of those away from home. The second, that he should have played against newly promoted Sussex in an attempt to get Somerset’s season moving with a win against a newly promoted side.
As to the cricket, Somerset entered the final morning in a remarkably similar position to the one in which Worcestershire had entered the final morning a week before. Both faced huge deficits, and neither had any prospect of winning. Both would have to bat the entire final day to salvage a draw from matches in which they had been behind from the first morning. Worcestershire had had five wickets standing overnight, Somerset had six. For Worcestershire, Brett D’Oliveira and Matthew Waite had batted nearly 60 overs of the final day for the seventh wicket, and the last wicket was still intact 47 overs later as Somerset’s two spinners toiled away. Now, it was Somerset’s turn with the bat. There was a decent-sized crowd for a final day with entry set at half price. Two enclaves of Somerset supporters occupied either end of the Sharks Stand roughly at long off to the right-hander facing bowling from the Sea End. As the day unwound, they made their presence felt.
Sussex began the final day without left arm pace bowler Sean Hunt, already with nine wickets in the match, following an injury to his bowling arm. It was Sussex though who struck first. Jayden Seales bowled the first ball of the second over from the Cromwell Road End to James Rew. The ball forced a rushed defensive push from Rew from which it looped off the edge and was caught by Tom Haines in the gully. Somerset 126 for 5. Rew 20. To put Somerset’s position in perspective, they still needed a nominal 475 runs to win. The hopes of Somerset supporters for the day had been pinned on Rew, Tom Abell, 60 not out overnight, and Lewis Gregory, due to bat after Kasey Aldridge who was now walking to the wicket. The loss of Rew so early felt like a body blow.
At Taunton, Worcestershire had repeatedly pushed the front foot down the wicket with bat alongside, or raised it to leave the ball, as their main method of coping with the need to bat out the final day. In the process, they scored 205 runs in 112 overs. Abell and Aldridge began differently, a boundary coming in five of the first seven overs of their partnership, and 24 runs in all. Three of the boundaries though came off the edge. One, from Abell, flew wide of the four slips, while the other two, one from each batter, fell short. Seales was the bowler on each occasion, his smooth run and action producing constant threat.
Abell and Aldridge shifted their tactics to defence, only a single came in the next three overs. Then, Aldridge was dropped off Seales, cutting uppishly to backward point where Fynn Hudson-Prentice took off and got both hands to the ball. Seales though was nothing if not persistent. Aldridge responded with a drive at a ball wide of off stump, the ball move away late, Aldridge followed it and edged it to John Simpson behind the stumps. Somerset 152 for 6, Aldridge 14. With still a minimum of 84 overs to be played, the noose was tightening. If Somerset were to have a realistic hope of saving the game, a substantial partnership would almost certainly be needed from Abell and Lewis Gregory. But, as Gregory emerged from the dressing room next to the Pavilion, the Sussex crowd, sensing victory, was buzzing with anticipation.
When Abell drove Jack Carson’s off spin through extra cover to the gap between the Pavilion and the Sharks Stand a Somerset supporter in front of me revealed the extent of most Somerset hopes. “Shot! Good shot!” he said, but continued, “If we could see Abell get a ton, it would at least give us something to cheer about.” Four overs for four singles followed as the Abell-Gregory partnership settled. With the end of Seales’ spell, the element of threat diminished, and the chatter from the Sussex crowd became quiet and relaxed, as if they were just waiting for the next wicket.
Now, Gregory and Abell began to attack the bowling. There was little sense of Worcestershire’s endless, in the end, day-long, obdurate defence. Gregory spectacularly cut Tom Clark’s medium pace square for four and clipped him behind square for another four. Abell drove James Coles’ slow left arm straight back to the Sea End for four more. The boundaries drew applause from the crowd and cheers from the goodly number of Somerset supporters who had stayed on for the final day. They, at least, were being given a lift. Gregory continued, driving Clark through the off side for another four and Coles sharply through extra cover to the gap between the Pavilion and Sharks Stand and the two enclaves of Somerset supporters it contained. The ball was still moving so quickly when it reached the rope that it took off and flew through the gap to the concourse behind from where a passing spectator threw it back. Abell and Gregory were batting with some ease, although along the way Abell was dropped by a diving substitute fielder at square leg. It was a teeth-clenching escape, and the scoreboard still showed a minimum of 67 overs remaining. Twenty-nine overs had gone since the start, but they had cost Somerset two of their remaining six wickets. To a Somerset supporter, six o clock seemed an awfully long way off.
But lunch was approaching, a milestone at least, a break from the tension, and a third of the day would be gone. Abell glanced Danny Lamb’s medium pace, the ball shot up from the boundary rope and bisected two spectators as they reached for it as it flew into the Sharks Stand. It brought cheers from the enclaves of Somerset supporters, and a single driven to point off Coles in the next over took Abell to 96. It brought the thought too that if Abell and Gregory could survive into the afternoon session, the number of overs remaining would begin to fall to a level that might bring realistic hope to Somerset, for there was still little evidence of meaningful help for the bowlers from the pitch, Seales apart.
No sooner was the thought born than it died. Abell attempted to coax Lamb wide of the two slips but succeeded only in edging it to Tom Alsop at first slip. The Sussex cheer was deafening as it engulfed Somerset ears and the applause for Lamb which followed rattled around in the Somerset head as if it had entered an echo chamber. “Could have done without that,” said the disappointed voice in front of me before the applause for Abell broke out from Somerset and Sussex supporters alike. Somerset 205 for 7. Abell 96. Overs remaining 65, down to 63 at lunch with Gregory and Migael Pretorius at the crease.
The re-start saw the Somerset batters playing with some ease. Pretorius did edge Coles close to the stumps and Sussex brought Simpson up for Lamb. Nothing happened though that you might not expect during the normal run of play, although the impending arrival of the new ball was entering the conversation. The Sussex supporter along from me seemed resigned to waiting for it as he sat reading a book. And, in truth, there was little tension in the air. Just the relaxed chatter that had been a feature of the day. It was as if people were just enjoying a day at the cricket whilst awaiting its inevitable conclusion. Pretorius brought some life to proceedings with an on driven four off Coles followed by a lofted on drive for three. Gregory meanwhile added to his reputation for having a laid-back persona with a controlled off drive for an ambled single. When he found the boundary off Lamb it was with a neat deflection from an open face. The boundary took Somerset to 236 for 7, but the total was irrelevant. What was relevant were the 56 overs remaining in the day and Somerset’s three remaining wickets.
With the new ball four overs away, Pretorius began to put bat to ball with a purpose. With Carson bowling from the Sea End, he drove him off successive balls through extra cover and then cover to the Pavilion boundary. Lamb was pulled square to the Pavilion boundary and immediately driven through the covers for three towards the long boundary opposite the Pavilion. The three gave Pretorius the strike and Carson was driven through the close field to the extra cover boundary on the Pavilion side. When Coles replaced Lamb for the next over at the Cromwell Road End he was unceremoniously deposited beyond the long on boundary and into the folding chairs next to the players dressing rooms. It was classic Pretorius, but apart from using up those four overs and giving Somerset supporters a lift, it had not changed the state of the match.
And then, with 50 overs remaining, the new ball, but Somerset remained defiant in the face of the seeming inevitability of their circumstances. Gregory cut the first ball with the new ball, from Hudson-Prentice, dismissively past the four slips for four. Then Pretorius took on Seales. First an open-faced steer through backward point for the four which brought up his fifty from 59 balls. The next ball was driven through extra cover for two. As Seales prepared to deliver the third ball a pin might have been heard drop anywhere in the ground. With Hunt sidelined, Seales stood out above the rest of the attack. He looked every inch the Test bowler he was. For the second time in the over, Pretorius calmly opened the face and steered the ball past the slips for four. But every Pretorius innings has its term, and two balls later, Seales, his run to the wicket rhythmic and smooth, delivered the perfect yorker. Pretorius reached down, but by the time his bat touched ground his off stump had left its moorings. Seales completed his follow through just as he would have done had Pretorius prodded the ball back down the pitch. The upended stump simply the product of another ball from the locker the impression given. Somerset 287 for 8. Pretorius 59. Two wickets and 48 overs and one ball remaining.
Josh Davey arrived, leaned into the next ball from Seales, clipped it just behind square and into one of the Pavilion boundary boards for six. Just another shot from the locker by all appearances. But the reality was unchanged. The runs made no difference. Somerset needed to bat another 48 overs with two wickets standing. Even Worcestershire hadn’t done that, and I doubt anyone at Hove was expecting Somerset to do it either. Gregory and Davey pushed the ball around, a pair of twos from Davey came in one over and a drive through midwicket from Gregory off Seales crashed into the Pavilion boards to take Somerset past 300. Then, Gregory reached a determined fifty from 116 balls with a single through the covers off Clark. For Somerset supporters though, it was like waiting for a skater to go through the ice. The moment came when Davey attempted to pull Clark from a foot outside off stump. The ball looped straight of mid-on. “Catch Hughsie,” someone shouted, but ‘Hughsie’ was already in pursuit and Davey walked off for ten from 14 balls. Somerset 304 for 9 with 43 overs remaining.
With one wicket standing, what had seemed inevitable for much of the day, except perhaps briefly during the Abell-Gregory partnership, now seemed imminent. Whether it did to Gregory and last man, Jack Leach, is impossible to say from beyond the boundary. Leach, not unknown for being inscrutable was now inscrutability personified. He played his second ball to cover and completed a single. That left him facing an over from Seales. He took another single off the last ball. The penultimate ball of the next over, from Clark, was driven off the back foot through the covers for two as calmly as if Leach were having a net. “Leachy!” came the acknowledgement from one of the Somerset enclaves. Then Leach opened the face and took another single to applause from the enclaves. Cheers accompanied two boundaries from the next over, from Seales, one driven through the covers, the other a guide to fine leg. Leach had faced 20 consecutive balls and scored 13 runs. Somerset were 317 for 9. Leach looked to be in no difficulty. As he played, he gave the impression that he could bat all day, but the reality was that the end was 40 overs or one error away.
The error looked as if it had come when Hudson-Prentice replaced Seales. Leach edged him into the slips, but the ball went to ground. “That carried,” was the certainty expressed from the crowd, but by the time the ball had been retrieved Leach and Gregory had completed a single. A curious aspect of the final wicket partnership was that, at least to the watcher, Gregory appeared to make no effort to protect Leach. By the time that catch went down, Leach had faced 30 of 42 balls since he came to the wicket. A back foot cover drive for four from Leach off Hudson-Prentice apart, the batters now focused on defence. But now, the ball, in its 14th over, began to go past the edge. As the last wicket partnership stretched into its 12th, a young Sussex supporter explained to another, attending her first cricket match, “We are going to win. It’s just a matter of when.” It was a statement few lifelong supporters would dared have made, but the game had had that feel about it for most of the day, and this time the prophecy held. An over later, Gregory played defensively to Hudson-Prentice and edged to Coles in the slips. Somerset 334 all out. Gregory 56 in three hours and 19 minutes. Leach 24 in 49 minutes. The waiting was over. Sussex the winners by those 260 runs.
Result. Sussex 294 (D.P. Hughes 49, T.G.R. Clark 49, J.A. Simpson 47, L. Gregory 4-90) and 501 for 7 dec (T.J. Haines 141, J.A. Simpson 110*, D.P. Hughes 91, M.J. Leach 4-167). Somerset 201 (J.E.K. Rew 80*, S.F. Hunt 5-48, F.J. Hudson-Prentice 4-31) and 334 (T.B. Abell 96, M. Pretorius 59, L. Gregory 56, S.F. Hunt 4-28, J.N.T. Seales 3-107). Sussex won by 260 runs. Sussex 20 points. Somerset 3 points.
As with all these reports, they can be found in their entirity on Farmer's own website HERE
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Sussex will be without leading strike bowler Ollie Robinson, who has a foot injury, and add Greece international Aristides Karvelas, batsman/wicket keeper Oliver Carter and left-arm quickie Sean Hunt to the remaining 10 involved in a high-scoring draw at Warwickshire in their opening match.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:17:19:40:57 by Grockle.
This should mean that the top seven will remain the same;
Vaughn, Dickson, Lammonby, Abell. Banton. Rew, Gregory
Unless the bowling involves a rota system Overton should be at 8 and one would assume we are not going to 'rest Aldridge this time after his 5 fer. With Jack Leach as our spin option that means we have 3 bowlers looking at one spot.
Josh Davey looked a little fragile in the second innings last weekend so he may be on the sidelines for this one and so it might be a straight decision between our international and our veteran.
I'd like to see Pretorius but it would not be the first time that the selectors have gone with Ball for the English wicket experience. Not my choice but he has surprised us before
There are also some second team people also saying 'what about us' with the bat after an excellent win against Essex with Josh Thomas, Lewis Goldsworthy, Thomas Rew and Andy Umeed keeping the present First XI front end on their toes.
Miggy P is also in
In comes Kasey Aldridge as first change for Josh for the 13th over and Sussex move past 50 as Hughes and newboy Clarke get into their work for the morning.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:11:11:46:28 by Grockle.
Any news of a replacement for him?
They are still expecting him for the Blast series - early May is the last I heard but he is out by the end of June so little if no 4 day stuff I'm afraid.
It's a bit of a statement when you rest your primary new ball bowler one game into a campaign because you can't afford to lose him in the next 3 games (because he is more fragile nowadays).
Without the partnership of Henry in the first half of the season I'm afraid the hopes of the 'Destiny' season might come to nothing. We look pretty toothless after the morning session.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:11:13:39:12 by Grockle.
A challenging start to our bowling season, that’s for sure.
Grizzers
Have to say that up to now, Craig has not looked on top form either so we may have arrived at the point where we start to get our batting into some kind of order just as the bowling attack (that has kept us in so many games when our batting has not) starts to fall to pieces. If Craig comes up short, Josh struggles and Lewis is only used sparingly one wonders where the replacement attack is coming from seeing as Alfie is presently not in the first team squad, Kasey is good or bad but rarely in the middle and JT is all we then have with first team experience.
No disrespect but the plan for hoping our name was on the trophy in our 150th year wasn't based around an attack relying heavily on Migael and Jake pre Blast.
Quote:Grockle
Sussex put us in and we are starting well.
Grockle - They chose to bat and bat! Hopefully we will have a more fruitful afternoon session
As I'm not in Hove because of an attack of the lurgie I'll put it down to that and the amount of paracetamol!!
It may be a very long day as part of a very long weekend.
Seems to have started better as they have lost 2 since lunch one more to Lewis and an opening wicket for MIggy P
Hughes is still there on 49 but Clarke went for 49 and Allsop lasted a mere 2 balls (club website scorecard is not working it seems). And now Pretorius has Hughes LBW 134 for 4
Simpson and Coles both in on zero
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:11:13:54:09 by Grockle.
Out comes Danny Lamb once of this parish and 3 balls later he's on his way back to the same bowler 180 for 7.
Kasey has 2 for 33 from his 6 overs
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:11:14:55:09 by Grockle.
No quibbles at all from me.
Somerset out for the evening with just under 20 overs to face. Archie goes for 14 early cauiught by Coles off the bowling of Seales.
Sean Dickson and Tom Lammonby then have a difficult period with Lammers having particular trouble at the start of his vigil at the crease.
Not fun at the end of Day 1. They will do well to survive to the close.
We don't as Banton goes for 6 - 46 for 3 Trouble with a capital 'T'
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:11:18:11:32 by Grockle.
At least he doesn't fall to the hat-trick ball straight after the 371!!
Lewis must feel a bit let down after his efforts with the ball.
Grizzers
James Rew and Lewis Gregory have a BIG job to get us past 145 or further
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
140 for 0 by Tea on Day 2 isn't that good is it? already 230 ish behind and a lot of this game still to come
Going down with flu and missing my first trip to Hove is looking less and less like a bad thing I have to say
Whoops
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:12:15:43:30 by Grockle.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:12:19:02:04 by Grockle.
Hurry should forget the “hope Henry turns up for 2-3 games,” BS and get us a bowler in!
Quote:Loyal of Lhasa
Just to let you know that currently Rew has a higher batting average for the season than Banton!
Only you could’ve thought of that LOL ! Did make me smile which is rare at the moment.
Does she perhaps have a GCSE in Tautology?
Nothing wrong with another ology, as Maureen Lipman once said.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
With a lead of nearly 400 and still 6 wickets standing I'm not sure a wicket is a 'breakthrough'. The only little victory in this would be Somerset deciding when they bat rather than being invited to take the crease by the home side.
Not much of an optimistic position I'm afraid.
"Somerset are bridesmaids again. Following a brilliant season and slight wobble at the end. If only they had turned-up in April."
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
'Workmanlike" "Focused" "Concentrated on task" but no commentator said "dangerous" throughout today when describing our bowling.
I will be mildly surprised if we reply with more than 350 on another 'semi-pudding' of a pitch
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:13:16:33:46 by Grockle.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
BUT probably NOT Will Smeed who has never played red ball for us or suggested he might be a red ball opening bat solution I'm afraid.
It's a problem we have had for nearly a decade with the odd little spell of being sorted but it is still there and we will NOT win the Championship until we sort it. Say goodbye to this year people and unless we sort out the bowling we may be looking at clawing out of the bottom half in September.
Hurry and Kerr should be deeply alarmed by this performance… and, above all the fact that their bowlers have got much, much more out of this surface than ours did.
Very well played Sean Hunt but we are struggling to compete in Hove I'm afraid
Can we make the end of Day 3?
I fear the damage caused by the 200 over Worcs innings went way beyond those two days play.
Please no more utterances of the words “this has been our best pre-season campaign ever”.
Grizzers
This time last week I was wondering if this was the season we would finally win the Championship. A week later and I’m questioning whether this is the season we finally get relegated.
This year? Sussex have been far too good for us here.
And the side we failed to beat last week, Worcs, just lost by more than 500 runs to the other newly promoted side, Yorks.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:13:18:48:48 by AGod.
When there'a some positives I'll show you. how. It's done. Or you can review the archives... there's quite a lot tn there
[www.tractordriver.co.uk]
Tractor has helped since 2004. If it's underlined it links to Match Reports or comments. Though I'm presently working through the first decade
Hopefully tomorrow we'll have some more. The Glos friendly might have some if yer desperate 😁👍
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:13:19:33:04 by Grockle.
I was not referring to anything you have written. It's not all about you, you know!
Our (long-serving) coach will tell us of the positives. He usually does.
None of this has ever really been about anyone with a balanced view of good days & bad.
AG may reply to you, he may not but as I say,if you feel bereft the link is there.
If somethng more upbeat happens tomorrow I'll link you both in.
It's a service 😁👍Open to all , nothing more. Use it don't use it. It'll still be there either way.
And it's not all about me 🤣 If you want to thank someone Thank TRACTOR 👍 He does the work on a weekly basis and also FARMER WHITE who wrote most of the stuff in the second decade
Enjoy 👍 I am 😁
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:13:20:03:53 by Grockle.
So it's Tom Abell and the tail to do the job now 450 behind and 5 wickets in hand.
In comes Lewis (opening option was a theory earlier this month - will that be revisitied?)
Not hopeful that these 2 with Josh and Jack to come will manage to take us to Tea though I'm afraid 208 for 7
Can't see Lewis opening the batting. He's got enough on his plate already, especially as he's having to shoulder much of the bowling responsibility at the moment.
April and Somerset really don't seem to get along very well.
Grizzers
Can't see it now - they'll probably do their conservative thing and continue with Sean hoping that 'something' will change.
Hope springs eternal but it hasn't worked up until now and very little suggests it will change any time soon
Quote:Yes I'm in danger of going too early in my gloomy prediction but I think the evidence is there, and not just from the last two matches. I truly hope I'm wrong.Shepton Paul 2
…after two and a half innings, in one of which we got nearly 700…
It wasn't deep a couple of weeks ago and now is wafer thin it seems. We have to ask the youth to stand up or why are they being employed. If we don't use them they must also wonder why they are at Taunton. What is the future of Goldsworthy, Umeed, Ogborne, Thomas, Langridge, if they are not asked to fill gaps or cannot do that when asked? What is the pecking order and where are Will Smeed and Tom Rew in the pecking order?
A couple of injuries in key areas and we are in deep do do. Our side is not great presently in the longer formats as some bodies are getting very fragile.
Can't say I'm at all impressed in all aspects of the Somerset website 'Match Centre'.
Despite the quality of the live streams we provide and the amount of work the guys and gals put in, the fact that I couldn't get anything from the 'Scorecard' aspect until well after the first hour of the game (no scores at all) and it presently says we are 125 for 4
I'm not sure how it is linked but this is not the first time I've gone there and been less than impressed. I just go somewhere else of course. Suppose the point is, if you are going to provide it then just make sure it works. If you're not going to do that then don't provide it. An 'all singing and dancing' website that doesn't sing or dance.
Rant over.
Somerset lose Gregory for 56 and we lose by 260 runs by being dismissed for 334.
I don't know what the answer is, but we look absolutely shot to bits right now & it feels like our momentum balloon has burst before it even inflated !
Grizzers
One look at the weather forecast has sorted that!
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:15:11:42:35 by Loyal of Lhasa.
Sounds highly unlikely to me!? Quite apart from anything else? You don’t discipline somebody for a tweet without also making them delete it!
No, I think the Overton decision was probably borne of arrogance - the idea we could prosper without him Vs newly promoted Sussex, but would need him Vs Hants, Surrey and Essex.
The fact that we haven’t won a single CC game without Craig since 2019, apparently, is beyond concerning. We’re also without an away win, even with Craig, since I saw us beat Middx, at Lord’s, back in June 2023.
Any hopes for this season would seem to me to rest with Ciderabad and Leachy / Vaughan.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:04:16:05:57:07 by AGod.
Julian goes off on one about twice a year in FB doesn't he?
Mark Overton confirmed that Craig had been rested by management & wasn't injured on the BBC by tweet to Anthony on Day 1.
I think he was very restrained, as I have tried to be in this post. Online trolls are so pathetic and dismal, and this one deserves the response he/she got - I don’t believe any language was used that you can’t hear every day of the week on TV.
Have a chat about it by all means but 'sanctions' really?
Doubt anything was even considered. Julian isn't probably a source for realistic views on these things & is the ONLY source I've seen suggesting any kind of action..
If it was a rota decision, as said here, it was probably arrogant or a mistake. Not the first one.
Anything above that? Really?
Quote:AGod
Yeah, colleague on the voluntary radio.
Walshy's volunteer bunch of people willing to keep ball by ball going until the BBC came to their senses started off as an effort to provide for our blind fans.
It was a "Who is available" list. You said when you were about & you got a time & did the session with whoever else turned up. (I think Julian did one game session entirely alone because no one had told him they'd shut off because of rain).
They weren't 'official', they weren't anything like today's system. The lack of 'officialness' could probably be seen as good or bad. No visual meant we talked about the game (we did get 'some' limited radio training...)
They were an eclectic bunch. Did sessions with Bagpuss, Mr Walsh, 2 generations of the Kerslake family, the CEO Mr Gould & a bunch of Uffculme school students, not including a much younger Harry Everett (because he didn't get his application in on time) as well as some more 'off the beaten track' individuals of which Julian was probably one but not the only one.
Some were great. The one with Jon Kerslake at the end of the Yorkshire run chase stands out. Some were weird. Some were surreal.
'Colleagues'? Don't think any of us thought of them that way. We got paid with carveries (decent pay for 2/3 hours of fun). We provided a service to our fellow Somerset fans to an area which just covered the town & you can only hope it was appreciated and if not the off switch was available.
They went for a period from about 2010 to 2013/14 I think & I was involved in the back end of seasons for most of them because I went abroad in September 2011. Nice thing to be involved in.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:06:07:17:42:43 by Grockle.
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- Metro50 NOT "Developmental" by choice
- Blast Quarter Final Here We Go at Headingley