ONE FINE DAY

There’s something about a day at the county ground in Taunton.

Today I arrive and take my seat high in the Marcus Treacothick Pavillion. The ground looks as beautiful as ever with the long shadows cast by the floodlights slowly beating their inevitable retreat as the sun continues to make its merry way towards its daily high point.

Along with my packed lunch, binoculars and Playfair cricket annual, I’ve brought with me a genuine sense of anticipation – will James Rew complete his century [of course], will maximum batting points be secured [comfortably] and will there be a brief but belligerent batting display from Craig Overton to help ensure that when the last wicket finally falls, the Somerset total will be within a Lewis Goldsworthy shoe size of 500 [most definitely]!

As the innings interval begins, and despite me being someone who can’t tell the difference between a googly and an exceedingly well known internet search engine, I fell to wondering if I might have noticed a bit of turn from Bristolian George Drissell in his penultimate over, and, if so, whether that might offer some small encouragement for a certain M.J. Leach later in the game.

My analysis seems increasingly likely to be correct when the aforementioned slow left armer bowls the sixth over of the Durham innings and first team debutante Archie Vaughn steps up to deliver the next – his off-breaks picking up what is his maiden first class wicket when he traps McKinney from the last ball of his first over in championship cricket.

Lunch affords the opportunity to visit both the Somerset cricket shop, to buy my soon to be three years old grandson his first ever cricket bat, and the Somerset cricket museum to peruse the displays there and watch, once again, TKC’s winning catch in last years T20 final – a catch every bit a part of history as those whose portraits adorn the wall where the flat screen TV is mounted, ready to play a selection of famous games at the press of a button.

Having been allowed on the pitch during the lunch interval, spectators are returning to their seats as I return to mine in time for the afternoon session to begin, I chat for a while with a fellow spectator who’s travelled up from Cornwall with his guide dog, a far better behaved black Labrador than the one I’d wisely left at home this morning – his presence pitch side, were he to once again gnaw his way through an overpriced lead, all too likely to distract the players far more than the seagulls that periodically leave their elevated perches on the Ondaatje Pavillion to stroll purposefully around the outfield seemingly oblivious to what is taking place in the middle.

The afternoon session has an atmosphere altogether different to that played out before lunch. The game hasn’t yet decided upon the direction it might take, and we who look on have to be patient and wait to see whether the runs will continue to flow freely or the not infrequent appeals might eventually persuade the up to now reluctant umpires to finally lift their finger.

It’s a period of play which allows me to ponder the mysteries of life – none more mysterious than why the Durham shirts advertise ‘Sir Ian Botham Wines’ when the stand that bears the great all-rounder’s name indicates that the former Somerset favourite is now a peer of the realm.

The game continues to the background hubbub of inconsequential conversation – the topics covered by the healthy crowd more diverse than the companies currently sponsoring the players, with subjects ranging from whether Somerset may yet have a chance of winning this years county championship competition, to how the solar panels on the roof of the Andy Caddick Pavillion have been positioned so as to spell out ‘SCCC’.

The gentle chitchat of the healthy crowd is briefly punctuated by a hearty roar of approval as Scott Borthwich is caught by Craig O off the bowling of Leachy, neither of the recipients of the home supporters’ praise being blessed with the most imaginative of nicknames.

The game meanders on as Kasey Aldridge is brought into the attack and I’m reminded to whom I should turn should I ever find myself in need of a speciality cheese or countless other high quality dairy products. But moments later, I forget such creamy comestibles as Leach and Overton combine again to remove Robinson and I’m overcome by an unaccountable desire to rent a property in a highly sought after area of Bridgwater and clean every square inch of its tastefully furnished living space!

Then all of a sudden, Durham are four down – Leach having bowled Turner for 4 – and with them still needing more than 200 more runs to avoid the follow on, the game appears, over the course of a few quick overs, to have decided to head away from Durham and, temporarily at least, in the general direction of the home of The Wurzels, Thatcher’s Cider and the Nempnett Thrubwell Kitchen Timer Kit, the latter a product that must surely one day enter the glamourous world of player sponsorship if it hopes to survive in the dog eat dog world of culinary horology.

Tea is taken and is once again marked by the familiar announcement that all pies, pasties and sausage rolls will once again being sold at half price. But, resisting such temptations, I chose instead to watch as the marvellous Mary Elworthy-Coggan is presented with a painting of the ground to mark her many years of fundraising for the club. Afterwards she’s hugged by Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton and Tom Abell, it is a moment that I find as moving as it is meaningful, speaking as it does to how Somerset remains a small club with a big heart.

Just as the afternoon session differs in atmosphere from that of the morning, so too does the feel of the evening session differ from those that have proceeded it. Even as the players walk out with two hours of play still remaining, the day already feels as though it’s drawing to a close.

But there is still time for Lewis Goldsworthy [IT Champion since you ask – no I hadn’t either] to be thrown the ball and have Lees brilliantly caught by Craig ‘cleaning bucket hands’ Overton at slip. As I’m sure they teach those who attend Taunton School, it is seldom a good idea to attempt a quick single to Tom Abell. And so it proves to be the case when de Leede is run out just a few overs later, leaving Durham 170-6, still 172 short of avoiding the follow on.

But as the sun hides between light cloud and it’s sufficiently chilly to crack open the flask of coffee that up until now I’d forgotten I had with me, so the chances that Somerset have of forcing the follow fade a little as Carse and Raine score briskly. But the fact that the last half hour of the days play begins with Durham passing 250 without having lost any further wickets doesn’t mean the game has been any less enjoyable to watch – on the contrary it’s just been a different phase of play, part of the ebb and flow of county cricket that makes it the most interesting form of cricket there is.

The last five minutes sees Somerset take the new ball, Raine follow Carse in reaching 50, and their partnership pass 100. The sun makes a reappearance and the long shadows of the morning return only this time they extend in a different direction.

Leach bowls the final over during which yet another exuberant appeal fails to excite the umpire and the day comes to its inevitable end only to continue once again tomorrow morning.

All in all it’s been one fine day.

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Other cricket blogs, with an inevitable bias towards Somerset.

To read ‘A Cricket Taunt’, click here

To read ‘Brian and Stumpy visit The Repair Shop’, click here

To read ‘Is Cricket Amusing Itself to Death’, click here

To read ‘A Purr-fect day at the cricket’, click here

To read ‘Safe and Sound at the County Ground, Taunton’, click here

To read ‘First of the Summer Wine’, click here

To read ‘sharing the important things: on introducing your grandchild to cricket’, click here

To read ‘Cigarettes, Singles, and Sipping Tea with Ian Botham: Signs of a Well Spent Youth!’, click here

To read ‘Bazball, Bazchess, Bazlife’, click here

To read ‘Lewis Calpaldi – Retired Hurt?’, click here

To read ‘Online criticism: it’s just not cricket’, click here

To read ‘Twas the week of the final’, click here

To read ‘Worth Every Penny’, click here

To read ‘for the third time of asking, CRICKET’S COMING HOME…surely’, click here

To read ‘Cricket: It’s All About Good Timing’, click here

To read ‘A Cricketing Christmas Carol’, click here

To read ‘Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Deseted Cricket Ground’, click here

To read ‘At Season’s End’, click here

To read ‘A Historic Day’, click here

To read ‘On passing a village cricket club at dusk one late November afternoon’ click here

To read ‘Cricket – through thick and thin’, click here

To read ‘A Song for Brian’, click here

To read ‘I’ve got a little CRICKET list’, click here

To read ‘My love is not a red, red rose , click here

To read ‘Stumpy – a legend reborn’, click here

To read ‘A Cricket Tea Kind of a Day’, click here

To read ‘A Day at the Cricket’, click here

To read ‘The Great Cricket Sell Off’, click here

To read ‘How the Grinch stole from county cricket…or at least tried to’. click here

To read ‘How Covid-19 stole the the cricket season’, click here

To read ‘Life in the slow lane’, click here

To read ‘Frodo and the Format of Power’, click here

To read ‘A Tale of Two Tons’, click here

To read ‘If Only’, click here

To read ‘Eve of the RLODC limericks’ click here

To read ‘Somerset v Nottinghamshire T20 Quarter Final 2023’, click here

To read ‘It’s coming home…’, click here

To read ‘A Song for Ben Green’, click here

To read ‘Enough Said…’, the last section of which is cricket related, click here

A Jack Leach Trilogy:

To read ‘For when we can’t see why’, click here

To read ‘WWJD – What would Jack Do?’, click here

To read ‘On Playing a Blinder’, click here

To read ‘Coping with Disappointment’, click here

And now a couple of cricket blogs with a theological flavour

To read ‘Somerset CCC – Good for the soul’, click here

To read ‘Longing for the pavilion whilst enjoying a good innings’, click here