Having visited my bank and retrieved the Romanian lei that I’d previously inadvertently tried to pass off as pounds sterling, I arrived at the County Ground in Taunton eagerly anticipating what would be my first full day there this year.
A week ago I was travelling along the Transfăgărășan – the long and winding road that weaves its way across the southern Carpathian Mountains – but today I was hoping it would be the turn extracted by Leach and Vaughan that induced nausea – and only in those making up the Essex batting line-up.
The sky remained a deep blue colour but had seen fit to make room for numerous cotton wool clouds that hinted that this summer’s heat was finally waning. And so, with autumn fast approaching, it seemed I’d been right to discard the shorts I have been making uncharacteristically good use of these past few months in favour of longer-legged attire more suitable for the shady confines of the Marcus Trescothick stand.
It was, though, Jake Ball who struck first – clean bowling the redoubtable Paul Walter, who departed having added a further 43 runs to the 48 he’d made in the first innings.
Soon after I heard the first encouragement of the morning from Tractor – his voice sounding somewhat muted because, positioned as ever beneath the Gimblett Hill scoreboard, it was my left and temporarily nonfunctioning ear that was ineffectually pointed in his general direction.
With just over an hour played, and with Essex looking comfortably placed at 117 for 1, Leach replaced Miguel Pretorius at the River End and opened his spell with a maiden over. A few similarly economical overs followed, during which I mused to myself how, whilst the cricketers I once enjoyed watching were three or even four times my age, now I am undoubtedly old enough to be their Dad – and, for one or two at least, quite possibly their grandfather.
I was woken from my reverie when Dean Elgar, someone whom I remember watching rescue Somerset in a one-day game against Surrey, was out. Whilst his being caught behind would once have been a disaster, today it was nothing of the sort – and neither was the dismissal of Westley in the following over which, leaving two batsmen on nought at the crease, heightened hopes of a Somerset victory today.
During the lunch interval I enjoyed the sparsely filled tuna pittas that I’d pre-prepared for myself. Perfectly sufficient though they were, and unusually augmented, for me at least, with thinly sliced cucumber, they nonetheless came a poor second place to the sarmale that I’d enjoyed in Bazna earlier this week.
But graced as it is by its delicious local cuisine, that small Romanian town remains largely ignorant of cricket – despite my recent attempt to explain to some of its residents the joys of the four-day game.
The afternoon session began with our new overseas player, Henry Nicholls, fielding at second slip. And I couldn’t help wondering how long we’ll still need him, how long we’ll still feed him, now he’s 64*. But perhaps that was simply the effect of the sun finally getting to me – for, having reached its zenith, it was now beaming down on my uncovered head.
Moments later the aforementioned Nicholls collided with the boundary boards directly in front of me as he valiantly tried to stop the ball crossing the rope. Fortunately he was unhurt and was able to reassure Josh Thomas that he was fine – as indeed were the boundary board and, even more importantly, my coffee cup that was precariously positioned upon it.
With Vaughan and Leach bowling in tandem, James Rew was changing ends more frequently than Craig Overton will have been changing nappies following the birth this week of his baby girl. And just as congratulations must go to Craig and Asha, so too they must go to the pair of spinners who, despite remaining wicketless in the afternoon session, drew as many oohs and aahs from the close fielders as were no doubt being uttered by the newly doting parents.
And then, with the score on 232 for 3, and not even the most optimistic of supporters envisioning a Somerset victory within three days, it was the all-important tea interval – one that came with a rare opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasure of wandering on the outfield.
And so the final session of the day began – the shadows now encroaching on the Somerset stand where I repositioned myself, partly in the hope that my moving might somehow precipitate an avalanche of wickets, and partly, with him now positioned over to my right, to better hear Tractor cheering the team on in his broad West Country drawl.
But other than the over rate peaking at +10, not a great deal happened to excite Somerset supporters after tea. Allison reached his century, and Critchley completed his second fifty of the match, but not a single Essex wicket fell – and this despite my eating the overripe banana I’d had the foresight to bring for just such an emergency. But even though Somerset’s chances of winning the game were less at the end of the day than they had been at its start, it was nonetheless an enjoyably slow and pleasingly quiet day at the cricket – one that I never once considered leaving early.
And for that I’m grateful and say, as might my new Romanian friends, a sincere ‘mulţumesc’ to everyone concerned.
[*For those who don’t know, the squad number that Henry Nicholls wears is 64]
Other cricket related posts:
Cricketing blogs from 2026
To read ‘Why the unimportant matters’, click here
To read ‘With four-day cricket in mind’, click here
To read ‘The true meaning of cricket’, click here
Cricketing blogs from 2025:
To read ‘The Untold Story of Finals’ Day’, click here
To read ‘Only A Day Away’, click here
To read ‘No smoke without fire’, click here
To read ‘Importantly, why cricket doesn’t matter’, click here
To read ‘I Spy Somerset’s 150th Anniversary Season’, click here
To read ‘A Spring Watch’, click here
Cricketing blogs from 2024:
To read ‘Reasons to be cheerful’, click here
To read ‘First of the Summer Wine’, click here
To read ‘Safe and Sound at the County Ground, Taunton’, 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 ‘Worth Every Penny’, click here
To read ‘The Somerset Cricket Emporium – 2024’, click here
To read ‘One Fine Day’, click here
To read ‘WWFD – what would Freddie do?’, click here
To read ‘A Shady News Story’, click here
To read ‘The Abolition of County Cricket’, click here
Cricketing blogs from 2023:
To read ‘20 Things we have learnt this summer’, click here
To read ‘When rain stops play’, click here
To read ‘Only a game’, click here
To read ‘The Hundred: is cricket amusing itself to death?’, click here
To read ‘The Somerset Cricket Emporium – 2023’, click here
To read ‘for the third time of asking, CRICKET’S COMING HOME…surely’, click here
To read ‘Twas the week of the final’, click here
To read ‘Sharing the important things: on introducing your grandchild to cricket’, click here
To read ‘Somerset v Nottinghamshire T20 Quarter Final 2023’, click here
To read ‘Breaking News’, click here
To read ‘Lewis Calpaldi – Retired Hurt?’, click here
To read ‘Cricket: It’s All About Good Timing’, click here
To read ‘Bazball, Bazchess, Bazlife’, click here
To read ‘Online criticism: it’s just not cricket’, click here
To read ‘Cigarettes, Singles, and Sipping Tea with Ian Botham: Signs of a Well Spent Youth!’, click here
To read ‘A Historic Day’, click here
To read ‘Cricket – through thick and thin’, click here
To read ‘Stumpy: A Legend Reborn’, click here
To read ‘my love is NOT a red, red rose’, click here
Cricketing blogs from previous years:
To read ‘A Cricketing Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story’, click here
To read ‘Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Deseted Cricket Ground’, click here
To read ‘Brian and Stumpy visit The Repair Shop’, click here
To read ‘A Tale of Two Tons’, click here
To read ‘A Song for Brian’, click here
To read ‘A Somerset Cricket Players Emporium 2022’ click here
To read ‘A Cricket Taunt’, click here
To read ‘A Song for Brian’, click here
To read ‘At Season’s End’, click here
To read ‘A Day at the Cricket’, click here
To read ‘The Great Cricket Sell Off’, click here
To read ‘On passing a village cricket club at dusk one late November afternoon’ 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 ‘A Cricket Tea Kind of a Day’, click here
To read ‘Life in the slow lane’, click here
To read ‘Frodo and the Format of Power’, click here
To read ‘If Only’, click here
To read ‘I’ve got a little CRICKET list’, click here
To read ‘Eve of the RLODC limericks’ 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 to finish – a couple 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
Some musings 