English County Save

[MateGaming]

20th-23rd June 2019: Lancashire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Manchester)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Lancashire	Somerset
Keaton Jennings	Eddie Byrom
Haseeb Hameed	Robin Dickens
Liam Livingstone	Callum Ferguson
Colin Ingram	James Hildreth
Cameron Delport	Tom Abell
Dane Vilas (wk)	Steven Davies (wk)
Kurt Senior	Lewis Gregory (c)
Saqib Mahmood	Delray Rawlins
Matt Parkinson	Jamie Overton
Jimmy Anderson	Phillip Scargill
Gurjit Sandhu	Tim Groenewald

Times like these are where a county would bring in a loan player for a game or two, to fill spaces that have been left by injuries, callups, etc. Unfortunately we can't do that, so as a result of Jack Leach's three-week injury and the ongoing World Cup, Delray Rawlins (our only spinner currently available for selection) makes his Somerset First Class debut.

Result: Somerset won by 1 run
Points: Lancashire 6, Somerset 21
MOTM: Lewis Gregory (Somerset)

• An absolutely incredible game with a thrilling finish
• We were slightly below par with the bat after choosing to bat first, Ferguson impressive again
• Bowling was decent with the exception of Groenewald
• Vital lower-order contributions from Gregory, Rawlins and Overton
• At 169-3, the game looked gone, and a partnership worth 67 between Delport and Parkinson had almost seen Lancashire home
• Gregory took two wickets in the next over before Groenewald conceded four runs, meaning Lancs needed two to win
• Sandhu edged the final ball of Groenewald's over to slip and the match was over, coming down to the smallest of margins.

[MateGaming]

25th-28th June 2019: Nottinghamshire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Nottinghamshire	Somerset
Steven Mullaney	Eddie Byrom
Will Fraine	Robin Dickens
Billy Root	Callum Ferguson
Samit Patel	James Hildreth
Riki Wessels	Tom Abell
Tom Moores (wk)	Steven Davies (wk)
Paul Coughlin	Lewis Gregory (c)
Stuart Broad	Delray Rawlins
Luke Fletcher	Jamie Overton
Jake Ball	Phillip Scargill
Mark Footitt	Tim Groenewald

Our day-night Championship fixture this season is at Trent Bridge, as we face Nottinghamshire, last season's champions. They sit just five points behind us, although we have a game in hand, 20 points behind leaders Essex, who have also played one extra fixture. Somerset are unchanged from their tight victory over Lancashire. Robin Dickens plays against his former county.

Result: Nottinghamshire won by an innings and 145 runs
Points: Nottinghamshire 23, Somerset 3
MOTM: Billy Root (Nottinghamshire)

• We really need to find a genuine opener from somewhere
• It was a toss we had to win, and unfortunately didn't - Notts racked up a huge total of over 600
• We simply just tried to survive - it worked for the first three sessions until we collapsed at the end of day 4.
• Now, we move onto a few t20s, before returning to the Championship for one game and then again at the end of the season.

A 17 year old opening batsman, Mitchell Batson, has been promoted from the youth academy to be used in the first team! We have an opener!

[MateGaming]

22nd-25th July 2019: Warwickshire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Birmingham)
Warwickshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Warwickshire	Somerset
Dominic Sibley	Eddie Byrom
Liam Banks	Mitchell Batson
Jonathan Trott	James Hildreth
Sam Hain	Ross Taylor
Ian Bell	Tom Abell
Adam Hose	Steven Davies (wk)
Tim Ambrose (wk)	Roelof van der Merwe
Olly Stone	Lewis Gregory (c)
Peter Beauchamp	Jamie Overton
Boyd Rankin	Jack Leach
Ryan Sidebottom	Tim Groenewald

Our international players have returned, and after a difficult start to the T20 Blast, we return to Championship action against relegation candidates Warwickshire. Mitchell Batson makes his First Class debut, whilst Jack Leach has returned from injury. Taylor's return forces Callum Ferguson to miss out. Once again, we lost the toss and were asked to bowl on an absolute road.

Result: Match drawn
Points: Warwickshire 10, Somerset 11
MOTM: Jamie Overton (Somerset)

• Very good bowling in first innings from Overton and Leach to dismiss Warwickshire
• Taylor impressive on his return with 113
• Bowled well as a unit in second innings to set up a run chase
• Hugely frustrating as we couldn't score quick enough in the fourth innings as we ended about ten runs short of a victory

[MateGaming]

T20 Blast Review

Results:
6th July: Gloucestershire beat Somerset by 57 runs
8th July: Somerset beat Kent by 9 wickets
13th July: Gloucestershire beat Somerset by 53 runs
19th July: Middlesex beat Somerset by 7 wickets
20th July: Glamorgan beat Somerset by 1 wicket
27th July: Surrey beat Somerset by 97 runs
29th July: Somerset beat Middlesex by 4 wickets
1st August: Hampshire beat Somerset by 7 wickets
3rd August: Essex beat Somerset by 8 wickets
5th August: Somerset beat Sussex by 3 wickets
8th August: Somerset beat Hampshire by 7 wickets
10th August: Surrey beat Somerset by 1 run
12th August: Somerset beat Glamorgan by 5 wickets
16th August: Kent beat Somerset by 5 wickets

Final Group Position: 9th (10 points)

Leading run-scorers:
1. Steven Davies (355 runs @ 25, s/r 122)
2. James Hildreth (304 runs @ 28, s/r 148)
3. Mitchell Batson (233 runs @ 19, s/r 109)

Leading wicket-takers:
1. Jamie Overton (22 wickets @ 22, econ 9.8)
2. Lewis Gregory (21 wickets @ 19, econ 7.6)
3. Josh Davey (17 wickets @ 17, econ 6.7)

Highest total: 184 vs Surrey, Taunton
Lowest total: 91 vs Gloucestershire, Taunton
Highest innings: Tom Bruce 72 vs Gloucestershire, Bristol
Best bowling: Josh Davey 4-22 vs Glamorgan, Cardiff

Player of the competition: Lewis Gregory

• Did a decent job when captaining the side
• Very consistent performer with the ball

[KingCostly]

Disappointing end to the Warwickshire game but a decent start to the County Champ season. Reckon you have a chance of winning it this year?

[MateGaming]

Disappointing end to the Warwickshire game but a decent start to the County Champ season. Reckon you have a chance of winning it this year?

We've certainly done better than last year but will still take a huge effort to win from this position I think. Might be worth completely disregarding the white-ball stuff next year and focusing solely on the Championship - if we sign well during the winter I think next year could be our year!

[MateGaming]

19th-22nd August 2019: Somerset vs Nottinghamshire (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Nottinghamshire
Mitchell Batson	Steven Mullaney
Robin Dickens	Will Fraine
Callum Ferguson	Quinton de Kock (wk)
James Hildreth	Nathan Maisey
Tom Abell	Will Root
Steven Davies (wk)	Jack Deedes
Roelof van der Merwe	Riki Wessels
Lewis Gregory (c)	Stuart Broad
Jamie Overton	Luke Fletcher
Jack Leach	Jake Ball
Tim Groenewald	Mark Footitt

Dickens replaces the injured Byrom - the Zimbabwean possibly being forced out of action for the next two games. Ferguson replaces Taylor who has been selected for New Zealand.

Result: Match drawn
Points: Somerset 8, Nottinghamshire 11
MOTM: Will Root (Nottinghamshire)

• Once again we lost the toss and had to bowl first on a road at Taunton
• Notts scored a huge 602-8dec, by this point there was clearly no chance of victory
• We managed to bat out more than 200 overs across both innings to save a draw

[MateGaming]

29th August-1st September 2019: Worcestershire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Worcester)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Worcestershire	Somerset
Daryl Mitchell	Mitchell Batson
Oliver Westbury	Robin Dickens
Joe Clarke	James Hildreth
Ed Barnard	Ross Taylor
Moeen Ali	Tom Abell
Ross Whiteley	Steven Davies (wk)
Ben Cox (wk)	Roelof van der Merwe
Todd Astle	Lewis Gregory (c)
Joe Leach	Jamie Overton
Steve Fry	Josh Davey
Josh Tongue	Jack Leach

Somerset make two changes - Taylor is available again, and Josh Davey replaces Tim Groenewald.

Result: Somerset won by 3 wickets
Points: Worcestershire 2, Somerset 22
MOTM: Roelof van der Merwe (Somerset)

• Dickens showed his ability to open with a superb 121, Taylor unluckily falling for 99
• Our spinners were fantastic in their first innings
• We made them follow on and they put up a much better effort, our bowlers struggling this time
• Gregory and Overton took nine wickets between them
• We made the run chase harder than needed but Davies saw us home

[MateGaming]

4th-7th September 2019: Somerset vs Essex (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Essex won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Essex
Eddie Byrom	Nick Browne
Mitchell Batson	Varun Chopra
James Hildreth	Tom Westley
Ross Taylor	Greg Meier
Robin Dickens	Ravi Bopara
Steven Davies (wk)	Len Moss
Roelof van der Merwe	Adam Wheater (wk)
Lewis Gregory (c)	Simon Harmer
Jamie Overton	Neil Wagner
Josh Davey	Matt Quinn
Jack Leach	Craig Young

Dickens' century in the last game sees him keep his place in the team, although he'll bat at five with the returning Byrom replacing former captain Tom Abell as we take on leaders Essex.