Jack Leach caught by Tom Bailey off Maharaj for a duck. Maharaj 7-37 – not bad for his second match. That’s curtains for Somerset’s Championship hopes I think, with or without the pitch inspectors. And good news for Lancashire …. that Roses match will be a cracker next week. Get ye to Headingley!
….Meanwhile Yorkshire are chugging along fairly happily at Trent Bridge, 194/3. Gary Ballance 86 not out….
Holy moly, Bess stumped with scores level. Nine wickets down, and enter Jack Leach.
Dom Bess of Somerset is stumped by Dane Vilas of Lancashire off the bowlng of Keshav Maharaj. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock
That’s the tie…. one needed
Somerset 76 for 8 – two needed…
Match-winner? Lancashire’s Keshav Maharaj currently has 5-31.
Onions and Maharaj the bowlers v Overton and Bess the batsmen. I know where the wise man would put his money, but what does the wise man know? Eight needed…
Ah, now it is tea at New Road. Hampshire 170 for 8 at tea, dining fairly comfortably with a lead of 241. Alsop last-man out for 64, a third wicket for Parnell.
Ye gods, the eighth wicket goes down at Taunton. Craig Overton lbw to Maharaj – his fifth wicket. Fourteen still needed, two wickets in hand.
Essex are all out for 126, and Surrey have enforced the follow-on.
And should Somerset fall short, they will become the ninth side in Championship victory to have failed to chase 78 or fewer to win.
Another wicket for Maharaj! Lewis Gregory gone for 12. Somerset 56 for 7, need another 22. Enter Craig Overton …
No runs since tea at Taunton. Sorry I got in a bit of a muddle with those non-simultaneous tea intervals.
Tea-time scores:
DIVISION ONE
NOT TEA: Worcestershire 120 v Hampshire 191 and 163 for 6
Somerset 192 AND 52 for 6 v Lancashire 99 AND 170. Somerset need 26 to win.
Nottinghamshire 448 v Yorkshire 159 for 3
(not tea) Essex 126 for 9 v Surrey 351
DIVISION TWO
Warwickshire 310 v Durham 117 for 3
(Not tea) Sussex 373 AND 29 for 2 v Leicestershire 133
Gloucestershire 296 v Middlesex 87 for 2
Derbyshire 251 AND 64 for 3 v Glamorgan 121
Bad light stopped play: Kent 137 v Northants 76-8
Ok, so that’s tea at Taunton. Lancashire 52 for 6…with hope and doom scrapping it out for supremacy in the south west. Tea round-ups to follow when I’ve boiled the kettle. Mother-in-law’s shortbread to sweeten the tongue.
No!!! Westley out for 49! Essex 87 for 8 – Riki Clarke 4-27, Tom Curran 3-20. This is too easy, you hear, too easy.
Matt Parkinson into the attack at Taunton…. Bess hammers the last-ball full-toss for four. Thirty needed, four wickets in hand…..
Young Ben Green, on first-class debut, was still there as I started this sentence but not there as I finish it. Somerset now 37 for 6, needing 41. This is Lancashire’s – isn’t it?
One for the diary: September 16-19, Berkshire play Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties Championship Final for the third consecutive year.
Ok, deep breath. Essex now 66 for five. Hampshire 95 for 6. Oh god and that’s another one at Taunton, Somerset now 23 for five. Leicestershire 133 all out. Derby 36 for 2.
And in the happy corner, Yorkshire 137 for 3. Durham lost a couple discretely, 77 for 2. Middlesex 68 for 2.
And from WashingonIrving at Taunton:
“Afternoon Tanya, afternoon all. Writing just as Tresco has been given LBW. Nice and sunny here at Taunton today, but just starting to cloud over.
In terms of wickets falling, I’d blame an equal measure of assistance to the bowlers and lack of application. Livingston’s wicket particularly sticks in the mind – having hit Leach back over his head for a six, he charged down the wicket and skied it to Bess. There were a couple of stumpings to batsman who also got a bit carried away.
The pitch is spinning. The guidance from ECB says that pitches can spin “moderately” from day one, and “excessively” from day three. “Excessive” spinning from day one warrants a rating of “below average”. How you judge between the two, I don’t know.
As I’ve been writing Onions has just picked up another and is now on a hat trick…”
Somerset enter the door marked DOOM: 20/4, Abell plays inside the line of a ball from Maharaj and is stumped.
A stat courtesy of the BBC. Twenty-five years ago Lancashire were set 88 to win at Taunton, and were bowled out for 72, nine wickets for Andy Caddick.
12/3 now at Taunton. A ripper from Maharaj bowls James Hildreth.
And another wicket for Onions. Azhar Ali. Somerset 5/2, need another 73. Onions on a hat-trick.
Broader thoughts from Fantaloupe, BTL:
“On the collapse at Canterbury yesterday, the overhead conditions looked perfect for swing and the pitch looked a little uneven. From the angle I was at the bounce didn’t look consistent, with more than one attempted leave becoming a successful nick.
“On the leave, have they changed the way it’s being coached? Not just at the county game yesterday, but also at the test at the weekend, quite a few players were leaving by pulling the bat up, rather than inside the line. I think in three days play I saw at least three batsmen, with the bat somewhere between 9 and 11 o’clock, looking at the slips celebrating when they tried to leave a ball that bounced more than they expected.”
Onions does for the mighty Trescothick. Somerset 5/1.
Brook and Ballance doing it tough at Trent Bridge. Yorkshire 91 for 2. Leicester have made it to three figures, 102 for 9, a huge bouquet of autumnal fruitfulness to Callum Parkinson, 33 not out. Durham still wicketless.
Hampshire now 69 for 5, but they already have a lead of 140.
Lancashire opening with Maharaj…
Sorry should have said seven wickets for Jack Leach.
And that’s that for Lancs – 170 all out thanks to some old-fashioned slogging from Lamb, Onions and Maharaj (an exciting new dish?). They lead Somerset by 77 – I don’t think it’s all over yet.
We use cookies and google fonts to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this website we will assume that you agree with it.Ok
County Championship (@CountyChamp)
