Six for Craig on an extraordinary first day
MATCH CENTRE/SCORE CARD
Six wickets for Craig Overton and a half century from Tom Lammonby gave Somerset the edge over Durham on the opening day of this Rothesay County Championship First Division match at the Cooper Associates County Ground.
On an extraordinary day, which saw 22 wickets fall, Lammonby and Overton were the standout performers as the home side finished the day with a first innings lead of 100.
A sharp shower in the morning meant that play was delayed until 11:30, and after winning the toss Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory invited the visitors to bat first.
There was life in the pitch for the bowlers early on as Josh Davey and Overton beat the bat on a number of occasions.
Alex Lees and Emilio Gay weathered the initial storm, no pun intended, but three wickets fell in quick succession to leave Somerset in the ascendancy.
Overton made the initial breakthrough with the score on 26 when Gay edged through to Gregory at second slip, and the very next delivery saw Colin Ackermann fall in similar fashion, Tom Kohler-Cadmore taking the opportunity at first slip.
26 for two soon became 33 for three when Gregory struck with his fourth ball of the match. The Somerset Captain enticed David Bedingham into a drive but the Durham batter edged through to James Rew.
Ollie Robinson survived being dropped off his second ball at which point another downpour saw the players scurrying for the shelter of the Andrew Caddick Pavilion and the taking of an early lunch.
Play resumed just after 1:20pm and one run had been added to the total when Overton claimed wickets with the fourth and fifth deliveries after the break. First, Robinson edged through to Rew and then Graham Clark was caught at third slip by Tom Abell.
The score had advanced to 43 when Lees miscued Overton high into the Taunton sky and the Somerset bowler took the catch off his own bowling to complete his five-for.
Ben Raine and George Drissell added 28 before the latter drove Overton straight to Tom Banton.
The Durham 100 arrived in the 22nd over before Raine was caught behind off Davey for 42 at 102 for eight. When Neil Wagner (24) picked out Davey at mid-on off Jake Ball the visitors were 137 for nine.
Durham’s innings came to an end on 145 when Matthew Potts, on 21, inexplicably attempted to reverse sweep Jack Leach and only succeeded in picking out Tom Abell.
Overton finished with impressive figures of six for 23 from 10 overs.
The Somerset openers appeared to flourish where their opponents had faltered with the home side’s 50 coming from just 7.1 overs. Kohler-Cadmore had raced to 40 from 30 deliveries but he miscued Wagner who was able wait for the ball to drop into his waiting hands, and that was tea at 62 for one.
After the interval, the score had advanced to 98 when Potts struck twice in the 16th over. Firstly, Davey (37) edged the third ball to Bedingham at first slip before Rew (0) cut to Drissell at gully.
98 for three became 103 for four when Drissell got one to turn on Abell (0) who flicked it to Clarke at short leg. Banton (10) then fell in exactly the same manner at 115 for five.
Lammonby and Archie Vaughan brought up the Somerset 150 and Lammonby went to 50 from 52 balls. However, Vaughan was trapped lbw Callum Parkinson for 15 to leave the home side on 156 for six.
Lammonby and Gregory (17) shared a seventh wicket stand of 38 before the Somerset Captain was undone by a short one from Wagner which he could only fend to Clarke.
The Somerset 200 arrived in the 39th over and the score had advanced to 231 when Lammonby finally fell. He had reached a classy 89 from 109 balls when he was caught at second slip by Potts to give Drissell his third scalp.
The Durham spinner didn’t have to wait long for his fourth as he bowled Overton for 19 just five balls later to leave Somerset on 232 for nine.
Jake Ball took Somerset to 250 and therefore a batting point with a big six straight back over the head of Drissell, but the Durham spinner got his revenge with the very next ball as Somerset were all out with a lead of 105.
A remarkable day got even more dramatic when Vaughan had Lees caught at second slip with the second ball of the Durham second innings and Leach then trapped Parkinson lbw in the following over.
The visitors finished the day on five for two, still 100 runs in arrears.
