The Royals - not to be but not a waste
By Grockle et al
August 15 2021
Somerset won't be lifting the Royal London Cup this year, they are not involved in the sprint to get to Trent Bridge next Thursday. However the side that started the campaign was a mystery but the one that finished it held a large amount of promise for the future of the county at all levels and those coming back from their franchises will find a different level of competition at Taunton iin the last third of this season and beyond. They had better be on their game.
Taunton was supposed to be empty for the Royal London development competition as specified by the governing body for 2021. Fans were all supposed to be glued to their TV sets for the franchise games or packed into their cars or supporter coaches heading up the M5 to Cardiff for the white ball matches being put on by a drafted side under a Welsh name marketed as providing the top level cricket in the South West of England. It didn't quite work out that way.
Having lost some 10 players in the end to the franchises, Somerset were expected to provide some kind of 'second eleven' scratch games in the Royal London, in front of the urban myth of 'one man and his dog' who supposedly watch 50 over cricket while the cricket elite were elsewhere.
Ben Green, to some extent a novice at this format albeit having been at Taunton for some time, was suprisingly and somewhat refreshingly given the captaincy and with a single match run out against Cornwall his side turned up to face Derbyshire (report on Grockles already). With six debutants to Class A cricket in his side and over 3500 fans in to watch we gave Derbyshire no doubt that we had come to play and this wasn't some excuse for first class cricket but the champions of a trophy opening their account in 2021. Green captained with maturity, his experienced batsmen stood up and were counted and his young seam attack had fans sitting up and taking note of the fact that they were not going to be batted out of attacks. It was not a game simply transferred from Taunton Vale because the firsts weren't using the pitch. This was a first team Somerset squad showing that they were a force to be reckoned with. They beat the visitors by 6 wickets and we all thought - " Well I'll be here for the next one"
A few days later they showed the same against Glamorgan in the second home game of the campaign. An extremely cool performance in a weather affected game ended in a 1 run win with Green leading from the front and Lewis Goldsworthy showing maturity beyond his years by taking the responsbility of bowliing the last over when losing was still an option
The away fixture at Welbeck College in Nottinghamshire was destroyed by the rain though Ned Leonard did get a debut in what play did take place. However a nil result on an outground did not do us any harm and we returned to welcome Yorkshire to the County Ground during a weather affected period of the glorious summer. August the first was a Sunday and we had sold out this game even though it rained the moment the ball was thrown to the Somerset bowler to start proceedings and we didn't see any more cricekt until about 3 in the afternoon.
Nevertheless, Yorkshire supporters came in their thousands and local South West fans also thought the cricket was worth the effort and came to see another cool Somerset side take on the shortened game with the likes of Baker, Goldsworthy and Aldridge backing up a sterling performance from James Hildreth to secure the win in a shortened 20/20 match with 5 balls to go as they passed Yorkshire's 158 for 5 to win by 5 wickets.
The loss of captain Green to COVID isolation was an issue in the second half of the run, James Rew came in to debut with the bat after his work against the Indians after Bracey was laid low the same way. The trip to Surrey was therefore made with some trepidation but the weather stepped in again and the match didn't take place in the end.
So our first away fixture that actually took place was in Northampton against a side that had not really lost a large amount of its first choice side, though there were some new names in the Steelbacks team sheet but we were under the captaincy of Josh Davey after getting comfortable with the leadership of Green
Marchant de Lange was back from some franchise activity, Ned Leonard was in for his first full game. Sam Young finally got a start as an opening batsmen but our innings was held together with one of many mature innings from Lewis Goldsworthy and a skipper's knock by Josh Davey who has shown a distinct improvement in his batting ability this season. However we let Vasconcelos and Curran get away from us and Northants 305 was too far for us on that day. We were a little flat but even that assessment against a far from shabby white ball unit like Northants was a massive move forward from where many had expected us to be with the restrictions put on this competition in order to marginalise it in comparison to the heavily marketed brand that the ECB was trying to shove down the nation's throat on all visual media.
So we lost by 81 runs on the DLS but it was no 'men' versus 'boys' game against a first eleven side. We were missing a captain who had stamped his authority on a side in only 3 games and we were beaten by experienced batsmen on their game on that day. We were however still in with a good chance of qualifying for the knock out section. We simply needed to win one of our last 2 games.
Next up were the Leicestershire Foxes at Taunton and we were conscious that although our bowling was showing lots of promise, we still needed some middle order batting 'spine' especially if Steve Davies and James Hildreth did not kick on. They had both so far had decent competitions. However, Sam Young, Eddie Byrom and George Bartlett couldn't buy a run up to this game while Lewis Goldsworthy was scoring 50's for fun. To strengthen the battiing, we introduced the 17 year old George Thomas who had impressed in the friendly Cornish game before the competition started and had been touted by many before this.
In the end we needed him and the return to form of the other 'George' Bartlett as the front end fell and the old timers did not kick on. Thomas hit a debut 75 from 77 balls and Bartlett hit a debut century with 108 off 89 to take Somerset to 326 for 7 after being 104 for 5! The largest ever white ball score against Leicestershire.
But we hadn't picked new slow bowler George Drissell to partner Lewis Goldsworthy and with RvdM and Max Waller on franchise duty while Jack Leach was spending another frustrating period watching England not have any intention of picking him we struggled to hold the Leicestershire batting lineup on a good pitch. Louis Hill was the difference with a century and a couple of Fox batsmen who DID kick on after 50 put this one beyond our young bowlers, though the issue was really MdL going for 10 an over without a breakthrough in his 8 overs.
They passed us without any real problem in the end and we went to Edgbaston having to win and hope Glamorgan or Yorkshire would do us a favour. Once again we missed the controol and maturity of Green's leadership and we hoped he would be back for the final game.
Green was back for the last game (probably much to Josh Davey's relief) and MdL was off back to Nottingham (probably much to his). The young man from Gloucestershire, Drissell was also in to provide the pace off the ball press in the middle overs.
Davies got to nearly 50 but did not kick on, Hildreth and Goldsworthy did and we looked very strong at 199 for 2 with 15 overs to go. Then it slumped as the two went and others came in but did not stay long enough. Over 300 ended up as 287 and we all wondered if it was enough.
It wasn't enough and after taking 4 for 35 with the ball, Lamb scored 92 and took this game away from us. A little bit of big match experience was lacking but everyone kept to their jobs and pushed the sides to the end rather than giving up at any time.
We probably would not have qualified in the end after the sides we were relying on imploded elsewhere anyway. So the campaign ended in Birmingham.
What did we come away with? A side of young men who had been given first team responsibility under a captain who came of age in August and Paul Tweddle who coached and managed them all well. We wondered if we had strength in depth should we have injuries.
We have batsmen who will ask questions of our middle order. George Bartlett found some form which suggested he has long term class. Lewis Goldsworthy just kept taking responsibility and delivering all the way through this and would have been many people's Player of the Tournament. Both captains with the bat and ball gave their all but Ben Green moved up a level into first team consideration on a regular basis for white ball games. 17 year old George Thomas stood and delivered with a maturity that defied hhis age when asked questions.
Sam Young maybe has a more red ball future, he certainly has the calmness and quality but he just didn't have the luck on a couple of occasions to allow us to see all that he could offer. Many worry about Eddie Byrom however who struggled to make any impression at all.
Bowling resources have been massively increased, Kasey Aldridge learned from every over he bowled and ended the games a better bowler than he started them. Ned Leonard bowled well above his age and didn't look out of place at any time. Sonny Baker was a revelation from ball 1, he was dangerous and in the batsmen's faces at the front end or at the end of his spell. He bowled with pace, intelligence and bounce. He suprised more than one batsman who thought he had experience. So much so that he was called up to a franchise team after the Birmingham game after signing his first full contract for the county.
So the county fan worries and concerns about this part of the 2021 season came to nothing. The hope of the competition was that it would be poor uncompetitve cricket with children taking the place of superstars. It was strong, exciting and well attended cricket with young professionals taking the oppportunities put in front of them to show that cricket is strong and deep in the counties and fans will come to watch it if it is good.
The end of the tournament is a joke with the knockout sections all happening in the space of a week and the final being played at Trent Bridge as a day/night fixture on a Thursday. The fact that there is already a promise that this won't happen again in 2022 suggests that the gurus in the ECB marketing department have realised that they grossly miscalculated how popular and good this cup would be.
However we didn't get to the next stage. I'm personally glad because the ECB is allowing franchise players not involved in THEIR knockout section to play in the RLODC fixtures and that is a shame for some players who got their counties there and then may have to make way. But it again shows the ECB is having to play catch up after misreading this format.
What will happen next year? Who know? What will be the nature of the Somerset white ball Vitality side for the Quarter Final - now that is interesting. Who will be part of the championship side in September - well we'll have to wait and see,
For now, thanks to the players who gave it up for the Royal London and the fans who came to cheer them on. You wore the short with pride and we hope to see many of you for many years to come.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:08:18:13:02:26 by Grockle.
I somewhat fear that we may fall back on conservatism, though, albeit it depends who is fit.
Jack Brooks has been injured (twisted knee). Josh Davey was our most expensive T20 bowler in the group stages. Lewis Gregory was our second most expensive bowler and hasn’t done any In-match bowling for some time now, as not bowling for Trent Turnips. And Craig Overton is probably very unlikely to be available.
So Sonny really ought to get picked. I wouldn’t be surprised if management pick Davey, De Lange, Gregory and (if fit) Brooks rather than Baker. But I think Sonny has earned his place and that he and MDL hitting their Yorkers represent our best chance of containing Lancs.
It isn't gojng to be an easy couple of months
However I'm all for opening with Green against Notts.I think he has done enough to be considered as a general all rounder, plus he has got that "win at any costs" attitude that Somerset is all about.
Bartlett I think may just have done enough to get himself a start against Notts