Back in the Red Warwickshire Day 4 - Stonking or Stinking?

Another four day opus that is too long for a single frontpage story.  I may put this up and then replace with Farmer's if he writes one as he will probably choose to comment on today depending on how it goes.  Early wickets or a Trent Bridge recap?  We are a seamer down possibly as Jake Ball may have a niggle but Josh Davey has been the bowler up to now so who knows....

Championship Day 4 - Warwickshire @ Edgbaston Sunday 25 August 2024

Four months to Christmas everyone!!

We need 2 wickets in the first session at least to make this into an interesting day.  COve opens from the "City End" (been calling it the Wyatt all game) and they get 1.  Warwickshire seem to be happy wit the draw unless something goes very very right - ie Somerset crumple.  They will not give us any kind of total to chase after Taunton (The Brummie commentator said "we won't get burned twice").  So unless we get into the tail quickly they will bat the day out if necessary.  Jake Ball may not be on the pitch with a possible groin injury and I've no idea what the instructions to Tom Lammonby last night were or even why he bowled.  It makes the fitness of our front end bowlers a doubt taking into account that the middle of last week two of them were bowling in 5's and not that often.  It may depend on Josh Davey who has been the consistent bowler of this game getting amongst them because there is little in this pitch for Jack.  Andy Umeed may be called into the attack and he is an unknown quantity as a first class bowler taking his first Somerset wicket at this level last evening.

Josh holds them to another 1 run in the second and the first good news of the day is that Ball has taken the field this morning.  There doesn't seem to be a lot in the pitch however and for the last week in August it is rather sad to see every player on the field in a jumper!!  There is a very definite cold wind blowing about Birmingham this weekend

Warwickshire go 300 ahead with the first ball of the 70th over with 89 left in the day. The first few this morning have suggested nothing from the conditions that the home side bats should be worried about.  No suprises at all unfortunately, no bounce variation, nothing through the air.  It did move about a bit yesterday afternoon but that may have been after the rain.  The Warwickshire 200  arrives from the last ball of the 70th as they move to 203 for 5 with Davies on 127 from 221 balls and Mousley with 6 from 42.

Somerset try variation with Jack Leach taking over at the Pavilion  It is doubtful that hope is high that anything will come from this but you never know and it will not happen unless it is tried.   It is actually a double change as Kasey takes over from the City end as well for the 72nd.

The change works as Jack bowls Davies through the gate for 131 at 218 for 6 to bring in Burgess.  The home skipper made us pay for not sending him back with 34 to his name but such is the nature of the game, you have to take the fortune you are given and make the best of it.  Mousely now takes his cue to get moving and takes Aldridge for consecutive fours in the next over.  This is the last full partnership according to the people who know up here but all the bats to come can belt the ball so we aren't just 'mopping up' from here it would seem.

In the 79th over, Mousley comes up the wicket for the third time in the over and misses a delivery from Jack which Rew takes and STUMPS him with for 37 at 243.  In comes Rae and with Leachy on a roll he lasts 2 balls before he is asked to wander back after the Somerset spinner fools him and splits the wicket.  243 for 8 - the score is moving but so is the 'nut' as Hannon-Dalby takes over as Burgess' partner.

Somerset take the new ball in the 80th with the spinner getting first use - wasn't anything in the old one obviously.  He nearly gets Hannon-Dalby with it as the bat tries a slog sweep with an awful lot of slog and no sweep at all!  It passes him without a touch into the gloves of the keeper..  245 for 8.

A Burgess boundary takes the score past 250 but an over later Hannon-Dalby tries the sweep again and this time gets a tickle and leaves the field at 261 for9 with 3 to his name as Rew holds the ball at the second attempt.  Jack has 4 for 71  Rushworth is the last man in and it looks like Burgess has decided that he is not long for this innings and starts to go for it as he takes Leach for a straight 6 just before the man gets his five fer and ends the innnings at 270.

So Somerset need 369 to win this or to bat out the next 5 hours or so.  Jack ends with 5 for 77 (5 for 28 in 10 overs this morning) and has put us back in this game!!

The Betfair open book on how long TKC will last against Hannon-Dalby almost pays out first ball as he flips one past the cover fielder in the air and takes a single.  This is then followed by Umeed going for an expansive boundary.  You may not know what it is we have as an opening pair but you have to admit it is definitely not dull!!  The two survive to the lunch break with 13 on the board from 12 balls TKC on 5 and Umeed on 8.  Will we go for it?  Well these two are doing so (I'm not sure they know that there IS another way) but for how long no one can really predict.  They will still go at it and then?  We'll have to wait and see.  The cloud has moved in during the interval and the hover cover is moving out to the middle in the expectation of rain one would imagine so the decision may be taken out of the hands of Craig Overton.

The sides come out for the second session with the hover cover still over the strip.  The groundstaff move it and Hannon Dalby prepares to bowl to Andy Umeed.  Then the umpires have a chat, call the hover cover back onto the pitch and take the players off as the drizzle turns to light rain and someone from the pavilion seats shouts 'rubbish' while others around the ground put their umbrellas up.  The afternoon session does not start and so we wait as the Birmingham city skylline turns grey and misty and people huddle into their August 'suncoats' for protection from the heat!!

Play finally resumes at 2:15 with Somerset needing 356 from 58 overs.  Hannon-Dalby finishes his first after lunch with 18 on the board and then Rushworth tries from the Pavbilion end.  Unsure whether anyone has told our opening pair not to 'go for it' or whether they would listen if anyone had.   Rushworth's 3rd goes for 11 with a huge six from TKC into the Hollies stand.  We move on to 36 from 6 suggesting we'll fall short by 8 runs if we keep this up!! We presently need a run rate of 6.78 but that is assuming the light will hold out until the 58th over and that is by no means certain at all.

The Somerset 50 arrives without loss in the 10th over bowled by Rushworth and scored by Andy Umeed with a six over the covers.  54 for 0.  This provokes a change at the City end as Rae takes over for the 11th. It also provokes a hopeful smack to the boundary from TKC which fails to get over Hamza Shaikh and sends the bat on his way for 18.  It is 56 for 1 as  Tom Lammonby comes out to join Umeed needing just over 300 from 47 and a half overs.  No pressure Tom!!

It's another double change because Barnard takes over from the Pavilion as well to deliver the 12th.  He bowls a maiden and severely curtails our winning ambitions!!  He's only gone for 3 from his 2 overs as we move to 66 for 1  Andy is still not trying to die wondering, he'll hit it if it comes anywhere near his zone and that is the death of him as he tries for a second boundary in a Barnard over and punches the ball straight to Hannon-Dalby just inside the cover boundary to die for 38 at 74 for 2.  In comes Tom Abell to join Lammonby on 10.  He is off the mark with a boundary before the end of the over. 

Yates looks to emulate Leach in the 19th bringing spin into the home attack.  This allows Rae to change ends as well for the 20th but at 89 for 2 with 39 overs to go at 3:20 this game is looking more and more like a draw every minute. Going at over 6 an over was never realisitically on the cards and had Warwickshire been interested in the win, they probably would have called their innings to a close after the first hour and had a dart at the Somerset men for a significant period of time both sides of the lunch break.

The 100 arrives for the visitors in the 22nd from Rae via a Lammonby pull into the outfield and 2 runs to take the score to 101.  A Lammonby cover drive brings the score to 109 for 2 with the bat on 21 and Abell on 24.  It also heralds the Tea interval leaving Somerset 35 overs to score 260 runs at a rate of 7.43...any takers for a dash for the points?  Though to be honest we have very little to lose one would imagine.  If we do not win this one then any real hope of catching Surrey would require them to implode on their own one would imagine.

After Tea it is basically a watch to see if the two Toms can safely negotiate us to a draw in the last hour of the game.  Then it will be down to a debate about how we get Lewis Goldsworthy into this side seeing as one assumes Lewis Gregory will be returning for the Durham game next Thursday at Taunton. Lammonby is still going to have a go as he pulls Rae into the stand at the Wyatt end for six but this surely is a total too far to reach in the time given with the light we presently have.  But it adds a bit of fun!!  Barnard also changes ends and bowls to Tom Abell.

Well it is not to be for Lammonby as he goes for 35 mistiming a pull from Rae and top edging to Bethell at 127 for 3.  In comes Tom Banton to have a go at the situation.   Warwickshire try spin at the Pavilion end with Bethell coming on for the 28th as Somerset move to 136 for 3 .  This also allows Rae to once again change ends  as he returns to the City end for the 29th.

Looking for the 150 at 148, Banton pulls the first ball of the 31st over into the gloves of the keeper and finishes his day's work with 12.  James Rew arrives in the middle to partner Abell who is now on 35 from 43 with Somerset 2 runs from 150 and probably 60 minutes from the draw as long as they don't lose any more wickets.   They are scoring at just under 5.  If they wanted to win this they would have to be scoring at 8 so it is pretty certain which of those two results Somerset are aiming for.  It depends on whether they continue to lose wickets or not whether the home side are looking at the end of this game the same way.  Jack needed to score 1 and stay part of the last pair in an England game exactly 5 years ago today.  Here's hoping he does not find himself in the same situation this afternoon in Birmingham!!

150 finally arrives in the form of a swept four from Rew which takes Somerset to 153 but the noise around the ground suggestes that the Brummies think there may be a win in this game as it has got darker and they think Bethell may be on to do a Leach for the Bears.  They bring Hannon-Dalby back from the City end to see how he can muck up the plans.   Rew takes him for 20 with 5 consecutive fours after a dot.

The light is starting to go again with dark grey clumps moving in from the east of the ground.  If that comes over it may put an earlier end to the game but while we wait and see, James Rew seems determined to pepper the boundary rope as he moves to 29 from 18 with 7 fours in that score.  There is a discussion about the light and the umpires take a reading.  It's a strange time because changes in a couple of overs could change the perspective on the game's result.  Yates continues for Warwickshire and Rew continues to put the ball away moving to 43 from 21 and passing his partner with a six into the Hollies.  The next takes Somerset past 200 as Rew passes 50 from 23 with 9 fours and 2 sixes.  They take Yates for 23 and 22 of them were the keeper's.  The umpires have a conference and no one is sure what is going on.  Finally the sides seem to wander off as it looks like bad light has halted play at 211 for 4.  The umpires are staying out so nothing is definitely over yet.  The 55 from 24 of Rew is the joint second fastest first class 50 in Somerset history with Botham!!  The fastest is Jamie Overton who did it 5 balls faster!!

One wonders why the umpires are even waiting for a change in light.  While they do so, overs are disappearing and the less overs there are the less chance (if any) of change in the result of this game.  Unless they believe there is a chance of Warwickshire bowling Somerset out there seems little point in prolonging this game.

However, 15 minutes later we are still waiting for the umpires to decide what is going to happen.  We've already lost 5 overs from the 23, Craig has gone out to talk to the umpires and yet no decision has been made, he comes back in and still the chats in the middle go on.  Another meter check takes place followed by each umpire standing at each set of stumps talking to eavch other before kicking the stumps over and calling it a day  What an absolute farce as at 206 for 4 the game is declared a draw.  Somerset take 8 plus 3 while Warwickshire take 8 plus 5.  On to Durham!!  Oh and remember!!  James Rew can't play white ball cricket it seems!! 

Farmer's view of the last day is now up on his website including his interaction with a James Rew six towards the end of the day's play.  You can link into it by clicking HERE