CC1 v Leicestershire and Friends!!

We go to Leicestershire for the first time in a long time for a Championship match and Jake Ball returns to a sidse that is pretty much the one that beat Glamorgan in 3 days last week.  the rain has delayed the start but the Foxes have won the toss and decided to bowl first.  We face ex Somerset players, but not the ones you would expect.  no Ben Green or Josh Davey in the side but we will be seeing Nathan Gilchrist who has been loaned to Leicestershire by rivals Warwickshire for this game.  He'll then be returning to Birmingham to help in their attemp to win the CC1 when they play the Foxes in their lasat game.  What a coincidence that he should be surplus to requirements when Somerset are pushing to for the title and then is necessary in their own Championship run in 

CC1 v Leicestershire @ Grace Road Tuesday 8 September 2026

The rain means we are delayed unti after noon before we get play.  Leicestershire win the toss and will bowl first.  We expected to play against ex Somerset men but neither of the expected ones are in this side.  Ben Green is injured (a problem for them as he is their top wicket taker in this tournament) and Josh Davey is not present either.  We will face Nathan Gilchrist, once of the Somerset parish, who is on loan from rivals Warwickshire for 2 CC1 games before returning to Edgbaston for the last CC1 fixture - gosh what a coincidence that is!!  It seems he got in past the regulation that is designed to stop rivals lending players to opposition sides because they did not change the date from last year.  Had this game started tomorrow he would not have been able to play for Leicestershire it seems

So Somerset go into this game with the following eleven;

Thomas, Lammonby, Abell, Rew (w), Nicholls, Vaughan, Gregory (c), Overton, Pretorius, Leach, Ball

Jake Ball returns to the side in place of Lewis Goldsworthy for this game as Thomas and Lammonby finally start the first innings in cloudy conditions on a pitch with a very short boundary - possibly the result of Leicestershire being liable for a 19 point deduction after the game against Glamorgan which they may try to deal with by looking for maximum batting bonus points from this game.  It does look like a very short boundary.

The game starts at 1:10 with 72 overs of the day to come. The commentators say the pitch looks green and very worn as Gilchrist starts the bowling with a no ball and the first scoring shot from Josh is a driven four which plus extras gets us to move to 9 for 0.  Ben Mike takes the other end opening over. and we have moved on to 11 with another 2 extras after 2.  

By the end of the 5th over we have moved to 18 with Lammonby off the mark and our openers start to put together a score and by the 10th over without a change of bowling we have moved on to 42 without loss with Thomas on 18 from 40 with Lammonby on 7 from 25.  the rest are extras.

We get the first change for the 11th with Alex Green taking over as the Leicestershire commentator mentions that the home side have rested nearly all of their last game bowling attack for this one (plus a couple of injury changes of course).  Somerset go past 50 in the 11th off Josh's  second four cut through the cordon to move the batting side to 51 from 63 balls taking Thomas to 26 from 44.  Another 50 starting partnership from this opening pair who seem to be settling into their roles in the side very well.

The second bowling change comes in the 14th as New Zealand international spinner Ajaz Patel takes over at the pavilion end at 62 for 0.  By the 15th the openers have moved on again to 73 without loss with Thomas  still the more productive of the two with 36 from 60 while Lammonby has taken the support role on 17 from 36.

Thomas goes to 50 off Patel with a single at the end of the 19th over.  His 50 arrives off 72 balls (his 6th 50 this season with 2 goind on to the ton).  The century partnership (the second) comes up at 101 for 0 in the 20th over with a slog swept four from Lammonby taking him to  a 50 ball 31 off Patel.

At 20 overs Gilchrist has returned giving Green a breather and we hav2 102 on the board. We've hit 'Nelson' by the end of the next.  After 25 overs it's 130 for no loss as the home side keep chaning the seamer at one end while Patel twirls in at the other.  Leicestershire have given away 22 extra in those 25 overs, mostly in no balls.

Tom Lammonby reaches his third consecutive CC1 50 at 148 for 0 in the 29th over from 70 balls with a four off Mike.  The pair take two later in the over to move the score to 150 in the 29th moving at 5 an over.

Rehan Ahmed opens his bowling account with the 31st over at 161 for 0

As the sun comes out with blue sky over the ground the sides go off for Tea!!  After 33 overs Somerset are 173 for 0 with Thomas  on 61 from 122 and Lammonby on 68 from 84.  Rehan Ahmed has caused some worries including nearly getting through Thomas' defence  at the very end of the session to go with another early no ball dismissal (the fourth in 2 innings for the visitors) which I have to admit I missed.

We are back after a short interval with  39 overs left in the day's play as  Alex Green starts the second phase of Day 1.  He also gets the first breakthrough as with the 5th ball of the 35th over he pushes Lammonby into a kind of late cut that shoots out to the boundary and is caught well by Sheridon Gumbs diving forwards.  He goes for 74 from 94 balls at 181 for 0. 

Archie Vaughan returns to the number 3 spot for this game as Lewis Goldsworthy is not in for this game. Ben Mike is bowling at the other end at the start of this session.  At 190 for 1 Archie  records the 1000th first class run in his career with a four off Mike.

As we move into the 40th, a driven four from Vaughan brings up the Somerset 200 as he progresses to 9 from 9.

Josh Thomas goes to a century at 221 for 1 from 152 balls with 15 fours.  His third century of a real breakthrough season for the young man.   Almost immedaitely after that Archie departs for 21 from 32 becoming Gilchrist's first victim LBW at the start of the 46th over.  The loanee has 1 for 57 from his 61 balls so he'll be grateful for that one and Vaughan has not pushed on again.  222 for 2 brings Nicholls to the crease.

Mike then produces an absolute peach which nips back on Thomas and takes the top of off stump to send the centurion on his way without adding to his score.  Josh plays no shot and loses his off stump.  222 for 3 brings Abell in with the wicket starting to do a number of things it wasn't doing at the start of the day!!.

There is a semi-collapse and it continues as Abell is caught and bowled in the 48th over for 1 from 7.  His 19th innnings is not more than 25 so he has not passed the world record he has equalled it.  Out comes James Rew to look to reset this innings as it has moved from 221 for 1 to 229 for 4 in 3 overs as Nathan Gilchrist (now 2 for 57) faces his Kings of Taunton colleague in the Somerset keeper.

The first batting bonus point arrives in the 54th over with a single to Rew off Gilchrist which takes him to 4 from 22 at 250 for 4. Then for NO apparent reason in the 58th over with a 48 run partnership between these two playing Patel,  Nicholls is stranded when uncertainty creates a run out with Rew coming for a second and Henry not getting off the mark and being run out by Gilchrist at the non strikers end by a mile for 26 from 35 at 277 for 5.  That is a wicket just thrown away!!

Out comes Craig Overton and an innings that looked to be on track for something in excess of 350 is stuttering to a halt in the high 200s.  From 221 for 1 to 277 for 5.  Some good wickets for the hime side and some gifts here at Grace Road.  The last one was a gift.

Unfortunately Mike, the best Leicestershire bowler, keeps coming.  He gets COve with another beauty that jags away from him and is caught behind on 297 for 6.  The tall allrounder has to go for 9 from 7 at the end of the 60th over with 12 remaining in the day.  Out comes the skipper to join Rew on 27 from 41.  He sees his side to their second batting point with a four off the next ball to move the score to 301 for 6.  He then stays around to see Somerset start the last 10 overs of the day as a maiden from Patel finshes the 62nd at 309 for 6.  It is important that this pair stay in until the end of play today if at all possible and then regroup for tomorrow.

Leicestershire in the later overs are suffering from resting most of their bowling attack because after having a very good first 10 overs, Mike starts to struggle as he is asked to bowl another 10 overs. In the 65th, his 20th, Rew hits him for 14 taking his runs total over 100 to 109 for 2 and Somerset to 330 for 6 with the keeper into the 40s and 7 overs of the day to go.  Patel has also been asked to bowl a significant number of overs as he starts his 16th in the 66th.  However, he has the next success as Gregory top edges his 5th ball after taking the spinner for a four and a six in the over.  The top edge spoons to Ahmed and he goes for 27 from 17 at 340 for 6.  Jack comes out in a kind of 'nightwatch' role though not protecting anyone particularly.  Patel finishes the 66th with 1 for 76 off his 16 and we have 6 left in the day.

Somerset have lost 6 wickets for 139 runs after scoring over 180 before losing any.  Not such a succesful second session given the progress in the first.  After holding out against Ahmed, Leach does not against Patel and at the start of the 68th he is LBW to the sppinner for 0 at 344 for 8.  Oh dear! We amy not see the day out after all as Pretorius comes out.  Which Miggy P will we get this evening?  There is the one who can bat - the one we haven't seen much of this summer and the one who can't buy a run for love nor money and leaves his batting brain in the dressing room in 2026.  We are single figure furns form the 350 batting point so we are likely to see Jake out before the end of play and will miss out on that if thing play out the way they usually do.  This has been a disappointing post Tea session for the visitors after looking in total control just before the Lunch break today.

Rehan Ahmed then bowls Pretorius for 2 not picking a googly and getting a sliver of an inside edge onto the wicket.  Out comes Jake needing 3 for the 350 point and with 3.4 overs left.   James is also on 48 from 65 as Jake survives the four balls of the Ahmed over left and gives James the opportunity to get the 3 runs left to add another point.  There are 3 overs left as Patel bowls 69th as the whiole fielding side overs James the single to get the number 11 on strike.  James is not interested in going for singles at the start of the over and there are four dots before the field comes in.  James looks to sweep but doesn't get it and he is then nearly bowled as he blocks one on his toes.  Jake is facing Ahmed without an increase to the score.  They take a single off the 5th ball - not a great decision to be honest.  But the last ball is pulled for four by Rew and that is his half century at 52 from 72 balls (he's never really looked in control but the addition is significant).  It also brings up the next, and last bonus point one would imagine at 352 for 9.

Patel takes the last over and Ball faces it, blocks it out for 2 and we finish on 354 for 9.  Well its one thing and another.  A decent total but it looked more promising at lunchtime when we had the chance of 450 plus.  The strip has done more in the late afternoon/evening then it did in the first session and we fell away more than one would have hoped.  But would we have taken 350 ish after losing the whole first part of the day?  Probably.  Tomorrow is another day people.  Let's see what we do with the ball before having a debate about Day 1.

 Day 2

Every fielder is on the boundary as Ahmed starts the day to James Rew with every fielder on the boundary .  72 overs of the innings having gone and 104 overs planned for the day.  Nathan Gilchrist takes the ball from the other end.  The last pair survive into the 76th over when James goes down on on knee to try and slap the ball away and is judged to be LBW after missing it.  Somerset are all out for 363 with Jake undefeated on 3 from 21 and Rew the last man out for 61 from 87 balls.  Gilchrist finishes with 3 for 73 while Mike and Patel share 2 wickets each with Ahmed and Green taking singles (Nicholls was run out).  

Somerset will be out to field in about 10 minutes with 98 overs to go in the day and Leicestershire looking to score over 363.

The Foxes start with the opening pair of Rishi Patel and Gumbs and they will be facing up to Lewis Gregory with the new ball first.  Patel, in what will be one of his last games for Leicestershire as he is moving to Hampshire next season, takes a single off the first ball.  Lewis is bowling to a 3 slip cordon and comes around the wicket to Gumbs. The bat misses the secomnd ball and he is hit on the pad in front and is out LBW to the third ball of the first over.  Leicestershire are 1 for 1.

This brings Reham Ahmed in early on a pretty chilly morning and he plays out the rest of the first without scoring.  The second of the day for Somerset will come from Migael Pretorius and his first to Patel is driven to the boundary rope and that is the only scoring shot of the over.  5 for 1 with the loss of Sheridon Gumbs without a score.  Rehan takes a single in Gregory's second to get him off the zero marker as Patel moves to 6.

By the 4th over the home pair are starting to settle but Patel gets a thick edge on a ball that is moving away and he is caught by Rew for 12  from 13 balls and the Fowes are 22 for 2 before the end of the 5th over.  Out comes Hamza Shaikh at number 4 facing the Somerset captain on 2 for 7 from his 2 and a bit overs.  The 5th over ends with the score still on 22.

The Leicestershire livestream seems to have lost the first session as it sits at Lunch on Day 2 and the dentist called so the summery is that just after the Leicestershire 50 arrived Craig Overton bowled Shaikh for 7 from 37 balls at 53 for 3 in the 16th over.  In came Nick Kelly at number 5 but after some tight bowling from CoVe and Ball, Rehan Ahmed was the next victim 8 balls later at the end of the 17th without the score having changed.    The allrounder was caught behind off Ball  for 23 from 49 balls to bring the skipper Stephen Eskanazi to the crease but after adding only another 10 runs in the 21st he was the next to go again caught behind and again off the bowling of Ball so only 2.  Cox came to the crease and he and Kelly moved the score to 83 for 5 at the Lunch break.  Kelly has 17 from 30 balls and his partner has 11 from the 20 he has faced.  the Somerset bowlers have been making hay in the first session with Gregory taking 2 for 17 from his 6 overs, while Jake has 2 for 28 from his.  Craig has 1 for 2 from his 6 with FOUR maidens while Miggy is not yet in the wickets with 0 for 26 from his 7.  We have had 26 overs of the innings and Leicestershire are presently some 280 runs adrift of our first innings total with 5 wickets left and about 72 overs left in the day.  Another first session of a day to the visitors is probably the assessment.

The return to the middle sees Craig Overton start with the 27th and his first ball goes to the rope for four from Cox.  Kelly also takes a boundary from the Somerset man who goes for 10 in his 7th after only going for 2 in his first 6.  He is joined in the attack by Migael Pretorius.  His 28th moves the batting side to 103 for 5 as a four from his last ball giver them the 3 figures with Kelly on to 31 and Cox on 17.  They have moved on to 114 by the 30th over with Craig still storming in and giving away very little and he has Kelly plumb in front with the 4th ball of the next over and it is 114 for 6 with the Foxes bat goen for 39 from 46.

The new man is Mike and he sees out the over without scoring.  He gets off the mark in Overton's next with a boundary from his partner before he is also LBW to the Somerset man straight through to his back pad at 121 for 7.  Ben Cox goes for 24 from 36 with 3 fours meaning Ajaz Patel will stride out to the middle.  Craig ends his 10th over with quite remarkable figures of 10 overs 5 maidens 3 for 16 and 10 runs of that came in one over!!  Superb attacking bowling.

Miggy gets some reward while struggling today as Mike is LBW for 2 from his 9 at 121 for 8.  Josh Hull (who has replaced Alex Green who is injured) is the next man in.  By the 40th over he has yet to get off the zero as the bowling is tight and on the money.  Archie Vaughan is brought in for that 38th and he bowls a maiden first up as well.  He also produces the same for the 40th.  By the 42nd Leiocestershire have stumbled to 129 for 8 and Hull still does not have a runs after facing 23 balls.  Jake Ball returns for the 43rd and at 130 he bowls Hull who did not score a run from the 4 overs of deliveries he faced.  130 for 9 trailing by 233 and nowhere near passing the following on total.  Gilchrist is the last man in and the last pair put up a fight taking the score to 150 in the after Patel takes Leach for four, the second attempt next ball he is dropped on by Archie Vaughan on the boundary - an easy chance to be fair.  He runs around, gets both hands to it but it comes off his fingers.  Finally Leach gets Patel to go for another one and this time he IS caught in the deep by Lammonby  for 26 from 57 at 157 all out.  They are 206 behind with Nathan Gilchrist not out for 9.

They take Tea with that wicket and the question now is will they enforce the follow on.  The only issue is that Lewis Gregory has not bowled at all since his first spell.  He has been on and off the pitch during the innings but has not gone anywhere near the ball.  Ball and Overton shared the lion share of the wickets with 3 each.  Gregory  took 2 in the 6 overs he bowled at the start of the innings while Miggy and Jack picked up one each at the end.  

After Tea, Somerset come out to bat again so they have NOT enforced the follow on.  This must be because of the issue with Lewis maybe or they just want to keep this side fit by resting its bowlers and hoping that deterioration of the pitch may put the emphasis on the spinners later on in the game.  

Josh Thomas and Tom Lammonby come out to put some more runs onto the 206 run lead they already have.  Gilchrist starts with the new ball and his new partner is Josh Hull after Alex Green had to retire with an injury.  Nathan goes for 2 while Josh bowls a maiden to start his spell.  They bowl for the first 7 overs before Mike takes over at the "Hull" end.  There is no loss of wickets and after 8 we are 21 for 0.  After 10 the honours between the bats are even.  We have 26, 12 from the bat of Josh from 29 balls and 12 from the bat of Tom from 31 a lead of 232.

Hull returns around the 15th and we finish it 42 without loss.  It's all going swimmingly by the 20th. Still without a wicket loss the opening pair have moved on to 83 with Lammonby passing Thomas on 45 and 36 respectively with little happening except for the odd ball spitting abit and a couple going past the outside edge.  Niether bat has lookoed in any real trouble.

The milestones arrive as the lead paasses 300 at 94 in the 23rd followed by Lammonby reaching 50 from 70 in the same over with a shot for two runs.from the 5th ball from Patel (A) at 97 for 0.  The 100 arrives in the next over from Gilchrist with a boundary pull/top edge for Josh over the slips.  it also beings up his fourth 50 of the season with 50 from 69 balls at 103 for 0.  It also of course brings up another century partnership for the pair.

Rehan Ahmed comes on for the 26th over with some leg spin at 106 for 0.  He does get the first ray of sunshine for his county in his next over, the 28th, when he finally dismisses a Somerset second innings bat with Josh Thomas being judged LBW 2 balls into the over to leave the field with 55 from 83 balls at 113 for 1.  

Archie Vaughan replaces him though not for very long as he is plumb in front to one that goes straight on at 119 for 2 and he leaves with 4 to his name from the 10 balls he faced.  When it doesn't go for you it doesn't go for you I'm afraid.  Ahmed has 2 for 4.

Henry Nicholls is the next man in and he sees out the 30th over.  By the 35th the bats seem to have given the initiative to the bowlers as we have only moved forward by 5 runs to 124 with the Kiwi bat only getting 2 from his first 13 balls.  After 40 overs the pace has not excatly picked up.  Somerset have moved on to 135 for q with Nicholls in no hurry with 6 from 30 and Lammonby becalmed in the 60s on 68 from 117.  There are 6 overs left in the day and Somerset lead by 341 and seem to be content to play out the day.

They aren't going to stay though because Tom L edges the 5th ball of the 41st into the hands of Rishi Patel at first slip who is in very close.  At 137 for 3 he wanders back for 69 from 120 balls and Tom A has to come out to handle a 5 over spell.  He fails to score in the first 2 he has to deal with and finally gets off the mark with a four in the middle of the 44th off Ahmed.  The 150 arrives before the end of it via a quick two.

2 overs are left in the day and bats manage them well in fact they take 3 boundaries off the last one to move the score to 166 for 3, a lead of 372.  Tom Abell and Henry Nicholls finish the day both on 18.

The end of a pretty one sided Day 2.  Somerset have 6 sessions to turn this game into a win with a massive lead (probably far more runs than they need even now).  The only question is when will they feel they have enough on the board to put Leicestershire to the sword and get this one over with.  The first session tomorrow will be fascinating.  Will we see another 3 day victory?#

Day 3