Taunton Tied 'Test'

By Grockle
July 27 2002

Peter Trego kept us in it and the boys put on a great show against the odds. With support from Piran Holloway and Wes Durston and many others, we nearly snatch a game scoring over 450 on the last day.

WEST INDIES A @ TAUNTON JULY 24 2002

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

Lunchtime Day 3 and as I said from my desk, we were going to be lucky to survive, let alone draw the game.  Still I went in to have a look and expected to be out of the ground by about four o'clock.  No chance!!

Peter Trego and Piran Holloway were not intending to lay down and die and Somerset did not seem to be prepared to look at surviving, win it or lose it seemed to be the order of the day.  102 at luch became 196 before Piran Holloway finally succumbed to a good ball from Lawson for an excellent 88.  He looked confident and at home again and hit 13 fours and one six in a stand of 123.  Peter Trego carried on with an unusually quiet Keith Parsons - maybe captaincy was on his mind..  Although he was part of a partnership of 54, he wasn't the major part in a game made for him and he was the next to go at 250, caught behind making a one handed swing at Powell which brought us to tea.  

Trego was the mainstay of the reply, he reached 50 off 76 balls at 199 (7 fours and 2 sixes) and was now joined by Arul Suppiah with a session to negotiate to reach a good draw.  Some would not have predicted reaching 250 but the attack went on.  Arul didn't stay long and did not look at hokme against the spin of Gayle and Solomon Benn - the tallest spin bowler in the world probably!!  I saw him on the first day and immediately thought he was fast.  It doesn't half look strange seeing him walk in and flight the ball.  But it was too much for Suppiah who was stumped by Simmons coming up the wicket and missing.  275 for 5.  No-one was staying long with Trego but he was still putting on the runs.

For the first time we started looking at the runs required against the overs left.   We needed 179 off just under 30 and when Trego went to his debut hundred at 292 it might have been on - 135 balls 16 fours and 2 sixes.  Great score.  Keith Dutch was his partner now, again in a situation that seemed made for him and again he was unusually quiet.  He also took part in a 50 partnership but only made 12 and only faced 20 balls!  This was just before he ran himself out going for a run when Trego was in a squat position still finishing a shot!  Oh dear...that was that we all thought!  330 for 6 and not a lot to come.  Not a lot?  Enter Wes Durston facing his first top class game with 124 needed off 18 and a bit overs.  He probably expected to play second fiddle to the man at the other end, and did so until the score reached 354 when Pete mis-read one and chipped the wrong ball from Gayle into Morton's hands.  140 off 185 balls and the mainstay of the Somerset innings was out while we still needed 100 with only 2 wickets left.   A great knock got a great response from the sparse crowd and we settled down for the end.

Carl Gazzard joined his seconds colleague and seemed determined to get up the wicket at every opportunity.  It seemed a bit strange with lots of overs left but the wicket keeper had either been told to attack or had a death wish!  As it was, he went up once too often and gave Powell an easy catch off King with only another 10 added.   Now the drama increased.  In came Hagar Rose with Matt Wood as a runner to join an inexperienced batsman at this level with 79 needed off 10 and Matt Bulbeck the only man left to come in.  Graham looked pretty immobile and just stood and hit, no attempt to run, Wood was three wickets away running on another strip and was given in to a run out that looked pretty plumb to us at the edge.  But the chase continued. 69 off 9 became 61 off 8 which became 55 off 7 and the 400 came up with a Rose reverse swing.   Durston and Wood were running everything as the Windies defended the boundaries frantically but the 50 partnership came up at 423 with 36 required off 5.  Wes went to an excellent 50 (mostly taken in singles and twos off 40 balls) and had added another 5 whhen he was comprehensively bowled by King - brought on as a last resort by the tourists.

Out came Bulbeck needing 23 off 3 with the fielders as nervous as hell.  The outfielding hadn't been brilliant but it had been enthusiastic and Bulbeck decided to take the outfielders on when ever possible.  Helped by the excellent running of Wood (it's never easy acting as a runner) who took no notice of Rose's calls, the total kept increasing and the target kept getting nearer.  15 off 12 became 8 off the last one which Gayle, the slow bowler took responsibility for.  Get Rose on strike we all called.  Bully just ran twos!  8 off 6, 6 off 5, 4 off 3 - Rose on strike and everyone coming in off the boundary.  A single and 1 run to draw.  Bulbeck tries to hit over, misfires and we get the drawing single.

One ball to go, Rose on strike, everyone in an imaginary ring, a slow bowler coming in and the boundary looking inviting for the whack over the inner field to win the game.   Rose obviously also thought this so tried to be cheeky, the sweep around the legs would have given the runs needed if it hadn't been for a slightly upward hit and the 6 foot 8-ish Benn standing exactly where Hagar hit it.  He's out caught.  The scores are exactly the same.  Benn is engulfed in West Indian players and we've tied a game we had no hope in just 6 hours earlier.

Over 450 runs in a day.  A tie - which you don't see too often.  A great hundred and two excellent 50 plus scores.  A wonderfully balanced last day up to the last ball.  What more could you have asked for from two 'scratch' sides.  Great entertainment...pity there weren't more people to see it.  I enjoyed every minute and my son got to his Kendo class late because of it without any tea.....and I don't care!!