By Grockle
July 27 2003

I didn't do this report because i couldn't see the point of interpreting a scorecard so dire - but Calypso Joe was there! So 'enjoy' if you can. Thanks Joe - it is a good read actually! There are some photos to come which are better fare!

v Northamptonshire CC2 @ Northampton 23/24 July 2003

Gloom Continues as Somerset lose 18 Wickets in the Day

By Far East (Anglia) Correspondent Calypso Joe

At last, this was a chance for me to see Somerset in the flesh again as they made the trip to the East Midlands.

Starting the day 299 in arrears having lost Bowler and Bryant the previous evening was not ideal but certainly not a disaster. That was reserved for the rest of the day as Somerset surrendered to a Northants side high in confidence and at the top of their game.

At the start it was Andre Nel's turn to make inroads into the paper thin defence. First to go was Buzz (I've heard he's changing his name to Cox-LBW by Deed Poll), next was Matthew Wood who was one of the few to get a good delivery which took the shoulder and flew to slip. Burns and Blackwell looked to be steadying the ship, with Burns taking the attack to Brown. Debutant Shantry came into the attack and surely this was the opportunity to build a big partnership, no chance. A regulation single ended with Burns being run out by a direct hit after the batsmen stopped for a chat in the middle. Not to be out done by his fellow debutant Roberts, Shantry started his first spell in county cricket by removing Blackwell LBW, Dutch flashing at a wide one and McLean offering catching practice to mid off a ball later. Steph kept out the hat-trick ball - just, and Shantry had the figures of 2-2-0-3. The man from Wales showed as much application as any of the batsmen above him and hit a couple of nice fours off his legs, the only runs off Shantry, before falling to the spin of Brown. Gilder came to the crease and showed that he at least can bat a bit, but succumbed to a well set trap, being caught in the gulley off the returning Nel.

So 96 all out in the first innings, we lost four wickets with the score on 66! Surely a kick up the backside would focus the minds and we would see a big improvement for the follow on.

There was bad news before the second innings started, Bowler was still suffering from his twisted knee and would only bat at a last resort. After his undefeated 10 in the first innings, Rob Turner obviously informed the skipper that he was 'seeing it like a beach ball' and opened with Wood. Unfortunately it turned into a golf ball as Rob missed both balls he faced, the second catching him in front. After three overs, lunch was taken at 5 for 1, nine wickets had fallen in the session and the wicket was no where near as bad as had been reported. It was the same story after lunch, Wood hit a half volley straight to mid off and Bryant flashed at a wide one. 32 for 3 and Phillips had done the job at the top again, through nothing more than a tight line and length. Ominously Brown was now introduced, Cox showed a determination to stick around, but the wicket was showing clear turn now and he coughed up a bat and pad to Jacques. Captain Burns and the ballooning Blackwell at last dug in and for a fleeting half hour it looked like we might take it to day 3 with rain on the way. The aggressive Nel was grunting and growling and clearly not happy until Blackie became another victim of flashing at a wide one and Andre was smiling. This broke Burns' concentration as next over he danced down the wicket to lob a catch to deep mid on, it was as good as over. For some bizarre reason Bowler hobbled to the wicket with Cox as his runner. It showed great determination to the rest of his team mates, he was clearly in agony after every ball, but ultimately Peter scored the most pointless eight of his career. When he ballooned a catch up off his bat and pad, he was walking before it was caught. By this time Dutch had gone the same way and Nixon had been and gone after his second game of 'catch', Steph swung and missed at Brown and it was all over.

Defeat by an innings and 61 runs to a keen and efficient Northants doing all the right things but nothing special. The performance of both teams was best summed up by the pitch inspector, Peter Walker. After his decision not to dock Northants any points he said, "It was a lot of wickets to fall in a day......but you had one side on the top of their form and another at the bottom of theirs." In my opinion, I think we lost this game when we allowed Northants 60 runs for the ninth wicket, another question mark over the captaincy of Burns. From then on we were on the back foot.

A few observations from off the pitch - Jonno was there, but almost looked like a stranger. Kepler Wessels spent some time chatting to Gilder and Bryant, you don't suppose he was saying "Come and play for us lads!". Wes Durston was 12th man and had a look of "These are better than me?".

Finally, I invited a mate and his son along for their first taste of county cricket. Among the many questions the son asked me were "Where's Trescothick?","Where's Caddick?" and "Where's Johnson?". I think that sums it up really, I don't think they'll bother watching Somerset again.