LV= County Championship Day Three – Somerset v Gloucestershire

LV= County Championship Day Three – Somerset v Gloucestershire

Another sorry day for Somerset as Gloucestershire plod towards victory, if rain allows, on day three of this West Country derby County Championship Division One relegation battle.

Gloucestershire lead by 341 runs going into day four.

Sajid Khan departed to the final ball of the first over of the day. Even on multiple replays I could not tell which shoulder it hit – his, or his bat’s. Either way he was politely aghast to have to go for 16.

Jack Brooks smote his way to 21 as he does, but agonisingly Somerset fell two-runs short of a second batting bonus point as predicted. Rew left high and dry (or short and not quite wet as it was not raining this morning…) on a hard fought 44* off 168 balls.

5-75 for Tom Price who bowled well but admittedly was helped by some embarrassingly poor Somerset batting. Worth remembering that if the away side had held their catches on day two Somerset would have been following on at this point.

Gregory (who bowled very poorly at the start of this match) was oddly given the new ball ahead of Brooks and donated 18 of the first 23 runs to Gloucestershire with friendly half volleys for the lefties to drive effortlessly to the fence. Davey only went for five off his first four overs including the key wicket of Marcus Harris bowled for 21 once he eventually swapped ends to replace Gregory at the Trescothick Pavilion End.

Brooks’ first four overs only went for eight from the River End bowling better, consistent areas. Khan and Kasey Aldridge were both given two overs before lunch, 21 overs bowled, five bowlers used, 49-1 at lunch.

The post-lunch session was probably the most depressing of Somerset’s season so far in that nothing happened when the home side desperately needed wickets. Khan getting his first wicket for the club, Ollie Price caught reverse sweeping on 53 was scant consolation.

The few fans that had stayed went flat in what was a very pedestrian period of Glos’ accumulating runs into a 200+ lead and Tom Abell not knowing where he could buy a wicket from.

Reluctant to bowl himself just coming back from a hamstring injury he turned to Tom Lammonby again who bowled well. Brooks bowled nine overs for just 15.

But with Somerset Bowling Coach Steve Kirby watching no play at Guildford due to rain with the twos the side look devoid of wicket taking ideas. To add insult to injury this afternoon also saw the announcement that Kirby will be leaving the Club at the end of the season to take up the position of Lead Bowling Coach for Zimbabwe.

Best of luck to him in his first international role but Tango will be sorely missed, a great character and knowledgeable cricket man who has really helped the likes of Sonny Baker, Kasey Aldridge et al with their young fast bowling tutelage.

Charlesworth eventually joined Price on his second 50 of the match, 178 balls for the opener’s half-century, Glos in no rush to declare, clearly confident in Thursday’s forecast.

Meanwhile, up at Old Trafford, another left-handed opener, Luke Wells scored 100 off 65 balls in 21 overs against a rather superior Yorkshire bowling attack to Somerset’s.

Gregory did have another try, still struggling with his knee, and sadly still struggling for consistency, his 12 overs going for 54 runs.

At this stage even Gloucestershire fans were messaging me saying things like “What are we playing at? Get on with it!” 200 off 80 overs was an interestingly low pace of scoring from the away side.

Gregory did manage to pouch two slip catches to improve his mood, Charlesworth’s vigil ending on 64 off 207 off Lammonby and Hammond got 53 before Sajid had him caught by Gregory at slip.

In between James Bracey failed again with just 11 off 30 balls, caught and bowled by Kasey Aldridge (a wicket I actually tracked for the live stream in my first ever brief cameo as Sky Sports cameraman!)

Graeme van Buuren and Jack Taylor took Glos to the close just after 18.00 as the skies darkened again – rain looked destined just after play finished.

Despite another late flurry of wickets, all in all still a dire day for Somerset, surely only the rain can deprive Gloucestershire of a deserved win tomorrow.

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