Warwickshire on top after two days but can either side force a win?
At the end of an absorbing second day of this key encounter, Warwickshire are 27-1 in their second innings, a lead of 125 over Somerset. Stars of the day were Somerset’s Kasey Aldridge who scored 84 and Warwickshire’s Ed Barnard who followed up his good form in the One Day Cup with his first five wicket haul of the four day campaign.
It is a match that both sides need to win. Somerset’s chances of overhauling Surrey at the top of the table do not look great with Surrey having built a big lead against Lancashire and in the relegation battle Worcestershire, who are just below Warwickshire, look to be well on top against Kent. However, it may well be that with rain forecast intermittently over the next two days, the only winner at Edgbaston will be the weather.
At the start of the day, Warwickshire were 277-6, but with just ten runs added, Michael Burgess was caught behind by James Rew off Craig Overton for 69, a decision he did not appear to enjoy. He and Jacob Bethell had added 122 and Bethell did not last much longer, bowled by Josh Davey for 64. The innings might have then gone into rapid decline but Michael Rae, Chris Rushworth and Ollie Hannon-Dalby contributed useful runs. They added 50 more before Craig Overton dismissed Rae to claim his fourth wicket of the innings. His 4-88 was slightly bettered by Josh Davey’s 4-80 and at that stage Warwickshire’s total looked slightly under par.
Somerset quickly lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore who edged into the ultra-safe hands of Rob Yates at slip off Hannon-Dalby. Still with no runs on the board, Andy Umeed was then bowled by a beauty from Chris Rushworth, playing his first game since April after a back injury.
In the period either side of lunch, the three Toms – Lammonby, Abell and Banton – worked hard to restore Somerset’s fortunes against some tight bowling, but just after lunch, all three were back in the vast structure that serves as the Edgbaston pavilion. Abell was lbw to Barnard, Banton edged the same bowler to slip and Lammnonby, having advanced to 44, top edged Rushworth to Hannon-Dalby at long leg. Somerset were then struggling at 65-5.
James Rew and Kasey Aldridge began the process of a Somerset recovery in bright sunshine and on what began to look like a pitch without too much pace. Rew seemed well settled and was just one short of a half century when Burgess took a good catch standing up to Rushworth. The pair had added 87. The loss of Rew proved to be just a temporary setback as Craig Overton joined Aldridge in another useful partnership.
The Warwickshire pace quartet of Hannon-Dalby, Rushworth, Barnard and Rae all bowled well, though Rae slightly overdid the short stuff.
The 200 came up, but then Craig Overton missed what seemed like a straight ball from Hannon-Dalby and was bowled for 24. At 201-7, Somerset were still 136 behind. Josh Davey and Jack Leach fell to Barnard, the former bowled by a beauty that moved just enough to beat the bat and hit off stump and the latter brilliantly caught at second slip by Rob Yates, diving to his left and making the impossible look easy.
Kasey Aldridge did his best to protect Jake Ball from the strike and took his own score to 84 before Barnard claimed him as his fifth victim. His 5-54 were his best Championship figures of the season and Somerset’s 239 left them 98 behind.
In their second innings, which commenced at the end of the day, Warwickshire soon lost Rob Yates playing an airy drive to be caught behind off Craig Overton. Then bad light ended play early with Warwickshire 27-1.
Weather permitting, there is plenty of life in this match and although Warwickshire are on top, they still have some way to go to achieve their first Championship win of the season.
