An interesting encounter awaits in the West Country, where two of the sides hoping to challenge at the top end of the table in September, fight it out, as Somerset host Essex in round five of the County Championship Division One season.
After a promising start to the season, with a dominant draw at home to Worcestershire, Somerset have lost two of the next three, with a particularly chastening defeat at the Oval against Surrey last time out. Since racking up a monstrous 670/7 against Worcestershire, they have only passed 300 once, best symbolised by Tom Banton’s season. The talented batter has scored 411 runs at 68.50 this season, but 371 came in one innings in that game against Worcestershire. James Rew is the only other Somerset batter to make a first-class hundred this season, and the batting unit needs to find some consistency to drag them away from the foot of the table. The bowlers have continued to do a decent job, Kasey Aldridge and Jack Leach both performing solidly, but have struggled to blow sides away. Craig Overton missed their last game at Surrey through injury, and they’ll be hoping that their talisman is fit for this game.
Essex travel to Taunton still unbeaten and sitting in 4th, after picking up their first win of the season at Chelmsford against, ahem, Worcestershire. Last time out, they were without the services of Sam Cook, who was rested at England’s behest as he is expected to make his much-deserved test debut against Zimbabwe, so it will be interesting to see if he is included in the travelling party. Kasun Rajitha made a solid start to his five-match stint with five wickets, and Paul Walter has made an excellent start to life at the top of the order. Dean Elgar looks to have returned from paternity leave and is expected to resume his duties at the top of the order, so Charlie Allisson is will make way for the veteran South African batter.
With the weather set fair the toss could be crucial if previous games at Taunton are anything to go by. This could be a surface which offers a reasonable amount of assistance to the bowlers, with Somerset chasing a win to escape from the relegation places, but the pitches have been good for batting so far this year.
Key Players
James Rew is the glue of this Somerset side, and has the ability to bat long periods and grind scores out, even as he looks to expand his game more akin to the modern bazballesque way of thinking. A tidy gloveman as well, they will be looking for him to return to form to provide much-needed runs. Migael Pretorius has had a very good year so far with both disciplines. He is averaging 41.50 with the bat and 29.11 with the ball, and will be a key part of the home side’s bowling attack with the newer ball.
Paul Walter has had an excellent season so far with the bat, with a hundred and two fifty-plus scores. He originally started out as a left arm seamer, but such is his development as a batter, and the prodigiousness of the Essex seam attack, that his left arm pace is rarely used in red ball cricket these days. That does not diminish his importance to the side, and he looks to have nailed down the top order vacancy following the Sir Alistair Cook’s retirement.
Team news:
Essex squad: TBC.
Surrey squad: TBC
Weather and conditions:
The forecast for all four days looks set fair so expect good batting conditions on days one and two at least. However, the pitches tend to give something to the spinners, so expect the likes of Simon Harmer, Matt Critchley, Archie Vaughan and Jack Leach to have an impact as the game goes on.
Date: 2nd May 2025
Time: 11:00
Ground: The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton
