English County Save

[MateGaming]

10th-13th September 2018: Hampshire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Southampton)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Hampshire	Somerset
Jimmy Adams	Marcus Trescothick
Tom Alsop (wk)	Eddie Byrom
Rilee Rossouw	Matt Renshaw
James Vince (c)	James Hildreth
Liam Dawson	Tom Abell (c)
Sam Northeast	Steven Davies (wk)
Brad Taylor	Roelof van der Merwe
Ian Holland	Lewis Gregory
Kyle Abbott	Jamie Overton
Dale Steyn	Jack Leach
Fidel Edwards	Tim Groenewald

Somerset field the same team for the fourth match in a row against fellow relegation candidates Hampshire, who themselves lie eleven points from relegation, just two behind Somerset. The visitors won the toss and chose to bat first on an absolute road, hoping to make a huge first innings total.

Result: Somerset won by an innings and 171 runs
Points: Hampshire 1, Somerset 22
MOTM: Lewis Gregory (Somerset)

• Arguably our best performance of the season so far, and these performances are definitely coming at the right end of the season!
• Brilliant batting from the top three along with lower order contributions
• Incredible spell from Gregory helped us skittle Hampshire for 160, still in favourable batting conditions
• Another very good second innings bowling performance after forcing them to follow on, an absolute thrashing of my home county :P
• Three wins from our last four games sees us pretty much safe from relegation now, one more win should guarantee safety for next season.

[MateGaming]

18th-21st September 2018: Somerset vs Surrey (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Surrey
Marcus Trescothick	Dean Elgar
Eddie Byrom	Rory Burns (c)
Matt Renshaw	Mark Stoneman
James Hildreth	Jason Roy
Tom Abell (c)	Dan Robertson
Steven Davies (wk)	Ollie Pope
Roelof van der Merwe	Ben Foakes (wk)
Lewis Gregory	Sam Curran
Craig Overton	Tom Curran
Jamie Overton	Gareth Batty
Jack Leach	Morné Morkel

Somerset make one change from the thrashing of Hampshire - Craig Overton is back from England duty and plays in place of Groenewald, the bowler missing his first Championship game of the season.

Result: Surrey won by 6 wickets
Points: Somerset 5, Surrey 23
MOTM: Mark Stoneman (Surrey)

• Perhaps a hint of complacency in this game
• Batting was fairly disappointing, Davies unlucky to fall for 99 against his former county
• Bowling lacked a cutting edge, Surrey gained an impressive first-innings lead
• Second innings batting was poor, no one really stuck around
• Was always going to be relatively comfortable for Surrey to chase down, though they made it harder than necessary
• Hampshire's loss to Yorkshire means we need just two points from the final game to guarantee safety

[MateGaming]

24th-27th September 2018: Nottinghamshire vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Nottinghamshire	Somerset
Chris Nash	Marcus Trescothick
Steven Mullaney (c)	Eddie Byrom
Samit Patel	Matt Renshaw
Robin Dickens	James Hildreth
Riki Wessels	Tom Abell (c)
David Malick	Steven Davies (wk)
Quinton de Kock (wk)	Roelof van der Merwe
Will Fraine	Lewis Gregory
Stuart Broad	Craig Overton
Jake Ball	Jamie Overton
Mark Footitt	Jack Leach

For the final match of the season, Somerset are unchanged as they take on possible champions Nottinghamshire.

Result: Nottinghamshire won by 5 wickets
Points: Nottinghamshire 23, Somerset 3
MOTM: Chris Nash (Nottinghamshire)

• Decent bowling effort on a pitch that was offering very little, both Overton brothers impressive before Jamie picked up an injury
• First innings batting was poor again, top order not contributing
• We were asked to follow on and innings from Byrom, Renshaw, van der Merwe, Gregory and Overton set Notts a potentially difficult target if they were to lose early wickets
• Their openers put on 98 and from there, Notts were comfortably home before Lunch on Day 4, earning themselves the Championship with their ninth win of the campaign.

[MateGaming]

County Championship Review

Results:
20th-23rd April: Somerset drew with Worcestershire
27th-30th April: Yorkshire beat Somerset by 7 wickets
4th-7th May: Somerset beat Lancashire by an innings and 53 runs
11th-14th May: Hampshire beat Somerset by 4 wickets
9th-12th June: Nottinghamshire beat Somerset by 142 runs
20th-23rd June: Surrey drew with Somerset
25th-28th June: Essex beat Somerset by 8 wickets
22nd-25th July: Worcestershire drew with Somerset
19th-22nd August: Somerset beat Essex by 133 runs
29th August-1st September: Yorkshire drew with Somerset
4th-7th September: Somerset beat Lancashire by 220 runs
10th-13th September: Somerset beat Hampshire by an innings and 171 runs
18th-21st September: Surrey beat Somerset by 6 wickets
24th-27th September: Nottinghamshire beat Somerset by 5 wickets

Final Position: 6th
Promoted to Division One: Warwickshire, Middlesex
Relegated to Division Two: Yorkshire, Hampshire

Leading run-scorers:
1. Marcus Trescothick (1,073 runs @ 41)
2. James Hildreth (1,025 runs @ 43)
3. Matt Renshaw (868 runs @ 33)
4. Eddie Byrom (858 runs @ 41)
5. Steven Davies (808 runs @ 40)

Leading wicket-takers:
1. Lewis Gregory (48 wickets @ 27)
=. Jack Leach (48 wickets @ 35)
3. Jamie Overton (40 wickets @ 29)
4. Craig Overton (33 wickets @ 24)

Highest total: 563 vs Hampshire, Southampton
Lowest total: 137 vs Nottinghamshire, Nottingham
Highest innings: James Hildreth 192 vs Lancashire, Manchester
Best bowling (inns): Lewis Gregory 6-49 vs Hampshire, Southampton
Best bowling (match): Jack Leach 9-176 vs Worcestershire, Taunton

Player of the competition: Lewis Gregory

• 577 runs @ 44
• 48 wickets @ 27 (leading wicket taker)
• Consistent performer, inspiring leader in the middle

[MarksNotts]

Really enjoying your story, well written and presented, keep em coming!

[MateGaming]

Contracts

In
Ross Taylor (Nottinghamshire, main overseas)
Kiran Carlson (Glamorgan)
Robin Dickens (Nottinghamshire)
Tom Bruce (Sussex, t20 overseas)
Mustafizur Rahman (t20 overseas)
Callum Ferguson (Worcestershire, reserve overseas)
Delray Rawlins (Sussex)
Phillip Scargill (youth)
Tom Barber (Middlesex)

Out
Marcus Trescothick (retired)
Johann Myburgh (Derbyshire)
Matt Renshaw
Tim Rouse (released)
Corey Anderson

Contract Extensions
Peter Trego signed a 2-year contract worth 23,000
Roelof van der Merwe signed a 2-year contract worth 53,000
Josh Davey signed a 2-year contract worth 31,500
Jack Leach signed a 3-year contract worth 48,500

[MateGaming]

Really enjoying your story, well written and presented, keep em coming!

Thanks mate, glad you're enjoying it!

[MateGaming]

Somerset Squad (Season 2 - 2019)

Tom Lammonby	Peter Trego
Tom Abell	Roelof van der Merwe
George Bartlett	Delray Rawlins
Eddie Byrom	Craig Overton
James Hildreth	Dominic Bess
Ross Taylor (overseas)	Josh Davey
Kiran Carlson	Tim Groenewald
Robin Dickens	Jack Leach
Tom Bruce (overseas, t20 only)	Jamie Overton
Callum Ferguson (overseas)	Ollie Sale
Tom Banton (wk)	Paul van Meekeren
Steven Davies (wk)	Max Waller
Fin Trenouth (wk)	Mustafizur Rahman (overseas, t20 only)
Ben Green	Phillip Scargill
Lewis Gregory (club captain)	Tom Barber

The management feel that Tom Abell will benefit without the pressure of captaincy, so Lewis Gregory will captain in all three formats this year.
Ross Taylor (NZ) is our main overseas signing, to be backed up by Callum Ferguson (Aus).
In an attempt to be more competitive in the T20 Blast, we have signed Tom Bruce (NZ) and Mustafizur Rahman (Ban) as our two overseas players for that competition.
Somerset also completed the signings of Kiran Carlson, Robin Dickens, Delray Rawlins, Phillip Scargill and Tom Barber during the winter.

This season, the management feel that we should be trying to push for the Championship title.

As I wrote this, I realised that it would have been a good idea to sign an opener after Trescothick's retirement. Unfortunately, we'll now have to make do with what we have.

[MateGaming]

13th-15th April 2019: Somerset vs Oxford MCCU (University Match - Taunton)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Oxford MCCU
Eddie Byrom	Mark Munday
Robin Dickens	Alec Phillips
George Bartlett	Max Allison
James Hildreth	Noel Guinness
Ross Taylor	Terry Hyde
Kiran Carlson	Steve Eldershaw
Tom Banton (wk)	Justin Henry (wk)
Lewis Gregory (c)	Carl Richards
Craig Overton	Peter Olney
Jack Leach	Mark Coles
Phillip Scargill	Norman Hitchcock

Somerset, keen to try out new players in this warm-up fixture, give a First Class debut to 18-year-old fast bowler Phillip Scargill. Robin Dickens, Ross Taylor and Kiran Carlson all make their Somerset debuts, and Tom Banton has the gloves. Gregory captains his maiden First Class fixture for Somerset.

Result: Match Drawn
MOTM: Robin Dickens (Somerset)

• Dickens and Taylor both scored wonderful hundreds on debut
• Carlson also looked promising
• Scargill bowled fairly well but Gregory superb with 6-105
• Oxford offered much more of a challenge than last year - two fluent centuries from their middle order securing a draw

[MateGaming]

20th-23rd April 2019: Somerset vs Warwickshire (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Warwickshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Warwickshire
Eddie Byrom	Dominic Sibley
Robin Dickens	Liam Banks
James Hildreth	Wayne Bird
Ross Taylor	Sam Hain
Tom Abell	Jonathan Trott
Steven Davies (wk)	Ian Bell (c)
Lewis Gregory (c)	Tim Ambrose (wk)
Dominic Bess	Keith Barker
Craig Overton	Oliver Hannon-Dalby
Jamie Overton	Sukhjit Singh
Jack Leach	Ryan Sidebottom

Somerset begin their County Championship campaign against newly-promoted Warwickshire at Taunton. Carlson can feel unlucky to miss out after his promising debut against Oxford MCCU, but has been promised sporadic game time throughout the season. Abell, Davies, Bess and Jamie Overton replace Bartlett, Carlson, Banton and Scargill.

Result: Warwickshire won by 22 runs
Points: Somerset 5, Warwickshire 22
MOTM: Wayne Bird (Warwickshire)

• Disappointing start to the season
• We looked comfortable in the final innings but Hannon-Dalby's spell took the game away from us
• Ross Taylor had a decent Championship debut for Somerset.

[MateGaming]

27th-30th April 2019: Somerset vs Worcestershire (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Worcestershire
Eddie Byrom	Daryl Mitchell
Robin Dickens	Brett D'Oliveira (c)
James Hildreth	Tom Fell
Ross Taylor	Ed Barnard
Tom Abell	Joe Clarke
Steven Davies (wk)	Ross Whiteley
Lewis Gregory (c)	Ben Cox (wk)
Dominic Bess	Oliver Westbury
Craig Overton	Steve Fry
Jamie Overton	Josh Hazlewood
Jack Leach	Josh Tongue

Somerset are unchanged from the defeat to Warwickshire as they prepare to host Worcestershire at Taunton.

Result: Somerset won by 5 wickets
Points: Somerset 22, Worcestershire 4
MOTM: Jack Leach (Somerset)

• Frustrating last wicket partnerships in both innings - we need to start to finish teams off quickly
• Decent effort to earn three batting points, very valuable last wicket partnership for us
• Run chase started shakily but Hildreth and Abell saw us home.

[MateGaming]

4th-7th May 2019: Essex vs Somerset (County Championship Division One - Chelmsford)
Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first.

Essex	Somerset
Nick Browne	Eddie Byrom
Varun Chopra	Robin Dickens
Tom Westley	James Hildreth
Ryan ten Doeschate	Ross Taylor
Dan Lawrence	Tom Abell
Len Moss	Steven Davies (wk)
Adam Wheater (wk)	Roelof van der Merwe
Simon Harmer	Lewis Gregory (c)
Neil Wagner	Jamie Overton
Matt Quinn	Phillip Scargill
Matt Dixon	Jack Leach

Somerset make two forced changes from their win against Worcestershire - Craig Overton and Dominic Bess are with England, so van der Merwe and Scargill replace them with injuries to Groenewald and Rawlins.

Result: Essex won by 1 wicket
Points: Essex 20, Somerset 5
MOTM: Eddie Byrom (Somerset)

• Another slow first innings - we only earned two batting points because of how slow we scored
• Scargill was impressive on his debut
• Second innings batting was poor once again
• Batting was very difficult for both teams in second innings but somehow Essex got home

[MateGaming]

11th-14th May 2019: Somerset vs Surrey (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Surrey won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Surrey
Eddie Byrom	Dean Elgar
Robin Dickens	Rory Burns
James Hildreth	Mark Stoneman
Ross Taylor	Dan Robertson
Tom Abell	Tom Page
Steven Davies (wk)	Ollie Pope
Roelof van der Merwe	Ben Foakes (wk)
Lewis Gregory (c)	Sam Curran
Jamie Overton	Mathew Pillans
Phillip Scargill	Morné Morkel
Jack Leach	Freddie van den Bergh

Somerset are unchanged from the defeat at Chelmsford as they look to try and win their second game of the season and possibly move up into fourth.

Result: Somerset won by 7 wickets
Points: Somerset 23, Surrey 4
MOTM: Roelof van der Merwe

• We bowled well after being asked to field on a Day 1 road
• Davies' fast-paced innings helped us to reach four batting points
• Dickens showed glimpses of his ability
• van der Merwe bowled well and took four wickets

[MateGaming]

One Day Cup Review

Results:
18th May: Surrey beat Somerset by 8 wickets
20th May: Somerset beat Glamorgan by 9 wickets
22nd May: Sussex beat Somerset by 7 wickets
25th May: Essex beat Somerset by 9 wickets
27th May: Somerset beat Middlesex by 4 wickets
29th May: Kent beat Somerset by 120 runs
1st June: Gloucestershire beat Somerset by 3 wickets
6th June: Hampshire beat Somerset by 42 runs

Final Group Position: 9th (4 points)

Leading run-scorers:
1. Steven Davies (345 runs @ 43)
2. Robin Dickens (302 runs @ 43)
3. Kiran Carlson (281 runs @ 47)

Leading wicket-takers:
1. Jamie Overton (19 wickets @ 19)
2. Lewis Gregory (10 wickets @ 33)
3. Max Waller (6 wickets @ 32)

Highest total: 297 vs Gloucestershire, Taunton
Lowest total: 135 vs Middlesex, Taunton
Highest innings: Kiran Carlson 113 vs Middlesex, Taunton
Best bowling: Jamie Overton 4-33 vs Kent, Canterbury

Player of the competition: Jamie Overton

• Somerset's leading wicket taker (19 wickets)
• Useful contributor with the bat
• Economy rate of just 5.21

[MateGaming]

9th-12th June 2019: Somerset vs Middlesex (County Championship Division One - Taunton)
Middlesex won the toss and elected to bat first.

Somerset	Middlesex
Eddie Byrom	Max Holden
Robin Dickens	Nick Gubbins
Callum Ferguson	Stevie Eskinazi (wk)
James Hildreth	Harry Seaman
Tom Abell	Hilton Cartwright
Steven Davies (wk)	George Scott
Lewis Gregory (c)	David Malick
Jamie Overton	James Harris
Phillip Scargill	Tom Helm
Jack Leach	Tim Murtagh
Tim Groenewald	Steven Finn

With Taylor, Bess, Davey, van der Merwe, van Meekeren and Craig Overton on international duty, along with injuries to Max Waller and Ollie Sale, we have a significantly weakened team for this fixture. Ferguson replaces Taylor from our last Championship game, and Groenewald makes his first appearance in this competition this season, in place of van der Merwe.

Result: Somerset won by an innings and 197 runs
Points: Somerset 23, Middlesex 2
MOTM: Callum Ferguson (Somerset)

• Dismissing them for 229 represented a fantastic effort on another absolute road at Taunton
• Callum Ferguson scored a magnificent 222 on his Championship debut for Somerset, his highest ever First Class score)
• Also contributions from Byrom, Abell, Davies and Overton (76 being his First Class highest score)
• Superb second innings bowling to win the game, an absolute thrashing