CC1 Penultimate End Game v Yorks in Leeds

And so we move into the end of the Championship.  If we are to win this thing then this game will tell us what to do in the last home game next week.  3 games will effect the situation, we have control over only one as we meet Yorkshire at Headingley.  Lewis Goldsworthy misses out to Archie Vaughan and Jake Ball is chosen instead of Josh Shaw.  The rest of the side is the one that took Leicestershire down in 2 and a half days.  Yorkshire won the toss and will take to the crease first.

CC1 - v Yorkshire @ Headingley Tuesday 15 September 2026

Somerset are still at the top of the CC1 table but only by 4 points and therefore other games are very much in the county's eyeline over the next 4 days.  Neverthless we only have influence over one game and that starts on time at 10:30.  Yorkshire won the toss and will bat first.

The team is the one that faced Leicestershire last week;

Thomas, Lammonby, Abell, Nicholls, Rew (wk), Vaughan, Overton, Gregory (c), Pretorius, Leach Ball

Lewis Goldsworthy and Josh Shaw miss out for this game.

Yorkshire really need to win this game as they have the hardest run in with Yorkshire away and Surrey at home.  Notts and Warwickshire will do what they do and we will have to work with that.  The weather is variable in Leeds with some cloud and blue sky.  The ground has a smattering of spectators but pretty sparse to be honest for the first day of the last CC1 game for the home side..

Adam Lyth and Will Luxton face Lewis Gregory for the first ball.  They take 4 from the first over (in the form of leg byes) but neither bat is off the mark as Migael Pretorius takes the first from the rugby stand end.  Both openers manage to get off the mark in this over and they finish with 6 on the scoreboard.

The two Yorkshire openers settle into their routines until the start of the 7th over when Gregory gets one high on Lyth's bat and he guides the ball straight into the hands of Henry Nicholls at first slip.  Lyth goes for 11 from 26 and Yorkshire are 30 for 1.  The third Yorkshire bat is Sam Whiteman and he fininshes the 7th without scoring so it is a wicket maiden for the captain.  The ball seems to be carrying through to the slips really well this morning as the report is that the pitch is 'rock hard'.

We see how well it carries in the 9th over when Gregory repeats the Lyth dismissal by having Luxton guide the ball to Tom Abell at second sllip for 22 from 19.  Yorkshire are 39 for 2 from 2 outside edges.  Number four in the home side line-up is James Wharton.  Suddenly there are a new pair of bats at the crease with 1 run between them and a Yorkshire start has turned into a Yorkshire rebuilding exercise.

After 10 the score has moved to 39 for 2 and has only added 1 run by the time Craig Overton joins the attack replacing Migael for the 12th.  At the end of the 15th they have added only 10 and during Cove's 16th they move past 50 with a Whiteman single.  50 off 92 balls with Whiteman on 10 from 27 and Wharton only on 1 from 21.

Jake Ball is now his bowling partner after replacing Lewis for the 15th and he has yet to give away a run.  The two bats look in trouble against both bowlers with Wharton only managing 5 but it is Whiteman who finishes the struggle with Jake as he chops him on in the 19th to leave for 14 from 37 at 58 for 3.  This brings in Matthew Revis ahead of Jonny Bairstow and gives Somerset their first bowling point.

Gregory seems to think there is something in this pitch as he brings himself on after 2 for 26 off his first 7.  He comes back on for the 22nd to give Wharton a bit more to wonder about.  However the next wixcket comes from something we all say never happens as Wharton takes on Josh Thomas for a quick single to his left hand and loses the race.  The left hander directly hits from midwicket on the run and Revis is dismissed for 6 from 9 at 68 for 4.  "We never hit the wickets"? Well we do!!

Jonny Bairstow is finally in and is off the mark with a single.  But rain comes sweeping in 20 minutes before the lunch interval and they leave the field at 12:15 at 77 for 4 with both Yorkshire bats on 9 each.  Gregory has 2 for 21 and Jake Ball has 1 for 17 with the fourth being the Thomas direct hit.  They may take an early lunch given the time though it may just be a quick shower.

They do in fact taken an early lunch because of the weather break and so should be back about 1pm on Day 1.

After the break Lewis keeps the pressure on as he starts the 26th over.  Craig begins the afternoon at the other end with Wharton specifically havinig no fun with only 10 from 60 balls he has faced. Sure enough, a ball that beats him finally gets a result in the 30th at 85 for 4 when the skipper bowls him with an absolute peach of an inswinging yorker.  10 runs from 61 and few would have been able to keep that one out.  In comes George Hill to look at producing some kind of partnership.

These two push the score past 100 in the 36th Hill takes a single to move him to 14 from 27 while his captain Bairstow has got 17 from the 35 he has seen off.  100 for 5 halfway through the 36th over at 2.8 runs per over. With tha comes more rain but they seem to be looking to play through it.  They do and by the 40th Yorkshire have 117 for 5 as Ball is back on the marks bowling his 8th.  

The third ball sees a snick through by the Yorks skipper but Rew drops the catch even on the third attempt, he takes it above his head, then it falls out and he has another go but finally trying to dive on it, it hits the ground.  Bairstow is definitely dropped on 27 at 117 for 5!!

Jack is on to bowl for the first time at 132 for 5 in the 44th.  The Yorkshire pair's 50 run partnership comes with the second ball at 136 for 5. These two are looking to take this innings out of the contrioil of the Somerset bowlers and that drop of Bairstow is looking ominous unfortunately.#

By the end of the 46th, Yorkshire are looking to pass 150.  They do that in the 47thoff the bowling of Gregory starting his third spell of the day, his 16th of the day.  Bairstow takes the run that moves past that mark to 152 for 5 and himself into the 40s.  Hill has 37 from his 56 and this pair continue to rebuld the innings.  Jack who has gone for 9 in his 2 over so far, goes for 7 more in his 48th and in doing so sees the Yorkshire skipper reach 50 from 74 balls with 9 fours at 159 for 5.

Migael Pretorius returns in the 53rd and Rew gets his mojo back with a very good diving catch to send Hill back to the dressing room for 45 from 80 at 168 for 6.  That brings Dom Bess - Tom Abell's Best Man in October of this year at his marriage - to the crease.  he said he does not want to get out to Jack but that won't be happening as he drives his first ball to Miggy and is caught behind to bring the bowler his second in 2 balls.  Bit ambitious Dom to be honest.  168 for 7 brings Kuldeep to the crease as the hat-trick ball which doesn't come to anything as he takes a single.

The new pair survive to Tea seeing out the 57th over.  They take the break with Bairstow with 59 from 90 balls and Kuldeep up to 7 from his 19 at 182 for 7.  Lewis has 3 from his 18 overs - 3 important spells from the skipper.  2 in an over from Migael give him figures of 2 for 33 from 11 - good tight bowling from the South African.  Jake has taken the other one with the ball with 1 for 39 from his 10.  Jack has bowled 5 for 19 without a victim and Craig has bowled 13 strong overs without the success they deserved to finish with o for 37.  Possibly the most significant stat is that in 2 spells, the 57 overs bowled has resulted in 13 maidens.

The drop by Rew means a bat is still in the middle who can change a game but in the grand scheme of things we would have happily faced him after Tea if we have the home side in this position having chosen to bat and only managing a scoring rate of less than 4 an over.  

No skipper to start the third session.  Jake takes the first with Miggy P at the other end.  They survive into the 60th when Ball has Kuldeep feeling for a ball outside the off and he is caught behind for 11 from 29 at 189 for 8.  Ben Coad is the next man in as a support for the work of Bairstow on who the whole weight of this innings is now on.  By the end of the 62nd they have moved to 199.  The England takes a four off Pretorius to go to 203and it is obvious that he is looking to push the score with the second bounfary of the innings.  However, Ball ties Coad up for a whole over which get Jonny believing that it is only a matter of time.  he therefore goes very BIG off the first ball of the next Pretorius over and bottom edges the ball straight to his opposite number.  He goes for 79 from 110 at 207 for 9.  Maximum bowling points again for the visitors.  Out comes Cliff as the last man.  He was dropped on 27 and 44 but he made the most of his time in the middle.

Cliff hits a four off his second ball  and adds a leg bye before the end of the 65th at 212 for 9.   Cliff flicks the 3rd ball from Ball to Thomas and they are all out for 212.   He goes for 4 and Coad is 0 not out.

Jake finishes with 3 for 49.  Miggy takes 3 for 51 and Lewis already had 3 for 46.  Good bowling performance.  Mixed fielding performance but we have to see this as us on top at this point on Day 1. 

So, 10 minutes later and with 28 overs left in the Day's play, Josh Thomas and Tom Lammonby walk out to start to decrease Yorkshire's 212 run lead.  Coad will take the first over and the only scoring shot is Josh getting off the mark with a single.  Cliff takes the second from the other end and the only person scoring is Thomas.  In fact by the end of the fourth with 11 on the board, Tom Lammonby still does not have a run on the board.  it's looking like it is developing and then in the 5th over it suddenly isn't.  Lammonby doesn't get off the mark as with the first ball of the 5th over he is caught by Hill at first slip off Coad.  In comes Archie Vaughan  in no form whatsoever and that becomes more of an issue when Thomas is LBW to Cliff at the end of the 6th without adding to his 11.  Henry Nicholls is at the crease and neither bat has a score to their name. 

As with the Yorkies, these two look to reset the innings but by the 10th over, the bowling of both Yorkshire seamers had restricted Nicholls to a single run from the 9 balls he faced while Archie had done little better only adding 6 from his 21.  The score had stumbled to 18 for 2 and nothing looked like it was getting any better for the new batting pair.  it did not really improve in the next couple of overs and as the 12th over from Cliff (1 for 23 from his 5 and a bit) neared its end, Archie  went for an expansive drive and an inside edge crashed into his stumps and he is bowled for 12 at 24 for 3.  Somerset are making a dog's breakfast of this one I'm afraid.

Tom Abell arrives at the middle in a position he has had a lof of experience of in his career with the county one hopes he can keep his form and look to put something together with the New Zealander to pull Somerset out of this mire they have themselves in now.  There are 16 overs left in the days play and they are still 188 behind the home side's first innings as teh 13th wicket of the day clatters down.  Settle and end the day well is the order of the evening.

Unfortunately, that is not what happens as Abell is caught behind first ball!!  With 12 overs gone Somerset are 24 for 4 and their title hopes may very well be disappearing in front of their eyes here in Leeds.  James Rew is the last recognised specialist bat before the allrounders enter the fight and we are still less than halfway from the score we need to save the follow on!!  We need another 38 runs for that to not be a factor in this game.

Hill and Revis take over the bowling duties as Coad with 1 and Cliff with 3 take a rest.  The tight bowling does not really end though and by the end of the 15th over we have moved to 38 for 4 with Nicholls on to a mighty 9 from 26 while Rew is racing along at 6 from 7!!  13 overs from the end of the day looks a very long way away at the moment. 

By the middle of the 18th with Revis starting it with 1 for 3, Rew has found the rope twice and brought up the 50 from 17.3 overs.  Nicholls has 12 from 33 and the Somerset keeper has overtaken him adding 8 to a score he hadn't altered since the 15th over but still going at about a run a ball for all that.  10 overs left but still shy of that 62 needed to not be asked to bat again!!

The pain does not end this side of that total because at 55 at the end of the 20th Revis bowls to Nicholls on 16 and he send the ball almost between the keeper who does not go and first slip who does but very late..  he nearly gets away with it but George Hill hangs on to a brilliant 1 handed reflex grab and Henry has to go for a stodgey 16 from 38 leaving James to try and save the day with Craig still 7 short of that 150 run boundary.  What a mess this is becoming.

With 5 to go, Yorkshire turn to a bit of spin to see what that may do to their opponents.  Kuldeep comes on with no change in the score since the 20th and his first ball is sent through the infield by Overton for a four to break the grip they have.  His 5th ball is a no ball and the Craig takes two off his last and we breathe at least one sigh of relief as we move to 63 for 5 and below the 150 'bat again' total.

Hill has bowled very tightly indeed and did not concede a run since his second over.  He finishes his first spell of 6 overs for 6 runs and is replaced with Coad with 4 overs left in today's play.  They bat out his 2 and Kuldeep's one and the Dom Bess bowls for the first time to produce a maiden for the 28th.  That ends the day with Somerset scoring at a rate of 2.4 runs an over and ending on .  They are still 144 behind their opponents with 5 wickets left in their first innings - batting bonus points are 'pie in the sky' at the moent I am afraid.

James Rew has moved on to 17 (53) and Craig has blocked out most of the last 2 overs to return to the dressing room  with 7 (21) There have been 28 overs of the innings and it has been pretty much a disaster for a side hoping to win the Championship from a position only 4 point ahead with 1 to play after this one.  We could not afford to lose this one and we are presently 25% of the way through it with victory looking highly improbable from this position.  It does of course depend on how others are faring but this may be the day we remember as the one when the dream died for 2026.

However, hope springs eternal and tomorrow is another day of Championship cricket.  Who says this format is BORING?   The one trivia fact of the day is that the Groom Abell and the Best Man Bess were both out on the same day first ball!!

Day 2

10:30 and we go again with a MASSIVE morning session in front of Somerset in the context of the season. Discussion of the Josh Thomas LBW decision has had quite a lot of analysis and discussion overnight but one out of 5 is not much of a mediation to be honest and so we move on.  The inconsistent bounce has also been commented on and Steve Kirby was not all that happy with the pitch in last night's interview.  We'll have to see how it develops today. 

Ben Coad opens with Somerset on 68 for 5.  They take 6 off the first with an Overton boundary to start his account on the second morning.  Ben Cliff takes the second and he has Rew with his 5th ball of the day .  He is caught behind for 17 from 61 at 74 for 6.  Cliff now has 4 for 31 from 7.5 over.  Seems James was a bit of a surprise, it can't have been more than the slightest of feathers.  Cliff then gets his 5-fer as he has the skipper Gregory LBW at 74 for 7.  Out comes Jack Leach with our CC1 hopes in tatters I'm afraid.

The new pair have reached 79 by the time Cliff gets the opportunity of a hat-trick ball but Overton deals with it.  He then gets a single to move to 18, the highest score in this innings so far!!

Revis replaces Cliff, after his best first class figures, to bowl the 40th with the visitors on 99 and then 100 as Overton takes a single.  George Hill is the other change for the 41st.  Pretorius is obviously struggling with his hand and has the physio out again as he is caught on the end of the finger again.

Cliff gets Jack next as he gets one to take off and take the shoulder of the bat to the keeper - good ball and nothing the Somerset spinner could do about that.  He leaves for 6 from 10 at 86 for 8.  Cliff moves to 6 for 37  in his 10.  Migael Pretorius is in and he gets hit on the glove and drops his bat off the first ball - not his bowling hand thankfully but he has some physio help for a while.

He continues as Hills bowls 43rd and Miggy flashes hard over the slips to bring the lead down below 100 with a four a foot over the fielders grasping hands. 113 for 8 moves to 120 at the end of the 44th with 80 overs left in the day.

Good work from Miggy and COve creates a 50 partnership at 136 for 8 with Craig on 36 from 63 and Miggy on a quick 32 from 45.  The lead is down to 76 and then 75 when Yorkshire move to use their international spinners as Kuldeep comes on for the 47th.

The 150 arrives from an Overton single from Hill in the 48th.  The last 50 came in 51 balls and Migael has moved ahead of his partner to 43 comapred with Craig's 37.  The lead also falls to 62.  Great stubborn work from these two.

in the 50th from Kuldeep, there is a mix-up as the bats collide taking a quick run.  A return from the fielder (Lyth) to Jonny Bairstow looks like a definite run out but the Yorkshire keeper sees his runner is in and then completely mucks up sending the ball to the bowler's end.  It bounces about 2 feet from his wicket and disappears through mid-wicket. Absolute mess at 156 for 8 and after 13 overs and 2 balls the partnership continues.  in the 52nd over from Hill, Migael Pretorius re-establishes the county's view that he CAN actually bat when he reaches an excellent and very welcome 50.  It comes off a handsome drive from a ball from Cliff.  52 off 59 deliveries with 9 fours.  That is his highest score of the season in CC1 and it is very important at 164 for 8 as the lead drops below 50!!

The ball is still spitting though, it is still not easy to bat out there and the allrounders are dealing with it very well.    Lunch is coming but Pretorius  will not see it as in the 56th over he becomes Cliff's 8th victim at 176 for 8.  He goes for a superb 58 from 70 caught off a loose-ish shot edged to Hill at first slip.  Cliff has 7 for 54. That 9th wicket partnership of 90 was a new record against Yorkshire passing the 1946 record of Bill Andrews and GR Langdale which was 86 at Taunton. 

Out comes Ball as the last man to face a Yorkshire lead of 36 and a batting partner on 44 from 96.  Our really true number 11 gets a four to start his innings from a cut that rolls into the rope to move the score to 180 for 9 at the end of the 56th.

Coad takes possibly the last before lunch.  His third ball simply does not bounce!!  Craig takes a single and Ball looks at 2 balls to survive.  He does that but Yorkshire take the extra half hour/8 overs under heavy cloud cover.  Cliff bowls, Craig smacks it out into the hands of Whiteman who has dived and takes it over the rope for 6 and an Overton 50 from 102 balls of '"grit, determination and the highest quality".  Hear, Hear.

The lead goes below 20 at the end of the 58th at 193 for 9.  Craig has been in the middle for the whole of the morning session.  He has passed 50 for the 6th CC1 time this year and he converted 3 of those.  Ball gratefully takes the width Coad gives him in the 59th and gets off strike.  He survives the over and we go into the 60th.   The third ball goes high wide and handsome for 6 from the bowling allrounder and that brings up the 200 to 201 for 9.  He tries again and he is caught in the deep by Kuldeep for a magnificent 64 from 110 balls.  Somerset are all out for 201 for 9 trailing by 11 with Jake Ball not out 5 from his 11 balls. 

Well after the disappointment of the first 10 minutes this morning, the last 2 and a half hours has restored some faith with the bowlers coming to the party with a mere 115 runs for the last two wickets with 90 coming from Migael and Craig.  We are back in this one but with no batting bonus points (though Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire failed to get any either). 

So we go again after Lunch!!  Credit to Ben Cliff who finishes with career best figures of 16.4 overs, 3 maidens, 8 for 76.  Not bad going and the pitch is giving out 'uncertain bounce' messages quite a lot so there is definitely more to come from this game. 

Hope springs eternal for the long term Somerset supporter as we start the second session of Day 2.  We werepretty much dead and buried at 86 for 8 but we go into the second phase of this game only 11 runs adrift.  This does not look like a 4 day game so a result is very much on the cards.  Somerset's campaign may still have some life in it.

The afternoon session is started by Lewis Gregory as Luxton and Lyth open the batting.  They have 4 by the end of it as Craig Overton is straight into the attack.  His first goes past the outside edge without much of a bounce.  His second ball sees Luxtron's middle stump fly as he bowls himm trough the gate.  That is his 50th first class wicket of the season and it was a storming ball 4 for 1 and what a Somerset hero this man is!!  His first is a wicket maiden - no surprise there.

Lewis follows his team mate and bowls another maiden so the home side are still on 4 as Craig comes in for his next to new man Sam Whiteman.  He gets off the mark with a single but nothing more comes from the skipper's next - 2 maidens in a row.   Craig comea around the wicket and Lyth edges the ball to a very good low catch from Henry Nicholls and it is 5 for 2 at the start of the 6th over.  What a start - Yorkshire are effectively 16 for 2.  In comes James Wharton.  and he looks to stay a little longer. 

By the 10th over Yorkshire have moved to 10 with both bats on 3 and daftly tight figures from both bowlers.  They have reached 12 by the end of the 11th as Jake Ball takes over from Craig as the first change.  Lewis stays on and Yorkshire move on to 21 for 2 as Lewis finishes his first spell with 12 for 0 from his 7.

Jake's second over gains reward as his third ball has Wharton loses his off stump to an excellent ball which goes in and then out again.  Wharton goes for 6 from 32 and the home side are 21 for 3 as Revis comes out.   The floodlights also come on as the clouds move in.  Jake finishes his second with 1 for 5 as Pretorius  replaces his captain for the 15th.  He finishes the 17th with a maiden after going for four from his first.  But then the weather comes in and the umpire takes the men off at 26 for 3 just 2 balls into the 18th.  The time is 2:37 but an announcement at 2:40 says they will take an early Tea.

3;18pm before the clean up is fininshed and we are back. Revis has 1, Whiteman has 13 from 45 and Yorkshire have a lead of 37 runs.  When we return there are 46.4 overs left in the day with Jake Ball up first to finish the 18th over. Migael starts at the other end and by the 20th more tight bowling has kept Yorkshire to 27 for 3 with Ball bowling 5 overs for 7 runs and 1 wicket.  Migael has gone for 4 from his 3.   Making runs is not easy at the moment.

By the 25th Miggy bowls another maiden and it is only 38 for 3 and Overton is back on at the other end.  They only manage to add 2 (which takes the lead over 50) before the end of a maiden from COve brings an end to the 28th.  Jake takes over from Miggy for the 29th as Yorkshire have managed to add 14 runs since Tea in an hour with more than one play and miss also in that time (possibly more than 14 of them!!)

Finally the bowlers get a breakthrough as the 2 runs made by Revis are all he will contribute when the fourth ball jags off the edge to a diving Tom Abell 40 for 4 sees Revis leave for 2 from 40 balls.  In comes Bairstow to face Ball who is now 2 for 7 from his 6.4 overs.  

By the 30th over, neither Bairstow or Whiteman have added to the score. They add 5 in the 31st after which Lewis  returns (Craig has bowled 14 dot balls in a row).  His last ball of the 32nd see the back of Bairstow who drives the ball directly into the diving hands of Vaughan.  Jonny chased a ball though it was a great catch.  He goes for 1 from 12 at 45 for 5.  Gregory has 1 for 12 from 8.  In comes Hill and he and Whteman take the score over 50 with a two at the end of the 33rd over.  51 runs in 199 balls!!

Hill is off the mark with a 3 (a run saved by the combined boundary fielding of Thomas and Lammonby) but Whteman is not lucky at being at the crease as he is caught at second slip by Abell from Gregory next ball Whiteman goes for 35 from 97 trying to take his bat away at 54 for 6.  This brings Bess to the crease on a possible 'King' pair.  He is caught behind but it didn't come off anything.  Lewis has a chat with his ex teammate as he passes him.

By the end of the 37th Yorkshire have moved on to 64 for 6. The new Yorkshire pair start to put something together and as we move into the 40 over area, the lead starts to move towards a 3 figure total.  That 100 is achieved with a two run shot saved on the boundary by Overton.  It comes in the 47th over, bowled by Gregory with Hill on 22 from 34 and Bess on 16 from 47 at 89 for 6.  It looks like the back end of the Uorkshire batting may well do what Somerset managed earlier in the day nd put uop a fight to get this to a workable and defendable total for the home side.

There are 17 overs left in the day if we can get them in and as we move towards the conclusion, Jack Leach is brought into the attack for the 48th over.  He then takes the 50th and dutring that one Huill hits him for 6 to take the Yorkshire second innings total over 100 to 105 for 6. Ball is helping to close down the day.  In the 56th over, Hill takes a single to reach a first class 50 with 6 fours and a six in 68 balls.  The total has moved to 122 for 6.

With 7 overs to go the light gets the better of them and the umpires take the sides off at 128 for 6.  Bess has 27 from 74 while Hill has not moved from his 50.  A topsy turvey sort of a day.  one of the commentators said that at 20:50 this morning he was writing the obituary for Somerset's championship dash and now the game is in a very different place.  2 days to go, a present lead of 139 with 4 wickets (Kuldeep, Coad and Clliff to come)

The bowling has been as tight as a duck's behind.  The captain has bowled the captain,'s share with 16/5/2/36  Craig Overton was the hammer at the start with his 2 wickets and he ends up with 13/6/2/17 - by far the tightest spell.  Jake bowled 12/5/3/35 to tally all the wickets and Migael put in  a spell of 11 with 6 maidens for 20 with the spin of Leach ending the report 0 for 19 off 5 at the end.  Everybody put in their quota and the game is interestingly poised with Somerset being moderately happy to start again fresh in the morning and have a go at turning what seemed like a disaster this morning into something more palatable on Day 3.  We'd love to chase less then 150 and that might be a job.  If the last few bats can put their game together tomorrow then a chase moving towards 200 would be much more of a task given what has happened up to now.  There are 2 days left IF the weather doesn't have a say.  We shall see in the second half of this very interesting game.

Day 3