So close to being champions last season, Somerset have had a torrid start to their 2017 County Championship season. Four matches in and they have registered three losses and a draw and have, tellingly, picked up only four batting bonus points.
Things got no better for them against the champions Middlesex on the first day at Lord’s. Having decided not to take up the option of bowling first, captain Tom Abell duly won the toss and elected to bat — perhaps something of an odd decision on a day with cloud cover and a pitch with more than hint of green. Within 29 overs they found themselves 80 for 5 with their captain and three of their most experienced players back in the dressing room.
The middle order of Abell, James Hildreth, Steven Davies and Peter Trego are woefully out of form and already questions are being asked about who from the second team may be able to come in to replace one or more of them. The answer to that might be Adam Hose or George Bartlett, but they are young and there are no guarantees that they will not struggle too.
Division One bowling attacks are ruthless and with a quarter of the division being relegated this season and two fewer matches, there is no time for experimentation.
Only 48 overs were possible on the opening day because of a storm then bad light.
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Somerset will go into day two in a much better situation than they might have been because of their opener Dean Elgar, who is averaging over 55 in the championship and trying bravely to make up for the poor form of his team-mates.
He has topped 50 in nine of the 14 innings that he has played for Somerset this season across two competitions and ended yesterday unbeaten on 77, having faced 146 balls in an innings that included 12 fours. He added 81 in partnership with Lewis Gregory, undefeated on 27 at the close, and will be key when Somerset resume on day two.
Elgar battled through an uncomfortable period of hostile bowling against the hugely impressive Tom Helm, who found both pace and bounce, using the vagaries of the Lord’s slope to his advantage against the left hander.
His 13 overs yielded just the wicket of Davies but there is much to be excited about in this young bowler — his height, his strength and his pace are attributes he uses well. One suspects we will be hearing a great deal more about him in the coming months and years. Indeed, he may even be an outside chance to tour Australia this winter, with England not over-burdened with pace options.
Middlesex’s four-pronged attack found seam and swing. Toby Roland-Jones — who could replace the injured Chris Woakes in England’s Champions Trophy squad — bowled a tight line and got some extra bounce that did for Marcus Trescothick, who fell in the fourth over of the morning edging to Steve Eskinazi in the slips.