Somerset’s Record Stands: The Eighth Wicket
Somerset’s draw against Surrey at the end of the season was a memorable fixture for a number of reasons.
Records tumbled as we saw huge totals, career bests and historic partnerships.
Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby set a new record for the highest ever First Class partnership for the fourth wicket (334), whilst Abell and Migael Pretorius also set a new high for the Club’s ninth wicket stand (195).
That got us thinking about the record partnerships for each of the other eight wickets…
So, we went back through the archives to uncover Somerset’s highest ever stands in First Class cricket.
We head back to 2016 to take a closer look at The Club’s record eighth wicket partnership.
Somerset traveled to Old Trafford to take on Lancashire in August of that year, and although the game ended in a draw, Peter Trego and Ryan Davies wrote themselves into the Club’s record books.
After winning the toss, Lancashire Captain Steve Croft invited the visitors to bat first.
Somerset openers, Marcus Trescothick and Tom Abell shared an opening stand of 134 as the visitors made a strong start.
Abell went on to make a then personal best of 135, but Somerset slipped from 227 for two to 287 for seven.
This brought Trego and Davies to the crease.
The pair added 236 and made career-best First Class scores as Trego finished on 154 not out and Davies made 86 as the visitors declared on 553 for eight.
Looking back on his innings, Trego said: “If I remember rightly, the second new ball was taken, and it started doing a little bit. We’d had a bit of a mini collapse after a good start, and I went in towards the close of play.
“For some reason everything just seemed to find the middle of the bat and the man down the other end, Ryan Davis, played absolutely beautifully. He was having a tricky season that year, but he played magnificently well and we put on a sizable partnership.
“Looking at the scorecard now, I do remember that I was quite disappointed when the declaration came because I felt like it could have been a lot more as the wicket flattened out towards the back end of the game, but it was great to have my name alongside Ryan’s in a record.
“It was fantastic and I very much hope to be commentating in the near future when that record is broken!”
