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Honours even on day four
Tom Lammonby continued his excellent start to the season and played a major role in Somerset earning a hard fought draw against newly promoted Worcestershire at Kidderminster.
The left-hander dug in to score his third half century of the season in addition to his hundred against champions Surrey.
His unbeaten 81 lifted his run tally for the campaign past the 350 mark and he received excellent support from Andrew Umeed during a decisive fourth wicket partnership.
When the duo joined forces, Somerset were still 76 runs in arrears at 66 for three but they effectively blunted the attack and batted throughout the afternoon session in adding 117 in 39 overs.
Lammonby enjoys facing Worcestershire and in 2020 during COVID he became Somerset’s youngest player to carry his bat through an innings in a crucial four-day Bob Willis Trophy game at New Road.
His efforts today helped seal a fourth successive draw for Somerset.
The visitors resumed on five for one after Jason Holder had removed opener Sean Dickson yesterday evening.
Holder could have struck again first thing this morning but Matt Renshaw survived a chance to second slip before he had scored.
Jake Ball proved a frustration to Worcestershire during the opening hour and also did the bulk of the scoring. He edged Holder wide of third slip for four but produced a more convincing cover drive to the boundary off the same bowler.
Renshaw was content to blunt the attack and the second wicket pair added 39 before Adam Finch made the breakthrough. Ball (29) did not move to his feet to a delivery which jagged back in and was bowled.
Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira brought himself into the attack shortly before lunch and accounted for Renshaw. He had battled away for 77 balls in making 12 but then attempted to sweep the leg spinner and popped up a simple catch to Kashif Ali at short leg.
At that juncture, Somerset were still 76 runs in arrears but Lammonby and Umeed ensure there was no clatter of wickets.
The emphasis was almost entirely on defence with just the occasional boundary to keep the scoring rate at around two an over. Their efforts slowly but surely thwarted Worcestershire’s hopes of victory.
Lammonby completed a solid half century from 126 balls and an afternoon session produced 73 runs from 28 overs and no breakthroughs for the home side.
Umeed brought up his 50 from 117 deliveries at the start of the final session but then perished to a fine return one-handed reflex catch by Ben Gibbon.
Somerset take 12 points from the match and Worcestershire 15.
Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr, said: “Coming into the final day, the first hour was going to be a challenging time and we had to get through this without any scares.
“Bally (Jake Ball) did his job overnight but also this morning very well and the guys played brilliantly throughout the day.
“Pluses from the game? We batted well as a unit so the confidence is high there and some spells with the ball were outstanding but we were not quite at our best collectively as a unit.
“Again the confidence of the group is really high and we are playing some good cricket. We have just got to be a little bit better.
“We try to pick the best 11 to take 20 wickets and we have not been far off.
“We are still searching for that first win because of a combination of the type of balls used, skills not quite being good enough, surfaces but we have been incredibly competitive in the draws so far.”
