Lewis leads Somerset fightback on day one
A gritty and determined 90 from Lewis Goldsworthy led the Somerset fightback against Warwickshire on the opening day of this Rothesay County Championship clash at the Cooper Associates.
After Craig Overton won the toss and elected to bat in front of a crowd in the region of 3000, the hosts slipped to 21 for three in the fourth over, but Goldsworthy shared stands of 65 with Thomas Rew, 55 with Josh Shaw and 39 with Migael Pretorius to take Somerset to a total that had seemed unlikely during the opening exchanges.
The Cornishman was the final wicket to fall as the hosts were dismissed for 208 off the final delivery of the 65th over.
In reply, Warwickshire were well placed at the close of playing having reached 92 for two, trailing by 116 with eight wickets in hand.
As well as being the opening day of this fixture it was also the opening day of Somerset’s Festival of Red Ball Cricket, which sees the Club championing everything that makes the First Class game so special. This drew a bumper crowd who were able to enjoy live music, museum talks, Q&A sessions and much more.
Beau Webster was the pick of Warwickshire’s attack, claiming four for 23 in eight overs, while Ethan Bamber, Nathan Gilchrist and Manav Suthar weighed in with two wickets apiece.
Warwickshire then consolidated their position in the final session, Sam Hain (37 not out) and Dan Mousley (37 not out) staging an unbroken third wicket stand of 78.
Bamber struck twice in three balls in the third over of the Somerset innings, angling a delivery into Josh Thomas, who edged behind to Alex Davies, and then locating the outside edge to have Tom Kohler-Cadmore held by Rob Yates at second slip. When Jordan Hermann flashed hard at a ball outside off stump from Gilchrist and was pouched by Webster at third slip, Somerset were 21 for three, having lost their top three in the space of five deliveries.
Charged with the task of rebuilding, Goldsworthy and Rew saw off the new ball threat posed by Bamber and Gilchrist before profiting from change bowlers Ed Barnard and Jordan Thompson to lead a partial recovery. Making only his third Championship appearance, teenager Rew marked the advent of Suthar by hoisting his slow left arm for six over long-on as the balance of power shifted in favour of the fourth wicket pair.
Their partnership was worth 65 when Rew fell lbw to Webster for 35. Warming to his task, Webster then extracted additional lift to find the edge, Archie Vaughan feathering a catch to first slip as lunch was taken with Somerset precariously-positioned at 94 for five.
The home side continued to lose wickets following the resumption, Webster persuading Overton to open the face and slice to Zen Malik at point and then bowling around the wicket to Jack Leach, who nicked behind with the score 97 for seven.
Staunch resistance was called for and Josh Shaw stood up to be counted, contributing a well-crafted 28 in the resilient alliance with Goldsworthy, the eighth wicket pair frustrating Warwickshire’s attempts to run through the tail. By the time Shaw gave Suthar the charge and succumbed to a fine catch by Hain on the long-on boundary, the home side had gone a long way towards saving face.
Goldsworthy’s commitment to the cause saw him chisel an extremely valuable half century from 137 balls. Accelerating as wickets fell at the other end, the 25-year-old batted with intelligence to retain the strike as he closed in on three figures.
However, Pretorius was undone by a slower ball, offering a return catch to Suthar, and Goldsworthy skied a ball from Gilchrist to Hain at backward point and falling 10 runs short of the hundred his efforts warranted.
Somerset made early in-roads with the new ball, Jake Ball having Davies held at first slip and Overton pouching a return catch to remove Yates and reduce Warwickshire to 14 for two.
Adopting a low-risk approach, Hain and Rousley batted with discipline to shut out Somerset’s bowlers thereafter, going to a 50 partnership via 87 balls.
