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Tom’s century sees Somerset home on day three
A superbly judged unbeaten century by Tom Lammonby helped Somerset maintain their excellent form with a seven-wicket defeat of Durham in the Rothesay County Championship match at the Banks Homes Riverside.
The victory moves Lewis Gregory’s side up to fourth in the Division One table, although most of the other games in this round have yet to finish.
Resuming on 71 for one and needing 194 more runs to clinch their third victory in succession, Somerset encountered few problems on a pitch where 31 wickets had fallen in two days.
Instead, they reached their target in mid-afternoon having lost only two wickets on this third day. Lammonby finished on 104 not out and Tom Abell, with whom he had put on an unbroken 139 for the fourth wicket, was unbeaten on 73.
Yet Durham had enjoyed the perfect start to the morning when Gregory was caught by Ollie Robinson off Ben Raine for 38 in the second over of the day. However, Lammonby and the new batter, James Rew made light of that setback by adding 55 runs in 15 overs.
Just before noon, Colin Ackermann came on to bowl his off-spin from the Lumley End and this change brought a much needed breakthrough for the home side when Rew, who had looked in little trouble while making 31, chipped a half-drive straight to Alex Lees at short extra cover.
That wicket left Somerset on 128 for three but it did not halt the visitors’ steady progress towards their target. Lammonby became only the second batter in the match to make a half-century, reaching that landmark off 70 balls and having hit five boundaries, and Durham’s need for further wickets was made plain when Raine and Mitch Killeen were brought back into the attack around 40 minutes after they had been taken off.
Those bowling changes made no difference. Lammonby and Abell continued their steady accumulation, maidens were rarities and Somerset reached lunch on 174 for three, 91 short of their target, with Lammonby on 65 not out and Abell unbeaten on 20.
Five overs into the afternoon session Durham threw away a faint chance to salvage the game when Lammonby was dropped on 69 by James Minto off Daniel Hogg at deep square leg, the 17-year-old shelling a straightforward chance after the ball had been pulled straight to him.
That escape seemed to energise the Somerset batters and the remaining 70 runs came quickly. Lammonby took three fours off a Minto over and soon after reached his century off 149 balls, having hit a dozen fours. Shortly afterwards, Abell reached his fifty off 122 balls and victory was confirmed when Abell clipped Killeen through midwicket for a final boundary.
After his match-winning innings, Tom Lammonby said:Â “When we arrived this morning any result was possible and it was an important first hour. I got through that with James Rew and then started again with Tom Abell, so that was very pleasing.
“I think we can overlook how well we bowled in that third innings but our seamers showed that they are world class. Â Also that opening partnership between Lewis Gregory and Josh Davey was important in taking the edge of the new ball.
“It was important to me to make the starts count and I was pleased to do that today. I love batting with Tom and I’d do it for ever if I could. I always cherish it.
“I think I’ve changed a lot and learned a lot, which has put my all-round game in a good stead and I’ll look to continue to do that.”
