Essex Men v Somerset Men
Rothesay County Championship
Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford
Wednesday 24 – Saturday 27 September 2025 | 10:30am start
Team News
Essex: Dean Elgar, Paul Walter, Tom Westley (C), Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Michael Pepper (WK), Noah Thain, Simon Harmer, Doug Bracewell, Charlie Bennett, Jamie Porter.
Somerset: Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Archie Vaughan, Tom Lammonby, James Rew (WK), Lewis Gregory (C), Lewis Goldsworthy, Kasey Aldridge, Josh Thomas, Craig Overton, Jack Leach, Jake Ball.
Match Details
Umpires: Nigel Llong & Russell Warren
Match Referee: Wayne Noon
Scorers: Paul Parkinson & Polly Rhodes
Toss: Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first
Result: Essex won by seven wickets.
Day Four Reaction: Chris Silverwood
Day Four Highlights
Day Four Report
Twenty-year-old Charlie Allison kept his head during an otherwise nervy hour and a quarter as Essex claimed a seven-wicket victory to round off the Rothesay County Championship season.
Allison, one of Essex’s stand-out performers this season, finished the game with a second six off Jake Ball over long leg. He was 32 not out from 34 balls as Essex reached their target of 95 from just 18.4 overs.
Lewis Gregory had given Somerset some hope by removing Dean Elgar and Tom Westley inside the first six overs before taking the catch in the deep to end Paul Walter’s tone-setting innings. Walter, a first-innings centurion, had amassed 30 from 31 balls when he departed with 39 runs still required.
The Somerset captain was fired up in the face of desperate odds against and caused jitters in the Essex ranks as he repeatedly beat the outside edge of the bat. He bowled through unchanged and was rewarded with figures of 2-43 from his nine overs.
For two-and-a-half days it looked like the game would peter out into a draw but that was before Jamie Porter initiated a collapse of monumental proportions amid the gloomy day-three afternoon and early evening sessions.
Essex had subsided themselves earlier in the day from an overnight 295-2 to 438 all out and a nominal lead of five runs. But in 34 overs reminiscent of some of Essex’s glory years of recent past, the hosts rolled Somerset over for 99 with Porter taking 4-18 and falling just one wicket short of another 50-wicket haul for the season.
Essex had already confirmed their Division One survival during this final match while Somerset had settled for third position. Three successive wins in May had even suggested a title challenge that did not materialise.
However, with all day to knock off the runs, a modicum of tension was introduced in only the second over. Having put on 277 for the first wicket in the first innings, the opening partnership lasted just seven balls. Elgar departed for a golden duck, hit on his front pad by Gregory without getting near the ball.
Westley withstood the rest of a torrid over from Gregory but got off the mark with a characteristic drive through midwicket for four off Craig Overton. He followed that with an emphatic pull through midwicket off Gregory for a second boundary before he, too, fell to the same bowler.
After putting on a run-a-ball 28 with Walter, Westley nibbled at one outside off-stump and wicketkeeper James Rew dived in front of first slip to claim the catch.
Walter had been busy turning twos into threes to the extent that Essex reached fifty from just nine overs when Charlie Allison walked down the pitch and smashed Overton through extra cover for four.
Overton had been relatively expensive, his five overs costing 25, but his replacement Ball struck with his first ball with Walter paying the price.
Allison made sure the target came down quickly and deposited Ball over long leg for six to take Essex within two runs of the target and then repeated the act to complete the victory and ensuring Essex finish their season on a positive note, setting the tone for the next campaign.
Day Three Reaction: Charlie Bennett
Day Three Highlights
Day Three Report
Jamie Porter ripped through some fragile batting with four wickets to help skittle Somerset for 99 and put Essex on course for only their second home Rothesay County Championship victory of the season.
Ably supported by debutant seamer Charlie Bennett, and latterly spinner Simon Harmer, Porter took his season’s tally to 49 wickets with figures of 4-18 from a dozen overs. It left Essex requiring 95 to win before bad light ended play on day three 17 overs early.
At one stage, when Dean Elgar and Paul Walter were putting on 277 for the first wicket the day before, it had looked as if Essex would gain a sizeable first-innings advantage. In reality, that lead turned out to be just five runs as they lost all 10 wickets for an additional 161 runs inside 45 overs. But that was before Somerset went in for a second time.
Much of the damage in Essex’s first-innings 438 was down to some naggingly accurate bowling from Craig Overton, who passed 500 first-class career wickets while posting figures of 6-88. What had been a docile, one-paced wicket suddenly turned into a seamer’s dream and Overton capitalised with his second six-wicket haul of the season.
Essex’s seamers were also quickly among the wickets in Somerset’s second innings. Porter beat Archie Vaughan for pace and then Bennett had Tom Lammonby lbw to one that stayed low.
James Rew appeared to be repairing the initial damage, harvesting four boundaries in his run-a-ball 19, until he skied a leading edge to midwicket off Bennett. Then in the next over, Tom Kohler-Cadmore may have lost the ball in the gathering gloom as Doug Bracewell bent back his off-stump. The floodlights came on soon after.
Josh Thomas had been immune to the carnage around him, hitting seven fours in his 39 from 65 balls, but he became Porter’s 550th first-class wicket for Essex when one kept low and trapped him lbw. In the same over, Kasey Aldridge tickled one through to substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes.
With Somerset disappearing down a rabbit hole at 89-6, Essex announced free admission for all spectators on the final day. Overton then made a swift exit, playing all around one from Porter. And it became worse when Jack Leach set off for a run, pushing Porter into the covers, but could not recover his ground before Charlie Allison’s throw enabled Fernandes to whip off the bails.
Lewis Goldsworthy dug in for 58 balls, but he was undone by a spectacular delivery from Simon Harmer that pitched well outside off-stump and turned square to bowl him. And Jake Ball followed to one from the spinner that went straight on and disturbed his stumps. Somerset all out inside 34 overs.
Under dirty grey clouds in the morning, things had looked brighter for Somerset when Overton claimed a second wicket in 10 balls, separated by overnight rest and recuperation. He dug in a short delivery and Tom Westley hooked obligingly to deep square leg.
Elgar lasted just another half-an-hour. He added just seven runs to his day-two total before he was lbw for 118 playing all around the second ball of an Aldridge spell.
Overton, returning for another spell with the second new-ball already four overs old, struck with his 13th delivery, slanting one in at pace and flattening Allison’s middle stump.
Lewis Gregory had looked the most lively of the Somerset attack, beating the bat on a number of occasions, and finally received some reward, Matt Critchley lbw playing down the wrong line.
On the stroke of lunch, Michael Pepper became Overton’s fifth victim when he was lbw trying to force the ball through midwicket.
Gregory lasted eight deliveries in the afternoon session before pulling up injured and briefly leaving the pitch. He, therefore, missed Overton’s sixth wicket when Bracewell looked to swing lustily to leg but ended up dollying a catch to wide mid-off.
Bennett produced some aggressive hitting with five fours in a 26-ball 22 before he gave a tame return catch to Leach. Porter smashed his first ball straight for six to take Essex into the lead but perished when he skied Leach into the covers.
Charlie Bennett of Essex celebrates taking the wicket of Tom Lammonby during Essex vs Somerset, Rothesay County Championship Division One at The Ambassador Cruise Line Ground on 26th September 2025.
Day Two Reaction: Paul Walter
Day Two Highlights
Day Two Report
Paul Walter exerted total mastery over Somerset’s flagging bowlers as his highest first-class score of 158 eased Essex closer to safety in Division One of the Rothesay County Championship.
The left-hander was barely troubled as he combined perfect timing with seeing everything clearly and early while spraying the ball around Chelmsford with an air of supreme confidence. For much of his 167-ball innings he outscored his opening partner, the former South Africa captain Dean Elgar, two to one as the first-wicket pair compiled a stand of 277 in 61 overs. At the close Essex were 295-2.
Elgar, too, reached a second century of the season but was content to play second fiddle while Walter pulled, drove and flicked with nonchalant ease 21 fours and three sixes. Elgar contributed 16 fours and a six in his unbeaten 212-ball 111.
Somerset’s first-innings 433 had looked formidable until Essex made mincemeat of it in an emphatic response. That Somerset had achieved as many as they did was latterly down to Lewis Goldsworthy’s four-hour and 21-minute century that took 193 balls. He was last man out, a third wicket on debut for seamer Charlie Bennett, who finished with 3-73.
When it was their turn, Somerset struggled to get any response out of a docile pitch and had tried seven bowlers to no avail by the 29th overs. They spent two sessions literally chasing shadows on a sunny autumn day.
Essex survived two overs before lunch and immediately afterwards Elgar punched back-to-back drives past mid-off for fours off Craig Overton. It set the tone for the rest of the day as they rattled along at above four-and-a-half runs an over.
Walter was the most aggressive from the start, at one point lofting Archie Vaughan straight down the ground for four and cutting Lewis Gregor for another to reach a 54-ball fifty. An off-drive for his 13th boundary took Essex to three-figures in only 21 overs.
Walter motored along at more than double the rate of his fellow left-hander. His dominance was summed up when he launched Jack Leach for six over long-off and next ball rocked on to his backfoot to drive the spinner through the covers for four.
When Walter reached his century from exactly 100 balls just before tea, having plundered 16 fours, Elgar was stuck on 49 from 10 balls more.
It took Elgar a further dozen balls after tea to reach his fifty, courtesy of an angled shot backward of square off Kasey Aldridge and celebrated by lofting Vaughan straight back over the bowler’s head for six. Walter could not resist following suit and bounced down the wicket in the same over for another maximum.
Walter’s third six, pulling Leach over square leg, took him past his previous highest score. His 150 took 154 balls, while Elgar’s 54th first-class century was reached in 184 balls.
Walter eventually departed seven overs from stumps to a stupendous tumbling catch at midwicket by Goldsworthy off Overton, who also accounted for nightwatchman Simon Harmer before the close.
To emphasis the unresponsiveness of the hybrid wicket, it took Essex an hour and three-quarters to winkle out the last four Somerset wickets while conceding a further 94 runs. Overton recorded a second successive fifty, and a third of the season, from the 54th ball he faced. But he fell to a ball in Harmer’s first over of the day that spun past his outstretched leg and bowled him between bat and pad after a partnership with Goldsworthy worth 98 in 20 overs.
Another bowling change prefaced another wicket when Leach nibbled at one from Bennett to provide substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes with a fourth catch. Gregory swept Harmer for six during a brief appearance but attempted a repeat next ball and top-edged to short fine leg.
Goldsworthy made it to three-figures just in time, pushing a quick single off Harmer, but departed two balls later when he swung Bennett to deep square leg.
Day One Reaction: Doug Bracewell
Day One Highlights
Day One Report
Josh Thomas and James Rew, two young left-handers born on the same day a year apart, were instrumental in helping Somerset build a commanding platform in their Rothesay County Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford.
Thomas, the younger of the pair, was making his first-class debut but showed no sign of nerves or inexperience in making a confident 86. Rew, already with 11 centuries to his name at just 21, took up the cudgels when Thomas was out to record his eighth score of fifty-plus this season before falling to the new-ball on 74.
The 20-year-old Thomas had stepped in as a concussion substitute for Tom Abell last week against Hampshire and retained his spot as the former Somerset captain sat out the mandatory one-match period. The rookie’s 127-ball innings started at pace and did not slow down until he had accumulated a run-a-ball fifty. With 14 fours and a six, he dominated a 121-run stand for the second wicket with Tom Lammonby that laid the foundations for Somerset’s 339-6.
Rew, at the crease for 115 balls, was not as outwardly flamboyant as Thomas but eked out a 90-run partnership in 29 overs with Lewis Goldsworthy for the fifth wicket. Jamie Porter and Doug Bracewell extracted liveliness and bounce from a green-tinged wicket that had encouraged Somerset to bat after winning the toss. Porter finished the day with 3-45 from 21 overs.
Otherwise, it was an exasperating day for Essex, who still need a smattering of points to be certain of playing Division One cricket next season.
Thomas lost his more experienced opening partner, Archie Vaughan, early on when the 19-year-old mistimed a drive off Porter and edged to third slip.
The loss did not deter Thomas. He had got off the mark to his first ball faced, turning Bracewell off his hip for two, and then twice drove the New Zealander impressively straight for boundaries. It set the tone for his innings. An eighth four, hammered through the covers from Charlie Bennett’s own first ball in first-class cricket, brought up Somerset’s fifty, of which the dominant Thomas had contributed 41.
Bennett, who was Essex’s top wicket-taker in the Metro Bank Cup, frequently strayed down legside to the left-hander, but when he bowled a straighter delivery, Thomas pulled it effortlessly for six. Thomas’s half-century came from just 51 balls when he turned a ninth boundary down to third man. However, he was given a life on 55 when dropped at first slip by Dean Elgar off Noah Thain.
The let-off seemed to inhibit Thomas and his rate of scoring dipped noticeably once he had passed that milestone, though he still made nearly two-thirds of the first hundred in the stand with Lammonby. The pair had been together for 34 overs when Porter’s pace beat the outside of Thomas’s bat and thudded into his off-stump.
Lammonby scratched around for 129 balls in all in making 47 with just three fours before he was lbw to one from Bennett that looked as if it might have missed leg-stump.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore lasted just eight balls before he tried to charge Bracewell and ended up nicking to substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes, fielding post-lunch in place of Michael Pepper, who required treatment to an injured thumb.
Rew and Goldsworthy picked up Thomas’s good work, piecing together a watchful partnership during which Rew reached his own half-century from 89 balls. His sixth boundary, through the covers off Matt Critchley, gave Somerset their first batting point. But with the new-ball just eight deliveries old Bracewell had Rew caught behind.
With the shine still on the ball, Porter had a third victim when Kasey Aldridge edged a misdrive low to Fernandes. But Goldsworthy, operating below the radar, reached a second half-century in three innings this season while putting on fifty for the seventh wicket with Craig Overton.
Charlie Bennett of Essex celebrates taking the wicket of Tom Lammonby during Essex vs Somerset, Rothesay County Championship Division One Cricket at The Ambassador Cruise Line Ground on 24th September 2025.
