Somerset hope to fuel T20 disappointment into County Championship title bid

-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


Somerset head to Lancashire today with the intention of using their weekend disappointment on T20 finals day as the fuel for their fire to land a maiden County Championship title.

An eight-wicket hammering by near-neighbours Gloucestershire saw them miss out on defending their T20 title in the final at Edgbaston on Saturday, after their superb six wicket semi-final win over Surrey earlier in the day. That followed last week’s stunning success against the same opposition in the County Championship, which blew the race for the Division One title wide open.

Second-placed Somerset go into the penultimate round of fixtures trailing Surrey by eight points and they face a Lancashire side in ninth and fighting to avoid relegation to Division Two. Surrey, meanwhile, are back in action at the Oval with fifth-placed Durham their guests.

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“Obviously, the weekend was disappointing in terms of the result but we need to take pride in the fact that we’re putting ourselves in the position to win trophies,” head coach Jason Kerr said. “People were hurting on Saturday and I think we need to process that. We need to do that quickly.

“Our job as coaches is to make sure that we’re prepared for this week and that we concentrate on the processes needed to win a four-day game. We need to now focus on the task in hand and the players will take on that responsibility of making sure that they’re ready to go, come tomorrow.

“We’ve got an incredibly important week ahead of us, so we need to dust ourselves down and prepare really well for the next few days ahead of us at Old Trafford. It’s crunch time at the top and the bottom of the table and all teams will want to finish the season well to carry momentum into next year. We need to make sure that we’re focused and driven at that we deliver our skills.

“We’re without Tom Banton for this game and we’ll take a squad of 14. Lewis Gregory has come through the weekend really well, and Tom Abell will train this afternoon so we are hopeful that he will be involved.”

TAUNTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 12: Jack Leach of Somerset celebrates the wicket of Dan Worrall of Surrey with team mate Tom Abell to win the match during Day Four of the Vitality County Championship Division One match between Somerset and Surrey at The Cooper Associates County Ground on September 12, 2024 in Taunton, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Banton is likely to miss the rest of the season after injuring his ankle in the warm-up to day three of last week’s win over Surrey. He did come in and make a telling contribution with the bat, but according to Kerr, Banton’s injury is ‘pretty serious.’

Lancashire have lost their previous three County Championship matches and another loss could condemn them to relegation by the end of the week. The good news is that the wqeather is set fair with no rain forecast in Manchester this week.

Opener Keaton Jennings said: “Guys have got to stand up, front up and ultimately do the business come the next eight days of cricket because it’s a big eight days to make sure we try and stay in this division.”

After this round of fixtures, Somerset end the season at home to third-placed Hampshire, starting next Thursday, while Surrey head to fourth-placed Essex.

Somerset (from): Lewis Gregory, Andy Umeed, Tom Lammonby, Tom Abell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Archie Vaughan, Lewis Goldsworthy, James Rew, Kasey Aldridge, Craig Overton, Josh Davey, Jack Leach, Brett Randell and Jake Ball.