Ryan Patel sprays an inside edge into his stumps and as Somerset celebrate Lewis Gregory has a good old laugh. Two wickets for him, Surrey 23 for two.
Bad light at OT
After half an hour’s play where not a lot happened, they potter off again for bad light. Umpires Redfern and Adnan take some readings.
Huw Richards (hello!) has a question:
“Abell, in partnership with Lammonby and Pretorius, has set all-time Somerset records for the 4th and 9th wickets in the same innings - astonishing when you consider Somerset have been playing since 1882.
“Has anybody, or for that matter any team, set two new partnership records in the same innings or even the same match before ?
Have a vague memory of Glamorgan, with Northeast and Cooke involved, coming close a few years back, but can’t pin it down, and you’d guess Durham might also have done it in their early days with records much more attainable. But there’s probably somebody out there - Gary Naylor perhaps ? - who knows the answer….”
Over to you hive mind.
Goodbye to Dom Sibley and his big white boots, as he awkwardly nudges a catch to slip in a very dregs of the season kind of way. Surrey 13 for one.
No play yet at Sophia Gardens
The last report we had was for an 11.30am start, though I can’t imagine Essex will be in a hurry.
Scorers' wooden spoon
The 18 county scorers run a competition each year and an actual wooden spoon gets presented to the bottom club by the previous owners. We think the handover happened at Canterbury this week, where Kent passed over safekeeping to Gloucestershire.
Sue Redfern and Hassan Adnan drift into the middle and stick the stumps in the OT wicket.
Lancashire will finish 17th for the first time this season, though they have finished 16th in a 17-team competition five times: 1962, 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1984. The annual awards dinner has been cancelled for this year.
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11.15 start at OT
If it doesn’t start raining again. Twelve overs lost. Fingers crossed for the loyal die-hards scattered like rose petals in the stands.
Abell out for 307
Caught at long on, aiming for the rope, and finishes one run short of Joe Clarke in the highest run-scorers of the year league. Handshakes from Pope and Worrall as he walks off with no fuss.
Somerset, 731 all out, have a first-innings lead of 301. Do Surrey have one last collapse in them?
A standing ovation for Migael Pretorius, as he is lbw having an ugly slug across the line to Dan Worrall. Somerset decide that 727 for nine is not enough and Jack Leach comes out.
Good company for Abell
Abell becomes the eighth Somerset cricketer to make 300 in an innings –after Justin Langer (twice), Tom Banton( last year), Viv Richards, Jimmy Cook, Graeme Smith, Harold Gimblett and James Hildreth.
300 for Tom Abell!
At a warm Taunton, where Surrey are still fielding in sunhats, some succour for Somerset fans. A first triple century for Tom Abell, 30 fours, eight sixes, 402 balls, and nearly nine hours of batting. Bravo!
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Bad light at Old Trafford
Scrub that, bad light means things will be delayed a little longer.
“One last dance”, says Dave at the Old Trafford reception, clad in a Lancashire bobble hat. The covers are still on, but play is due to start at 10.45.
This is also goodbye to the international summer as well, as England take on Sri Lanka in the third ODI at The Oval.
Warwickshire are the 2026 Champions !
Scores on the doors
Division One
Cardiff: Glamorgan 505 v Essex 129 and 331-5
Utilita: Sussex 244 & 319-9 BEAT Hampshire 128 and 238 by 197 runs
Trent Bridge: Yorkshire 179 and 159-9 BEAT Nottinghamshire 251 & 85 by one wicket
Taunton: Somerset 691-8 v Surrey 422
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 372 BEAT Leicestershire 125 & 168 by an innings and 79 runs to win the Championship.
Division Two
Canterbury: Kent 353 and 120-2 BEAT Gloucestershire 229 and 241 by eight wickets and are promoted
Old Trafford: Lancashire 267-5 v Durham 493
Lord’s: Middlesex 255 and 134-3 BEAT Northamptonshire 103 & 285 by seven wickets
New Road: Worcestershire 214 and 206 BEAT Derbyshire 88 and 157 by 175 runs
Preamble
Good morning for one final time this season and welcome to the morning after the day before. We have our Champions, all hail the mighty Bears, our promoted clubs, Kent and Durham, and our sad duo bound for Division Two, Hampshire and Leicestershire.
The Manchester sky is slate, the air sea-spray damp but, like my stoical geraniums, there’s just about enough life for one more day.
Three games plod on, a slow draw at Old Trafford, a high-scoring not-this-year goodbye at Taunton and a more intriguing match at Sophia Gardens where great escapees Essex have made a better fist of their second innings.
We’ll be keeping an eye on all those, but also looking back over the summer, to the hat-tricks, the hundreds, the hiccups and the howlers.
Do join us this sweet-melancholy morning.
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