Rain halts record partnership on day four
Wed 7 Jul 2021
DAY FOUR | Somerset CCC 461 for nine dec. v Leicestershire CCC 475 for seven “ match drawn
POINTS | Somerset CCC 15, Leicestershire CCC 14
SCORECARD | Available HERE
REPORT | Leicestershire’s eighth wicket partnership of Harry Swindells and Ed Barnes went on to not only break the Running Foxes’ eighth wicket stand record against Somerset, but the Club’s eighth wicket stand record in first-class cricket.
Swindells and Barnes got the fourth and final day at Taunton up and running by setting a new eighth wicket record for the Running Foxes, against Somerset CCC.
Singles from each batsman from the first two balls of the day got the required two runs to surpass the previous record of 119 set by Hylton Ackermann and Claude Henderson back in 2005 at Oakham School.
The duo were batting with a degree of comfort in the middle with no appeals coming within the first hour of play on the final day, as they steadily increased their individual totals.
Swindells went on to post the first maximum of the innings after using the pace and bounce of Aldridge’s delivery to help it on its way down long leg, one ball before bringing up his maiden first-class 150.
A single down to square leg saw the milestone brought up, with the 150 coming in 289 balls, including 20 fours and one six.
It did not take much longer before the rain began to fall in Taunton, as the players were pulled off the field of play at 12:20pm, with Swindells (152*) and Barnes (71*) still in the middle. Their 172* run partnership brought the Running Foxes to within 17 runs of eradicating the first innings deficit.
Play was halted for the best part of 20 minutes before the players re-emerged with the Foxes on 444 for seven.
Two fours off the bowling of Tom Lammonby for Swindells saw the eighth wicket partnership go on to break the all-time record for any eighth wicket partnership for the Running Foxes in first-class cricket, surpassing the previous record of 195 set by James Taylor and Jigar Naik against Derbyshire CCC in 2009 at Grace Road.
The morning session of the final day then came to a close with the Running Foxes having wiped out the remaining deficit, and now lead heading into the final two sessions.
Leicestershire took lunch on 475 for seven with Swindells (171*) and Barnes (83*) having come through the morning session relatively unchallenged and unscathed.
Play failed to resume following the lunch break as what started out as a slight spattering of rain, eventually turned into a torrential downpour at Taunton which brought about a premature end to the fixture.
A tough ending for two superlative innings for the Running Foxes as Swindells recorded his new first-class career-best of 171*, accompanied by Ed Barnes who also recorded his new first-class career-best of 83*, with their record setting partnership coming to an end on 203* and County on 475 for seven.
FIGURES (1st inns) | Overton 12-3-33-1, Davey 14-3-34-1, Brooks 29-9-76-2, de Lange 30-4-110-3, Aldridge 22-2-101-0, van der Merwe 18-6-40-0, Lammonby 17-3-58-0, Goldsworthy 10-3-16-0
TEAM | Rishi Patel, Lewis Hill, Marcus Harris, Colin Ackermann (C), Josh Inglis, Harry Swindells (wk), Ben Mike, Callum Parkinson, Gavin Griffiths, Ed Barnes, Will Davis
SOMERSET CCC | Devon Conway, Steve Davies (wk), Tom Lammonby, James Hildreth, George Bartlett, Lewis Goldsworthy, Craig Overton (C), Roelof van de Merwe, Jack Brooks, Marchant de Lange, Josh Davey
IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing the images throughout the game.
