Late-comer Jack Brooks is the toast of Taunton

SAM DALLING AT TAUNTON: The 37-year-old described the past few years as "a bit of a battle" but took 4 for 44 in front of a boisterous home crowd against Warwickshire

It exists purely to serve Test cricket right? 

Try telling that to Jack Brooks, 37-years-young, who twice in an over wheeled away in celebration. Pure jubilation, the kind made famous by Imran Tahir.

Try telling that to his Somerset teammates and supporters, amongst them six-year-old Riley whose birthday brought him a brand-new club shirt and a victory.

Try telling that to Will Rhodes and his Warwickshire side who cut dejected figures having been second best in all nine sessions of this LV= Insurance County Championship clash.

Brooks finished with 4 for 44, including a triptych of wickets in 18 balls on Saturday afternoon.

The healthy Taunton crowd had been gee-ing him up with a clapping crescendo initiated by Craig Overton. Behind Brooks by milliseconds in the moments of joy were 10 others in white. Euphoric relief. A torrid run would shortly be over.

Age is but a number, and Brooks has rarely been fitter. After tearing the ligaments off his thumb joint in the Bob Willis Trophy final, he underwent not one but three operations - not before stoically continuing though. In his own words, it was bowling an orange at 20 miles per hour. Both achilles went under the knife too, leaving him with one working limb throughout the winter.

^{Brooks wheels away in celebration after dismissing Danny Briggs [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

Hoarse from belting out Blackbird - the team’s victory song - Brooks told The Cricketer: "I thought those celebrations were gone, purely because I like to save energy! One of my toes is hanging off and I was like the tinman this morning when I woke up.

"But it’s nice to get back in the team and show what I can do. The last couple of years have been a bit of a battle mainly through fitness. I spent a large chunk of it wondering if I still had it in me to put in those spells and performances that I have done through my whole career.

"I’ve never used age as an excuse but your body is a bit older and a bit slower to repair after big surgeries like that. But I’ve always thought my skill, my attitude, my desire was definitely still there. It was trying to click it back; today it has clicked back in. There is a lot of relief in there to know I’m still capable of contributing to this team, because it is a very good team. I’m elated to be honest."

Brooks was a late-comer to the professional game, making his first-class bow aged 25. It was the late, great David Capel who gave him a Northants shot. It started with an invite to an open net with the second XI and academy. 

He never has been backwards in coming forward: "I just thought, bugger this, I’m going to steam in for an hour and a half and see if I can make a name for myself," he told The Cricketer last year. "I took a brand-new ball out of the bag which isn’t really the 'done' thing! Looking back, it was a bit rogue but it sort of sums me up really."

Soon Brooks was spearheading a star-studded Yorkshire attack to back-to-back titles, 140 wickets across the 2014 and 2015 Championship victories. He moved to Taunton ahead of the 2019 season and there were, initially at least, doubters. He has won them round. The flowing locks may be gone, but the headband warrior remains.

And his willingness to pile into the club’s community work is endearing. He has poured his heart into the Super 1s programme this summer, and is a regular visitor to Selworthy School. 

Fitting then that Brooks starred on a day to celebrate county cricket’s virtues. And there are many of them. A day dedicated to the NHS workers, of whom more than 1,000 were present in the Taunton sunshine, Somerset having made tickets available for free as a small thank you. There is no adequate amount of appreciation for the vital work the health service carried out, but this was a lovely touch.

^{Brooks and teammates modelling the charity t-shirt designed by Tom Clarke [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

Love Musgrove, a local charity named after (and based at) the town’s hospital, sponsored the match. Celebrating their 25th anniversary, they have raised some £20 million for a variety of projects from MRI scanners to music therapy, hydrotherapy pools to research into post-surgery hypnosis. Very good people, doing very good things. 

County cricket is all about the community, and players, staff and supporters have got right behind. The pre-day warm-up was completed in a shirt specially designed by the 12-year-old Cornishman Tom Clarke, his entry deemed the winner by namesake Abell. He had waited two years for this day but, being a true cricketing badger, Saturdays are reserved for playing. 

Then at lunch, Marcus Trescothick, fresh from his live stream stint on which he confirmed he does not have the keys to the pavilion bearing his name, presented a signed version to Love Musgrove’s head of fundraising, Zoe Steer. Trescothick is, by the way, a patron of the charity.

Earlier, Somerset had needed just a baker’s dozen of balls to claim the final Warwickshire first-innings wicket. Speaking of bakers, home fans will be encouraged to have seen Sonny being put through his paces on the outfield at lunchtime - an outfield that remains supporter-less during the break. That is a shame; hopefully, it will change

Josh Davey took it, Oliver Hannon-Dalby tickling behind. Deficit of 249, and follow-on very much enforced. While two days remained, Sunday’s forecast was bleak. Somerset needed to move the game forward quickly. 

What Warwickshire desperately needed was a strong, solid start, In fact, they lost both openers in six balls, Davey finding Alex Davies’ outside edge. Overton took an excellent low slip catch, before Abell did likewise off Overton the following over.

It was 21 for 3 when Rob Yates, to the disbelief of everyone, hacked at a short-ish Jack Brooks ball. Up, up it went, and then down into Tom Lammonby’s hands at mid-on. He will have wandered back into a silent dressing room.

Sam Hain and Rhodes provided some much-needed resistance. But so often do wickets fall in clusters. And again, it proved.

First, it was Rhodes who left a Jack Leach delivery that spun viciously from the foot-holes created by Overton’s size 12s. That was Rhodes’ match in a nutshell: since calling correctly at the toss little went his way. 

^{By contrast, it was a tricky debut for Warwickshire's Nathan McAndrew [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]}

Seven balls on, Hain departed. Much credit goes to Matt Renshaw. Hain has a propensity - a little like batting coach Jonathan Trott - to fall caught down the leg side, and at Renshaw’s instruction, Overton was positioned at a short-ish square leg. Hain took on the short ball and it whizzed straight to hand.

Michael Burgess nicked Brooks to Steve Davies, while Danny Briggs’ birthday lasted just two balls. Again, Davies received it gratefully. 

Two overs passed and Brooks was at it again, Renshaw holding in the slips to remove Nathan McAndrew. A man of Middlesborough, he returned to his north-east routes by holding one alarm aloft à la Alan Shearer and racing towards the Somerset stand.  By then the conclusion was forgone. It was left to Leach, who operated unchanged for 20.1 overs, to seal the deal.

Warwickshire have covered themselves in little glory. Scarcely will they have put together three such poor days. They are reigning champions, remember, and will certainly bounce back. They missed Liam Norwell enormously. He, Chris Woakes, Ollie Stone and Henry Brookes will return to contention.  

Nathan McAndrew endured a difficult debut with the ball. Mitigation should be offered though; he landed from Australia just in time to jump on the team coach. And both the Dukes ball and English conditions are a far cry from what he was used to. The boots McAndrew has to fill - those of Tim Bresnan - are massive. He will still prove a canny signing.

As for Somerset, one shy of maximum points and off the foot of the table. Well, the only way was up.

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