NICK HOWSON AT LORD'S: The Bob Willis Trophy final is heading for a thrilling finale despite a pitch which has offered little assistance for batsmen or bowlers
ECB deserve praise for delivering greatest summer as Banton is criticised for fleeing Somerset
Somerset and Essex made short work of their five regional opponents to reach the final, but they are being pushed all the way by each other at Lord's.
The format of this final has mirrored the rest of the competition, with one caveat being that the first innings leader will win the silverware in the event of a draw. A tie will see the Bob Willis Trophy shared.
Given that five days have been set aside for this showcase final you can hardly say that the ECB aren't trying to deliver an outcome. The tiebreaker is a worst-case scenario.
Domestic four-day cricket matches these days rarely end in a stalemate unless the heavens open. The simple fact is bowling attacks are more canny than batting line-ups these days.
Innings being capped at 120 overs has also forced the game to move on, not allowing the leader after both sides have batted - Essex this week - too much of an advantage. It feels like an even better decision to retain this regulation with 82 overs lost across the first two days.
It would be fair to observe, however, that this is not a pitch fitting of the occasion. Scoring has been incredibly difficult at times, bowlers have not enjoyed much pace, lateral movement or uneven bounce. Even the best spinner in the country hasn't found much turn. I doubt many players will look back on this surface with much fondness. Everything has been a struggle.
But perversely, it has laid the platform for an intriguing and possibly exciting finish.
Simon Harmer was once again ineffective
Eddie Byrom. Sir Alastair Cook. Tom Lammonby. It has been a left-handers game at Lord's on a sticky pitch offering assistance for neither batsmen or bowler.
Yet these three have worked it out. The hallmarks of each of their innings have been similar. They were stern in defence and devastatingly ruthless in attack. Byrom was perhaps the most watchful, Cook the classiest, and Lammonby a busy bee at the crease.
After his first innings duck on his Lord's debut, this was confirmation that behind the streams there is a talented left-hander at the top of the Somerset batting order once again. Marcus Trescothick has been offering plenty of advice to the next batch of Taunton youngsters and he'll have been gleaming again.
"He's been very helpful, a few conversations and a few tweaks here and there," Lammonby told The Cricketer before the game. "When you've got someone like him, one of the best players in the world opening the batting and dominating it is invaluable that experience and that knowledge."
Lammonby produced a picturebook innings, after escaping a pair at the home of cricket. He offered a straight bat whenever possible and was duly rewarded when his precision matched technique. Most admirable was how the 20-year-old played to the situation, scoring at a rate which means Somerset only need a quick dart on day five.
It once again exposed the folly of John Cleese's pre-match comments, in which he lamented Tom Banton's decision to travel to the United Arab Emirates for the Indian Premier League. Thanks to being in the England white-ball bubble Banton has only played two red-ball matches this season for Somerset, and on the evidence of Byrom and Lammonby's performances, they haven't overly missed him.
Jamie Porter turned the game back in Essex's favour
You would have been forgiven for thinking in the build-up to this final that the contest could develop into a bowl-off. No team had scored more than 200 against Somerset this season. Essex have the two most potent bowlers in English domestic cricket in the last four years. We'll be done by the weekend, won't we?
As it turns out, while the new ball bowlers on both sides - think Jamie Porter or Craig Overton - are of the highest standard but once you scratch below the surface the standard slipped.
It is unlikely that Aaron Beard will be revelling in his personal experience at Lord's, on his second first class outing on this ground. He has gone at over a run-a-ball in this match and has regularly been deposited to the boundary. His match essentially ended thanks to a back problem while fielding in the deep.
Jack Brooks was out of sorts in the Essex first innings. His figures were hardly embarrassing (9-3-25-0) but he relinquished pressure created by Overton, Josh Davey and Lewis Gregory. It later emerged he picked up a bruised thumb, a factor in being restricted to just nine overs.
Perhaps most surprising were the struggles endured by Simon Harmer. The South African took his only wickets in the first Somerset effort with the final two balls of the innings. He conceded just 36 runs from his 20 overs, but he lacked threat and was dominated by Byrom.
Hopes Essex had of setting up a small run-chase either on the fourth evening or the final morning were largely ended by Harmer's trials in the second Somerset innings.
He started with three maidens but thereafter he went at over four an over for the next 15. Lammonby and George Barlett seemed unconcerned by the off-spinner's reputation, often coming down the wicket to rotate the strike and swinging their arms freely to find the boundary. Ben Green whacked him over cow corner for just the second maximum of the match. Set against the pressure of the third innings it was some statement.
That it took a fine spell from Porter to force Somerset back into the ascendency, an 11-over charge from the Nursery End after tea, said as much about his perseverance as it did about Harmer's problems. His dismissals of Lammonby and Steven Davies were morsels at the end of another trying day.
If day three wasn't enough to fill your desire for a reminder of the brilliance of Sir Alastair Cook, then day four delivered another slice too.
Cook backed up his 172 with a stunning grab in the St John's Wood gloom to dismiss Lewis Gregory.
It is easy to forget that England's leading run-scorer also has the most catches for his country in the field, with 175 during his career.
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