Sam Robson enjoys dream day on occasion that batsmen either love or hate

NICK FRIEND AT LORD'S: While several top order batsmen struggled across the circuit in their first red-ball knock of the calendar year, Robson - seven years on from his England stint - was the difference between Middlesex and Somerset

Scorecard: Middlesex v Somerset

County Championship Eve must be a strange occasion for batsmen.

On one hand, the annual fear of ending a seven-month hiatus with a cheap dismissal to a nagging seamer on a bitterly cold spring morning: the relative ignominy of waiting so long for so little. That was Max Holden, caught via inside edge off Craig Overton to his third red-ball delivery since September.

It is a slow trudge back, especially at Lord’s, coated in all its history and grandeur. Even more so today, with the pitch for this game further over towards the Grand Stand, meaning a lonelier walk towards Middlesex’s pavilion entrance from a side-staircase.

For Sam Robson, however, this was surely the day of his winter daydreams. When Tom Abell won the toss for Somerset, who last played on this ground in four-day cricket more recently than their hosts in the Bob Willis Trophy final, St John’s Wood was overcast, surrounded by a seasonal chill. That he elected to bowl was perhaps as clear-cut a judgement as he will make over the coming weeks, and there was little inclination then that the home side might settle in the ascendancy.

Robson was dropped twice in the slip cordon before lunch – first by James Hildreth, then by Craig Overton. Both should have been taken, notwithstanding the Baltic conditions. Otherwise, he was fed plenty of run-scoring opportunities by a seam attack, strengthened by overseas signing Marchant de Lange, that struggled to exert much control in the early exchanges, before fighting back strongly as dusk drifted in to ensure something resembling parity between the teams.

^{New-look Lord's, with its reconstructed Nursery End...}

Somerset were at their stingiest when Jack Leach was bowling; he held up an end skilfully in a role he is likely to reprise with England as this summer wears on, having confirmed his status as first-choice spinner in Sri Lanka and India.

Yet, it is seven years now since Robson, the Sydney-born batsman, spent a summer as Alastair Cook’s opening partner, playing seven Tests for England between June and August in 2014. But he slipped away then almost as quietly as he arrived.

His form in the time since has been far from disastrous and, such have been the struggles of others who have been tried in that most troublesome position, it is a surprise of sorts that Robson’s name appears to have been discarded from consideration: from 2015 to 2020, he averaged 35.12 in first-class cricket in the United Kingdom. During a period when facing the new ball has been fraught with danger in the domestic game, those numbers are the height of respectability. On this evidence, there is no reason why he cannot come again.

Given the circumstances, he was as fluent as anyone might reasonably have expected – if not more so – as he punched the first ball seen at Lord’s in 2021 through mid-off for a pleasing boundary that, even when settling down for a final pre-season night’s sleep, he might not have imagined. It set the tone for an outstanding, high-class vigil – during which, he passed 10,000 first-class runs – that only ended on 165 when Abell succeeded where his colleagues had failed in holding onto a chance at third slip.

While he was at the crease, though, his colleagues were vocal in their support; each boundary was greeted with a ripple of applause and an appreciative bellow.

Perhaps those auxiliary noises are more significant at a venue like this, where its emptiness is so conspicuous – and even more so now that Messrs Edrich and Compton have been given their makeovers at the Nursery End. At their highest point, they hang even over the top of the Media Centre.

^{Sam Robson made 165 for Middlesex}

The only other sound came from the passing traffic and its occasional accompanying sirens that, if nothing else, offered a useful reminder that a wider world exists beyond this quiet utopia.

Because on afternoons like this, with the rest of the country still restricted in semi-lockdown, it is important to appreciate the good fortune in having watched this all unfold live rather than in front of Middlesex’s excellent streaming package.

No other batsman passed 22, but Robson was unerring in locating the gaps as Somerset often strayed onto his pads. Other than the two chances he offered up in the morning, he seemed almost entirely untroubled until his demise took a smidgeon of shine off his day.

It has been a long while since Graeme Hick became the last man to reach the landmark of 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May in 1988, but Robson has 15 more innings to chase down that holy grail, with 835 remaining.

On County Championship Eve, he – and every other batsman on the circuit – would have settled for that.

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