Metrobank Game 6 - Surrey at Home
By Grockle
August 7 2026
Welcome to gridlocked Taunton for the Surrey match at 2pm on a Friday when they've closed half the roads in and then started the Taunton Flower Show. Jack Leach is in a young side for this one - maybe we've decided it's worth playing the up and comers as the two losses last weekend have pretty much us out of the running in this competition. Surrey have won the toss and will bowl first.
Metrobank Game 6 - v Surrey @ Taunton Friday 7 August 2026
Somerset return home after a disappointing weekend away last week with two losses against Kent and Leicestershire. We now welcome Surrey to the County Ground. Surrey have won the toss and will bowl first on a very nice day but in a gridlocked Taunton because of road works and the Flower Show.
Somerset go with a younger middle order today but have chosen to return to the experienced spin of Jack Leach as well;
The side is;
Lammonby, Connell, Goldsworthy (c), Vaughan, Thomas, Lamey, Church (wk), Roberts, Pretorius, Leach, Ball,
Have to express surprise that Sav Perera has been rested while the out of form Archie Vaughan remains - though further down the order?. Not sure that the return of Kian Roberts extends our batting strength in that case to be honest. It very much has the feel of a 'development' side which has now lost the chance to feature in the second part of this competition. Jack Leach has returned to the side after playing league cricket since the game against Notts at Welbeck at the start of the tournament. Not sure if this is to give him voers before the Essex game in a week or so or because he is bak to full form.
Surrey come with a side that is still strong despite losing over 10 players to the franchises. Rory Burns captains and keeps in a side with Dom Sibley, Ryan Patel and other names in it plus an Aussie signing in Benji Floros so it will be a task to beat them here.
Tom Lammonby moves up the order as does Johnny Connell who has been promoted to opener whiel Vaughan moves down the order and Sav, as mentioned, misses out. They will face James Tayler from the River in the first over and 4 leg byes are the first runs on the board and they are the only runs of the first over. The second is taken by Hishaam Khan to Connell who flicks his first for four through the covers to the Caddyshack. Unfortunately he edges the second and is goen for 4 after 8 balls at 8 for 1. Oh dear, Somerset's experiement seems to have not worked.
Lewis is in before the end of the second over and the fragility may be a real problem today unless these pairs start to solidify. The new pair reset as Surrey go throught their bowling options. Taylor and Khan go through the first 5 overs and Somerset move on to 18 with both bats on 5, Lammonby from 11 and Goldsworthy from 17. They double that by the end of the 7th, both moving to 14.
The 50 arrives in the 10th over as Patel is brought on with the keeper up with Lammonby taking 2 off his first ball to move the home side to 51 for 1. Goldsworthy seems to be taking the lead with 26 from 32 while his partner has 17 from 21. They move to a 50 run partnership with two very aggressive boundaries from the skipper in the same over. He moves the score to 60 off the 5th ball and then gets a massive piece of luck when he is decieved by the last of the over, plops it up tot he mid on fielder (Khan) who trips over his own feet and falls backwards rather than taking the very easy catch that was there for him. That is one hell of a let off and leaves Somerset at 60 for 1 instead of 2 after 10 overs.
They bring in Floros for the 11th and then one of the Ealham (Tommy) clan joins the attack for the 12th. At 89 for 1 with the 15th over coming to an end, Goldsworthy goes to a 50 ball 50 with 9 fours off the bowling of Floros. It comes off a boundary from a bottom edge but he has been positive and attacking and we need that.
Albert takes the 17th and Sykes takes the 18th as the slow man come to the fore. Somerset pass 100 in the 18th with a Lammonby single which takes him to 37 from 44 while his skipper has moved to 55 from 60. They pass the 100 partnership at the start of the 20th with 40 to Tom and 59 to Lewis from 107 balls. Sykes finishes that over and takes us to 20 with the score moving on to 110 with a possible caught and bowled from the last ball which the umpires deide was a bump ball, he didn't get his fingers under it to be fair though he would not have known either way.
Lammonby goes to 50 with a straight six to the Gimblett off Sykes at the end of the 22nd over to move him to 55 from 54 balls at 136 for 1. It included 3 fours and 2 sixes. he may have decided to push along a bit with a decent partnership between the two and the spinners on. Both seem to be looking to move up a level and the 150 arrives in the 24th. It comes from a boundary to the Caddyshack off a nice wide juicy half volley from Thomas to Tom Lammonby who says 'Thank you very much' and dumps it. He has moved the score to 156 after 24 with Tom moving yo 68 from 61 while Lewis has 79 from 82.
Floros takes the 25th and a four from the captain movesd the score [past the 150 partnership from 140 balls at 160 for 1 Goldsworthy has an excellent 83 from 85 in that while Lammonby has contributed 68 from 55 to that.
But that is that as Goldsworthy drives and is taken in the covers by Albert - excellent instinctive reaction. He may feel he's left some runs out there. We then have an interesting choice in that the next man in is Theo Lamey who really did not have much of a chance in his first game and now haas a much better opportunity to show what he can do. 160 for 2 and a decisive point in the innings.
The spinners concentrate on the new man, trying to keep Lammonby off the strike as Ealham returns for the 28th with Lamey only on 1 from his first 7. They do holad the scoring down and Floros bowls his 6th with the 29th as Lammers moves into the 80s but Theo is finding it hard to get moving. He does finally show his class with a beautiful lofted four to the end of the Somerset stand and it is 183 for 2 at the end of the 19th. Sykes breaks through with a soft dismissal of Lamey caught an bowled with a simple pop back. A bit of inexperience from a young man. 185 for 3 with Theo gone for 9 from 14.
Josh Thomas is the next man in and the question becomes "Will Tom Lammonby finally break 3 figures in this tournament' after numberous high double figure scores. He gives the answer in the 32nd over when he sweeps Sykes for a four to the CA to bring up the Somerset 200 and then at the end of the over he hits a straight 1 bounce four to the Gimblett to move to 102 from 84 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes at 209 for 3. Finally the man gets what he really has deserved in this phenomenal series of scores.
Ealham brings the 34th over to a close and we have the second drinks break with Lammonby having moved on to 112 from 93 while his new partner Thomas has only managed 3 from his first 8. It is 221 for 3 with 16 overs of the innings to go.
Taylor takes the 35th and Thomas opens his shoulders a little but the bowler gets the important one as he bounces out Lammonby caught in the deep by Thomas at 228 for 4 for a very good 114 from 96 balls. Now the question is, who will take this on and produce a 300 plus score to give Surrey a problem? There are 15 overs to go and we are looking at a much weaker second half of this batting line-up with only the 'semi-experience' of Thomas to hold it together with the last full 'bat' Archie Vaughan.
They look to push the score beyond 250 off the bowling of Ealham with an aerial boundary from Vaughan again to the Gimblett to move to 251. He moves to 11 with Thomas on 20. They then move to 358 by the 40th before Floros breaks the partnership by having Josh caught at Long On going for something and getting nothing at 260 for 5 caught by Ealham. 21 from 22 isn't enough to be fair as Kian Roberts comes out with a BIG job to do in the next 10 overs.
Archie takes on the lead role and pushes on. He takes the score to 300 with 7 overs to go off Khan. he moves to 37 from 28 while Roberts is supporting with 8 from 11. The new pair go to a 50 partnership at 314 for 5 in the 44th over with 34 of the from 15 balls off the bat of Vaughan and 11 off 13 from Roberts. Archie moves to 48 with a six to bring that up and then goes to 50 at 316 from 33 balls off Ealham at the start of the 45th over with 3 fours and 3 sixes - a good fighting backend innings from the young man.
It's 320 for 5 with 5 overs to go. But Vaughan does not kick on as he holes out from the first ball of the 46th off Ealham for 52 from 36 320 for 6 and now we need 'long handles' as much as possible without missing out on the 30 balls left. We are 5 runs away from our highest Lits A score against Surrey but we don't tend to win games against them so we need well beyond that. Ben Church is the next man in and he is off the mark with a single from his first. Albert takes the 47th. Good running between the two young lads send the score to 343 with a Roberts six into the Hildreth adding to some good doubles!!
Kian now takes the lead role with 32 from 24 and Ben getting him on strike whenever possible. Floros is bowling his 9th at 2 for 50. However, when the ball is in the right place Ben puts them away and we move to 351 when Roberts is well run out by Floros (basketball lob from the bowler on his follow through) for 32 from 24. In comes Migael at 351 for 7. Taylor takes the 48th and he bowls Pretorius with the second ball he faces- his batting continues to not impress and he leaves for 1 from 2 at 352 for 8. In comes Jack Leach with Taylor on 2 for 37 in his last over. He does not move the score along as after 3 balls he is LBW straight on his boot for 0 and the inninigs has stalled with 8 balls left and only Jake to come. Church has 11 but may be stranded here at the non strikers end. Ball flashes hard and edges for 4 to move us to the highest score in the 50 over this yearat 256. He blocks the dot and gives Churchy the strike for the last over from Floros
Taylor ends with 3 for 37 Floros starts his last with 2 for 59. Church scoops him for a one bounce four with the third and it is 360 with 3 balls to go. The next is a dot. The fifth is a one bounce four straight to the MT Pavilion and the last is also down the gournd for four and it's 368 for 9 with Ben with 23 from 13 and Ball has four from 2. Well done boys. Surrey will need 369 to win it.
The Reply
Dom Sibley and Ryan Patel face Miggy P from the River first off and his first ball meets the middle of Sibley's bat first off. His second ball finds the edge though and Sibley goes for 0. Great second ball. Adam Thomas finds himself out there very very early in the Surrey reply but he sees off the first over which is a wicket maiden. Excellent start again by the South African.
Jake Ball takes the first from the MT Pavilion and he is met by two consecutive fours from Patel by the middle of his first visit to the crease. It is 14 for 1 after 2 with both players off the mark. There are no more real incidents before the end of the 5th and the visitors reach that milestone on a score of 27 for 1 with Thomas on 8 from 12 and Patel on 19 from 19.
Jake continues with the 6th and has Patel dropped on 19 by Josh Thomas running back to one over his head. He did all the hard work but then fails to take a catch he got both hands to. There is still room for improvement in some of the younger players coming through in terms of overall fielding ability. He should have held on to that after he had done the difficult part and was set.
By the 8th over the score has moved to 40 with Patel adding 75% of those but Pretorius comes back with another wicket as Thomas edges one to Church to go for 9 from 21 balls at 41 for 2 to bring the Surrey skipper Rory Burns to the middle. Miggy has 2 for 11 from 4.5 overs as he is in a real rich vein of form.
The first Powerplay ends with the visitors moving to 43 for 2 with Patel on 33 from 36 and the skipper still on 0 after facing only 1 ball. Pretorius has 2 for 11 from his 5 and Jake has gone for 32 from his but he has a catch missed as Tom Lammonby doesn't go for a catch which the further away Jack Leach does not get to despite a valiant effort.. He is frustrated and Patel gets another life at 33 with the score on 43.
The spni of Archie Vaughan is introduced for the 12 over and Surrey reach 50 at the end of his first. This becomes a double change as Roberts starts his afternoon work with the 13th -aDD 55 for 2 at the end of his first.
Archie keeps it tight with only 2 off his next. Burns opens his shoulders against Kian with a six over Connell on the Caddyshack boundary. But the young bowler comes back and the Surrey man looks to pull again but bottom edges a good ball onto his stumps. He is out for 15 from 20 at 63 for 3. In comes Sykes and they move to 65 for 3 at 15 overs.
Vaughan puts another nail in the coffin with a goalkeeper like grab from Patel who doesn't get awya the third time and goes for 40. 65 for 2 becomes 65 for 4 in 3 balls and the Surrey Boyz are definitely under the needing 304 in 35 overs with 6 wickets left. In comes Blake with a lot to do to get this run back on track.
After 20 overs the score has moved on to 86 without further loss with Sykes on 15 from 13 and Blake on 6 from the 16 faced. They take 10 off the next Roberts overand then a huge six off the first ball of Vaughan's 22nd takes them past the 100 at 102 for 4. That moves to 105 by the end of the over as Jack Leach is introduced with the 23rd. It's 109 after his first.
In the 24th at 116 for 4 the 50 partnership arrives involving 28 from 22 for Sykes and 22 from 29 from Blake. Sykes celebrates this with a six off the next ball but then tries to play a single off the last and simply serves the ball back to Archie who pouches his second C&B at 122 for 5. Sykes goes for 34 from 24. In comes Ralphie Albert to face Jack in the 25th over. It isn't something that goes well for the new man as he is bowled through the gate for 0 from 4 at 123 for 6 before the halfway point in the overs available.
Khan arrives as the next Surrey man in and he works with Blake to get past the mid point and move towards the 150 mark By the 30th over they have shifted the score into the 140s with Khan catching up with his partner on 11 as Jack continues with the 31st. A light touch from Blake for four takes the score to 148 and then a couple of singles bring up the 150 with Blake on 39 from 47 and Khan with 12 from 18 and they end the 31st with 153 for 6 as Somerset re-introduces Kian Roberts as a replacement for Archie.
Blake sixes him into the Somerset Stand to move him to 47 and Roberts produces a slower ball with the next one and has the Surrey man LBW for 47 at 159 for 7. Beautiful slow full Yorker straight onto his toe. Roberts moves to 2 for 41 off 6.
Floros comes to the crease with his side still needing 210 for the win. Jack continues at the other end and at the start of the 35th he keeps one low to Khan which goes through and bowls him at 168 for 8 gone for 14 off 22. In comes Ealham with the requirement standing at 201 runs from 95 balls with 2 wickets in hand.
They bring Archie back for the 38th with his 2 c&bs for 38 from 8 overs. He pushes Ealham back and back and then bowls him when he has nowhere to go for 6 off 16 at 180 for 9. In comes the last man Jack Taylor on a hiding to nothing as he and Floros will have produced a miracle if they score the 189 needed from the 74 balls remaining. Their objective will be to bat out for as long as they possibly can. They'll take no real risks because the only thing to lose it the wicket and the only thing to gain is pride decreasing the size of the loss.
Jack is on for the 39th at 2 for 29 and Floros hits him to Lammonby on the Somerset boundary for 7 at 180 and they are all out and have lost by 188 runs Jack finishes with 3 for 29 from his 8.2 and that is as comprehensive as you could possibly wish.
Not a side I would have assumed we would have picked but it has definitely done the job. Well played gentlemen especially the other bowlers with Roberts coming in with 2 for 53 from his 8 and Migael taking 2 for 16 from his 6. Excellent allround team performance.
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Think EVERY player we have available is in the squad of 15 for this one;
Parera, Vaughan, Lammonby, Goldsworthy, Thomas, Connell, Lamey, Church, Pretorius, Theedom, Shaw, Leach, Ball, Roberts, Langridge
Who will play? Who can sat but I would assume all out front end bats will be there. Jack Leach is called back into the squad as well so one wonders.
we will know at 2pm tomorrow - well 1:30 probably.
The web preview is here;
Surrey Preview
Absolute gridlock in the middle of Taunton I'm afraid. I came home after trying to get into the place from West Somerset just after midday. Will livestream the game - the 2pm start has made it much more difficult to be honest.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:08:07:22:08:44 by Grockle.
Leach has returned with a much more powerful action than I've seen from him before. Almost G Swann-like with the effort he was putting in; and the action was fluent too. Okay, it might have been an illusion, because he was so bowling so close to us in the Hildreth Stand, but you can't argue with the results.
I was tempted to write that he's going to spin us to the Championship next month, but of course Somerset would be deducted points if he did that.
Lovely ton by Tom Lammonby & Lewis Goldsworthy also played some beautiful shots in his 80 odd, as did Archie in his valuable knock.
Encouraging bowling all round, with the added bonus of Jack Leach looking very sharp and picking up three well deserved wickets.
Lovely atmosphere at the ground today. I thought the new ‘Joel’s Bar’ venue was pretty nice as well. Certainly worth a visit.
Only slight irritation was the PA system, which from block five of the Somerset stand was an utterly indecipherable mess. When, oh when, will we have a PA system that actually works ?!
Very impressive on the field today though. Let’s hope we can continue this way on Tuesday.
Grizzers
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Hello?
In the Surrey innings Sykes launched a ball from Vaughan deep into the leg side and into the Gimbletts Hill end of the Somerset stand.
The minor details recorded the stroke as a six.
The important details record Tractor and his entourage, displaced from The Hill, as being in the direct line of fire. Whilst potential disaster was averted and the ball only connected with seats, the Somerset legend took the oportunity to display his inner Roelof Van De Merwe (or was it his inner Trevor Chappell) and lobbed the ball underarm back onto the field of play.
Style, grace and elegance were words that could have been used, but sadly I did not hear them.
But, the magic had been applied (or it could just have been cider).
The very next ball and Skyes simply lobbed the ball back to Vaughan to be caught and bowled.
I believe in some minor sport called soccerball they would call that an assist.
And in the week Jimmy Cricket passed away, ladies and gentleman come here and there's more, did any one else notice that on 3 occasions Surrey lost a wicket the ball after they hit a six?