Stats: Somerset tie with Lancashire chasing 78 in the County Championship

The County Championship game between Somerset and Lancashire was under scrutiny for producing a pitch where as many as 22 wickets fell on the opening day. The game hosted by Taunton was dominated by the left-arm spinners and ended in a Tie shortly after Tea on 2nd day in a fascinating way. Jack Leach’s 5/28 and 7/74 kept Lancashire down to 99 and 170 respectively. Somerset were set a target on 78 runs after they made 192 in their first innings with 88 runs coming for the last two wickets.

Lancashire put their best with the ball to defend the small total. Graham Onions claimed wickets of Marcus Trescothick and Azhar Ali off consecutive deliveries to reduce the hosts to 5/2. Keshav Maharaj, who made his county debut in the game, claimed four wickets in the first innings. Opening the innings with the ball, he paired with Onions to reduce Somerset to 37/6. Both the bowlers took three wickets apiece before the home team crawled to 52/6 before the Tea break.

Both Onions and Maharaj began in the 3rd session with Somerset 26 runs away from a win. Skipper Lewis Gregory was trapped in front by Maharaj who sent Craig Overton in the same fashion in his next over to reduce Somerset to 64/8. Dom Bess and Jamie Overton decided to smash a couple of boundaries by taking a bit of risk to level the scores. Bess tried for a big shot and ended up getting stumped off Maharaj, who completed 400 first-class wickets.

Lowest 4th innings totals in Tied first-class matches:

In his next over, last batsman Jack Leach tried for a slog sweep when one run was needed to end the game in a tie. Keshav Maharaj finished with match figures of 11/102 in 32.4 overs on his debut. Thus, this game turned out to be the first Tied county championship game since 2003. It is the 24th tied County game and the 66th in first-class cricket overall. In these 66 tied matches, Somerset’s total of 77 is the 4th lowest 4th innings total and the lowest in nearly 124 years!

The target of 78 that Somerset failed to chase is also the lowest in the first-class matches in England since 1963. Sussex lost to Derbyshire while chasing a target of 78 in the 1963 season. In the last 110 years of FC cricket in England, only five other teams have failed (Tie/Lost) chasing a target of 78 and lower. All those remaining five teams ended up on the losing side, unlike Somerset on Wednesday.

Lowest targets failed to chase in the first-class matches in England since 1910:

(Stats as on September 5, 2018)