The match was over inside five sessions. Somerset beat Durham by five wickets, yet the result is almost a footnote: 35 wickets tumbled on a used, green-tinged Taunton pitch and Lord Ian Botham is furious.
“As an ex-Somerset player, I find this appalling,” the Durham honorary president posted on X, sharing photographs taken before a ball was bowled. “Durham raised serious concerns the day before the game started… change is needed… both Somerset and Durham have high quality batsmen… Somerset do not need to do this… reduces the game to a farce.”
Key facts first
• County Championship Division One fixture ended in two days
• 35 wickets fell; 22 of them to spin, despite the grassy look
• Somerset collected 19 points, Durham three
• ECB pitch liaison officer has filed a report, outcome pending
Botham’s blast
The former England all-rounder spent his glory years at Somerset, then finished his playing career with Worcestershire and Durham. These days he is Durham’s figure-head. Seeing his old county triumph on what he calls an “appalling” surface hit a nerve.
“These are not first-class cricket conditions in midsummer,” he continued. “I am not surprised that Rob [Key] and Ben [Stokes] unfortunately have to disregard county performance in assessing players for Test quality appearances.”
The 68-year-old also linked the surface to the wider debate on Championship reform. The ECB is considering trimming the schedule from 14 matches to 12, a move Durham back. Somerset members recently voted to keep 14. Botham’s retort: “At a time when County Cricket is under pressure for relevance as a breeding ground for International Players and Somerset members have apparently voted for the status quo, the club produces this pitch.”
Somerset’s defence
Head coach Jason Kerr was having none of it. Speaking to the ECB Reporters Network he insisted the strip was perfectly acceptable.
“There has been a lot of noise surrounding the pitch, but I thought it was an incredible surface,” he said. “You can’t see 400 runs scored in a day, as happened yesterday, and then complain about the wicket.”
Kerr pointed out the square has hosted men’s, women’s and junior fixtures almost non-stop since April. “We have to find a way of getting results here and, because there has been so much cricket at the ground this year, we had to prepare a used pitch. Craig [Overton] and Jack [Leach] exploited any help in it because they are top quality bowlers.”
Context and history
Taunton tracks have caused raised eyebrows before. The club were deducted 12 Championship points in 2021 over a “poor” surface used in the 2019 decider against Essex. Lancashire won inside two days here in 2018, drawing an official warning. Angus Fraser famously called the strip “a disgrace” during a 2017 relegation scrap with Middlesex.
Why does it matter?
For counties, pitch preparation is more than home advantage—it shapes player development. England’s Test selectors want batters who can survive beyond lunch and bowlers who can graft when nothing is happening. If county wickets throw up lottery cricket, averages become hard to read and, as Botham suggests, selectors start ignoring them.
At the same time, coaches must balance entertainment, results and a tight schedule. Used pitches are unavoidable in a long, wet summer. Curators try to leave a bit of grass to bind tired surfaces; sometimes they overstep.
What happens next?
The ECB’s pitch panel will review the liaison officer’s report. Sanctions range from a quiet word to a points deduction. Somerset’s next home four-day fixture is in mid-August; any punishment, if it comes, is unlikely before then.
Durham, meanwhile, head north licking wounds. Their attack bowled with heart—Ben Raine and Matthew Potts found seam movement, Nathan Sowter turned it square—but 117 and 76 all out was never enough.
Botham, rarely shy, has made his feelings clear. Whether the governing body agrees is another matter, but the spotlight is back on Taunton turf—again.
