Gregory in gear
LEWIS Gregory’s swift unbeaten half-century landed the decisive blow as Somerset sealed a four-wicket victory over Middlesex in their LV= County Championship opener at Lord’s.
Gregory pummelled the home bowlers just after lunch, hitting 62no from 72 balls to tilt a see-saw encounter back in Somerset’s favour after Ethan Bamber’s double strike had raised Middlesex hopes.
But an unbroken seventhwicket stand of 98 between the England international all-rounder and George Bartlett, who finished on 76no, saw the visitors home.
The win enabled Somerset, runners-up in three of the last four County Championship campaigns, to immediately wipe out the eight-point penalty imposed for breaches of pitch regulations and carried over from 2019.
Resuming on 112-3, Somerset adopted a patient approach during the first hour and offered no chances as Bartlett settled into the groove alongside captain Tom Abell, who led the way with a measured knock of 84.
Bartlett batted confidently, capitalising on the absence of third man to keep the scoreboard ticking over, although there was a close call when his thick edge flew just wide of Max Holden at gully.
But Bamber’s switch to the Nursery End paid dividends as he ended Abell’s three-hour vigil with a thin edge behind, and then dismissed Steven Davies for a duck, moving the ball back down the slope to trap the left-hander leg before.
Craig Overton got off the mark by cracking Bamber through the covers for four, but Tim Murtagh’s outswinger removed him on the stroke of lunch, with Somerset still 98 short of their target.
Gregory immediately regained the initiative after the interval, rapidly eating into the deficit as he dispatched Murtagh to the boundary three times in quick succession.
Bartlett brought up his half-century by driving Tom Helm off the back foot for four, and Gregory soon followed suit from only 55 deliveries.
Middlesex kept rotating their seamers in a bid to stem the flow of runs, but the damage had been done and Gregory applied the finishing touch, carving Bamber for four to level the scores before adding a single off the next ball.