Kerrigan takes four wickets in draw against Somerset

Simon Kerrigan claimed four wickets as Lancashire’s three day pre-season friendly with Somerset ended in a draw at Taunton Vale.

There were half-centuries for Marcus Trescothick (54) and James Hildreth (57) in Somerset’s innings of 278/7, which gave the home side a lead of 70 runs over the Red Rose by close of play.

Lancashire edged their way to 208/9 declared, with overnight batsmen Jordan Clark (35) and Stephen Parry (24) falling in the morning session. Their 43-run partnership allowed the visitors to recover after they had stumbled to 138/7, although Somerset were to enjoy the better batting conditions on the third and final day.

Clark fell in the first over of the day, edging a rising delivery from Josh Davey to Peter Trego at third slip, as the Scottish fast bowler collected his third wicket of the innings. Parry then became the second wicket of the day when he was bowled for 24 by Lewis Gregory, with Lancashire being restricted to 199/9.

Tom Bailey and Nathan Buck survived a handful of deliveries each, before yet another spell of rain brought a halt to proceedings, with Lancashire declaring during the pause in play.

Lancashire boasted a promising opening combination of James Anderson and Kyle Jarvis in their bowling attack, but it was Kerrigan who impressed the most at Taunton Vale, claiming a wicket in his first over to remove Tom Abell lbw, with the score at 20/1 just before lunch.

With the rain gone, the sun became a permanent fixture over the top of the ground, as Somerset enjoyed a better set of conditions to practice batting. Veterans Trescothick and Chris Rogers (34) made good progress in their partnership of 85, with the former going on to reach a fifty in 87 balls.

Rogers was on his way to replicating Trescothick’s feat, only to seriously mistime a pull shot to Haseeb Hameed at mid-wicket off Luke Procter. After scoring nearly 1,400 runs in red-ball cricket last summer, Lancashire were hoping to remove Hildreth sooner rather than later, but it was not to be as he also enjoyed improving conditions.

Trescothick appeared to be in total control of his game, hitting one four through the covers after another in trademark fashion, but his innings came to an abrupt end when he was short of his ground attempting a quick single to a bullet throw by Luis Reece.

Anderson and Jarvis returned after the tea interval, by which time Somerset had progressed to 143/3, but the visitors fought back in the final session to bring a degree of balance to the game. Jim Allenby left a straight delivery from Anderson and was bowled for 21, but Hildreth continued to accumulate runs freely on his way to a 46-ball fifty.

Following in the footsteps of Trescothick before him, Hildreth failed to kick on after reaching fifty, as he was trapped lbw by Kerrigan with the score at 212/5. Kerrigan’s surging confidence took a dent when Peter Trego (47*) hit the first of four sixes against the left-arm spinner, striking two maximums in the same over to help his own confidence ahead of the new season.

Both Trego and Roelof van der Merwe favoured the aggressive route, but the former could only find the safe hands of Jarvis in the deep when he attempted to sweep slog Kerrigan for six, as he departed for 28.

Kerrigan claimed his fourth and final victim of the innings, with Alex Davies pulling off a sharp piece of work behind the stumps to remove Ryan Davies for five. Trego hit his fourth six in the following over, but the players soon shook hands, with Somerset reaching 278/7 by close.

For Lancashire, attention will now turn to their final pre-season friendly fixture, where they travel to Fenner’s for a three-day game against Cambridge MCCU, hopeful that New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner will have arrived in time to be integrated into the squad.