Somerset vs Nottinghamshire, County Championship Divison One, Today Match Prediction

som vs not Match Prediction & Analysis

Somerset will take on Nottinghamshire at their home venue in Taunton. While they’ve been exceptional in the on-going T20 Blast, Somerset have won just one Test in the County Championship. Their only win came against Middlesex at Lord’s but they soon lost in their very next outing at Chelmsford.

Nottinghamshire are just one place ahead of Somerset in the points table with 2 wins from 7 matches and 3 Draws. Their second win came at Northampton where they won by an innings and 25 runs. Since then, Notts have played two matches, both of which ended in a Draw.

The batting will be a concern coming here as they were made to follow-on in their last match against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge. A double-hundred from Joe Clarke while following on saved the day for Nottinghamshire.

While Somerset are also struggling with batting inconsistencies, the bowlers are in good shape and will be key to their success. Matt Henry, Craig Overton, and Josh Davey will be the key players in Somerset.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Somerset Preview

Tom Abell will be looking to turn things around as Somerset come to Taunton for another home game. With 3 draws and no wins so far, Somerset are winless at this venue and overall, have won just one game this season.

This will be their second match against Nottinghamshire this season having lost on the previous occasions in an away game. The home venue for Somerset in Taunton is a good batting deck that allows for plenty of runs in the first two innings.

After their huge loss against Essex in their last outing, Abell can hope for a comeback from the batters as they come back to The Coopers Associates County Ground. This season, the 2nd innings scores at this venue have been higher than the 1st innings scores.

Somerset scored 441 runs against Lancashire batting first and the visitors posted a 554-runs total in the 2nd innings of the match. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Abell, and James Raw have each scored a hundred in the recent games at this venue.

Abell, Kohlder-Cadmore, and Raw are the key players in this middle-order. The batting lineup is deep with Lewis Gregory and Craig Overton in the lower order. Matt Henry, Overton, and Josh Davey were in good touch in the T20 Blast and will carry the momentum to this game.
 

Somerset Predicted Playing XI:

Sean Dickson, Tom Lammonby, Tom Abell (c), George Bartlett, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, James Rew (wk), Kasey Aldridge, Craig Overton, Matt Henry, Josh Davey, Shoaib Bashir

Nottinghamshire Preview

A win here could push Notts into top 3 and after their comeback in the 2nd innings of the last match, their hopes would be high coming to Taunton. They have already beaten Somerset once this season. Brett Hutton and Dane Paterson picked 17 wickets among themselves in that game against Somerset at Trent Bridge.

While Notts won that match by 165 runs, their batting failed to make an impact. Lewis Gregory and Peter Siddle of Somerset completely dominated the Nottinghamshire batting lineup. The middle order of Matthew Montgomery and Joe Clarke is key to building a good 1st innings score for Nottinghamshire.

While Clarke scored a double hundred in a match-saving effort in the last game, Montgomery led with 177 against Essex prior to that. These two have been consistent and are reliable in the middle. 

Lyndon James and Steve Mullaney are other key batters in the lower-middle order who have the ability to score big and build crucial partnerships. Haseeb Hameed is likely to have a new opening partner as Ben Duckett is in the England squad for the Ashes.

In addition to Duckett, Stuart Broad will also be unavailable for this match. Jake Ball and Calvin Harrison will also be crucial in the bowling attack alongside the consistent wicket-takers Hutton and Paterson.

Nottinghamshire Predicted Playing XI:

Haseeb Hameed, Ben Slater, Matthew Montgomery, Joe Clarke, Lyndon James, Steven Mullaney (c), Tom Moores (wk), Calvin Harrison, Brett Hutton, Jake Ball, Dane Paterson

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch is a well balanced one that offers help for the bowlers as well. However, it is not easy to pick wickets, and bowlers need to be consistent and hit the right areas. It will be a cloudy day with scattered showers on day 1 of the game and that would be a joy for the seamers.

Venue Details

The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton will be the venue for this match. It is the 4th game of the season on this ground and the second head-to-head encounter between these two sides. Teams can easily score 300+ scores in 1st and 2nd innings. It isn’t easy to get a result here but with the overcast conditions, if the bowlers make early inroads on day 1, we could have an exciting match on the cards.

Toss: To Bowl

All the matches this season have ended in a draw here so far. Toss hasn’t made much of an impact. Given the weather forecast, we reckon teams would be leaning toward bowling first with the overcast conditions.