Background

Nottinghamshire’s final LV= county championship match of the season begins against Somerset at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

After the euphoria of Saturday’s win in the YB40 final at Lord’s, Notts have a little bit of 4-day business to take care of before they head into the winter break.

With only one relegation spot remaining, after Surrey’s drop was confirmed last week, the two sides meeting at Trent Bridge have to keep an eye out for events at Derby.

Notts enter the match in seventh spot, on 135 points, one fewer than their opponents, Somerset. Both could be caught by eighth-placed Derbyshire, who entertain Warwickshire knowing that only a win would give them a chance. Our East Midland neighbours are 15 points behind Notts and 16 behind Somerset.

Head To Head

There’s a nice symmetry over past meetings between Nottinghamshire and Somerset. In120 first class matches they have recorded thirty wins apiece, with another sixty contests ending as draws.

At home Notts have won 18 matches, with their three most recent wins coming in 1999, 2009 and 2010.

Somerset have been victorious at Trent Bridge on 10 occasions. 1982, 2004 and 2007, being their last three successes.

Amongst the 32 draws in Nottingham have been fixtures in 2008, 2011 and last year.

Last Meeting

Nottinghamshire had the better of things when the sides met at Taunton in August. Thanks to half centuries from Steven Mullaney, David Hussey and Luke Fletcher, Notts posted 378.

The home county were then bundled out for just 188 and made to follow-on but were heading towards safety at 141-2 when heavy rain wiped out play on the final day.

Chris Read scored an unbeaten 104 out of Nottinghamshire’s total of just 162 in last April’s clash at Trent Bridge.

Replying, the Somerset top order were full of runs. Lewis Gregory, opening after skipper Marcus Trescothick had injured an ankle whilst in the field, fell for just six.

Notts then had a lean time of things as Nick Compton compiled an undefeated 204, Arul Suppiah made 124 and James Hildreth was 102 not out as the innings closed on 445-2 declared.

Suppiah’s dismissal brought a welcome milestone, with Paul Franks collecting his 500th first class dismissal.

Having collected no bonus points whatsoever, Notts were grateful for a better second innings showing as they earned a draw at 169-4.

History

There have been some classic encounters over the year between Notts and Somerset. Some of the more spectacular achievements have been:

The third morning of Nottinghamshire’s match against Somerset at Trent Bridge in 1893 saw fast bowler Frank Shacklock re-write the county records. Dismissing Spurway, Gibbs and Newton in Somerset’s second innings, he became the fifth man to take a hat-trick for Notts. The next ball though, he went one better, making it four in four by removing Trask. All four Somerset batsmen had been dismissed the same way– clean bowled.

Left-arm quick bowler Barry Stead took 653 first-class wickets, with a best of 8-44 which came in 1972, for Notts against Somerset at Trent Bridge, and included a hat-trick of Roy Virgin, Richard Cooper and Brian Close.

Scoring Nottinghamshire’s highest individual score in 24 years, Derek Randall made 204 not out on the opening day of a championship match against Somerset at Trent Bridge in 1976. Sadly for the Retford-born batsman, the outcome of the contest failed to make it a milestone worth celebrating.

Chasing 301 to win on the final day, the visitors romped to a six-wicket win thanks to a stunning maiden century from Ian Botham. The 20-year-old, showing an early glimpse of the form which would typify much of his career, blazed his way to 167 not out, with 20 boundaries and six maximums.

In the 1987 clash at Trent Bridge Richard Hadlee became only the second Notts player, following John Jackson’s achievements 124 years earlier, to score a century and pick up two six-wicket hauls in the same match.

He hit 101 in Notts first innings, either side of collecting 6-41 and 6-42. For good measure his unbeaten 23 saw Notts over the finishing line to record a five-wicket win.

Alex Hales’ highest first class innings came in the 2011 match when he scored 184. Later in the contest he was awarded his county cap and subsequently earned his first selection for the England Lions.

Played For Both

Ben Phillips played for both Kent and Northants before arriving at Taunton in 2008.In three seasons there, the tall Lewisham-born fast bowler, made 28 first team appearances, scoring 572 runs and taking 62 wickets.He appeared for the west country side at t20 Final Day in 2010 and also played in their losing CB40 final at Lord’s, the same year.

Ben joined Notts ahead of the 2011 campaign and has made 16 first class, 12 one-day and 4 t20 outings for the county, whom he leaves at the end of this season.

Amongst the others to have appeared for both Notts and Somerset are Simon Francis, Kevin O’Brien, Neil Edwards and Matt Wood (pictured).

Stats

Nottinghamshire’s highest home score against the Cider Men came in 1947 when they rattled up 585-5 declared.

Somerset’s largest team total was nine years ago when they posted 654-8 declared.

There have only been three double-hundreds scored by Nottinghamshire batsmen at home to Somerset, two by the same player. Joe Hardstaff jnr hit 214 not out in 1937 and then added an unbeaten 200 ten years later. Derek Randall compiled 204 not out in 1976.

Somerset double’s have been hit by Jamie Cox (250 in 2004), Peter Roebuck (221no in 1986) and Nick Compton (204no last season).

Best bowling figures have been: Barry Stead, for Notts, with 8-44 in 1972 and Ted Tyler’s 9-33 at Taunton in 1892.

The best in Nott’m by a Somerset bowler was recorded by Ken Palmer, the former umpire, who took 9-57 in 1963.

Milestones

Several of the Nottinghamshire players will be looking to bring up some individual milestones this week. Samit Patel and James Taylor have each passed 1,000 first class runs for the season for Notts, with both now hoping to achieve the feat in the championship. Taylor has scored 870 runs and Patel 785 in the first division.

Michael Lumb has scored 910 in the championship and 993 in all first class matches, while Steven Mullaney has now scored 889 first class runs.

Incredibly, both Riki Wessels and Samit Patel have each completed 199 first class innings.

Wessels needs only 10 to complete 1,000 career first class runs at Trent Bridge, whilst Patel has now registered 6,497 first class runs for Notts.

Other impending first class milestones: Harry Gurney has collected 95 career wickets, Paul Franks has taken 242 wickets solely at Trent Bridge, Chris Read has taken 748 catches for Notts and James Taylor has scored 945 runs at Trent Bridge.

Tickets

Tickets cost £14 for Adults, £8 for Juniors, Senior Citizens and Students.

Coverage

Live ball-by-ball commentary by the BBC is available online.For live score updates follow @TrentBridge on Twitter and to join in on the conversation use the hashtag #NottsvSom