Lammonby's Season-Best 74 Puts Somerset in Command at Hove
Tom Lammonby struck his highest score of the season to leave Somerset firmly on top at stumps on day two of their County Championship match against Sussex at Hove.
Lammonby's unbeaten 74, compiled from 143 deliveries, carried Somerset to 167-2 in their second innings — a lead of 119 runs with eight wickets still in hand BBC Sport. Henry Nicholls was alongside him at the close, the pair having seen off the final 10 overs without alarm.
The day began with Somerset trailing. They had been bowled out for 202 in their first innings, Tom Abell's 72 the backbone of a line-up that Sussex's Henry Crocombe dismantled with figures of 5-56. Sussex then replied with 250, a modest but potentially telling advantage of 48 runs. That lead grew not through any flourish but through stubborn lower-order resistance: John Simpson, unbeaten on 64, and Jaydev Unadkat added 40 for the last wicket. Unadkat even swatted two leg-side sixes before falling to Jack Leach, missing a sweep.
Somerset's fightback with the ball had come earlier. Craig Overton removed Tom Clark for 85 — a dismissal that triggered a Sussex collapse of seven wickets for 61 runs in 29 overs. Overton also saw off Charlie Tear (34), Jack Carson and Henry Crocombe, finishing with 4-66. Clark and Tear had put on 92 for the third wicket, and Sussex looked comfortable at that stage. Then Overton intervened, and the innings folded quickly.
When Somerset batted again, the openers set about wiping out the deficit with purpose. Lammonby and Josh Thomas added 92 for the first wicket before Sean Hunt, Sussex's left-armer, found the edge. Charlie Tear took a low catch at slip to remove Thomas. Archie Vaughan came and went for a brief stay, caught behind off an inside edge while driving at Unadkat after contributing 49 alongside Lammonby. That brought Nicholls to the crease, and the pair steadied things through to the close.
Sussex captain Tom Haines rotated his three quick bowlers in search of an early breakthrough but found none. The new ball did its work in the air and off the pitch, but Lammonby weathered it — patient when the ball moved, punishing anything loose.
These two sides met earlier in the season at Taunton, where Somerset piled up 526-8 declared and enforced the follow-on (making Sussex bat again immediately after a heavy first-innings deficit), only for rain to wash out their push for victory. Sussex survived at 113-7 and the match was drawn ESPNcricinfo.
What makes this position significant is the wider context. Sussex's own day-one report noted that Somerset's hopes of a first County Championship title "took a hit" after Crocombe's hat-trick helped skittle them for 202. Yet by stumps on day two, Somerset had turned the match around completely — from 48 behind to 119 ahead, with two set batters at the crease and two days left to play. The title race, for now, is back in their hands.
