Trescothick, Abell calm Somerset nerves

A pall of worry is unbecoming to the County Ground in September. For all the passion of Somerset's supporters, this is a gentle, tolerant home where recent summers have drifted to their conclusions like yachts to safe harbour. Only rarely since Justin Langer skippered the team to promotion in 2007, has the side been threatened with relegation.

This, though, is not a typical season. Instead of aspiring to the title - Somerset were runners-up in 2010 and 2012 - Marcus Trescothick's team has been battling to stay out of the bottom places and they have been joined in that battle by Hampshire, whose tendency to have bad sessions was gleefully exploited by stronger sides earlier in the season.

And so the cricket on the first day of this game was often freighted with apprehension and what seemed a debilitating concern for consequences. In the morning session, Somerset, having won the toss, bowled too full and too wide. In the second, Hampshire, their earlier weakness still evident, played fretful, tentative shots against far better bowling by Jim Allenby and they collapsed absolutely. One thought of Norman Nicholson's poem, "Old Man at a Cricket Match" and its line, "Strands of anxiety ravelled like old rope".

Thus it was pleasant for all but the travelling Hampshire supporters to watch Somerset's openers, Trescothick and Tom Abell, bat with such certainty and control in the evening session. Replying to the visitors' 240, the pair had added an unbroken 147 in 33 overs by the close. This was the county's highest opening stand of the season and it left them in a dominant position, albeit that there is still plenty of hard toil ahead. From the moment Abell clipped his first ball from Fidel Edwards to the backward square leg boundary, the home openers exhibited a command greater than Hampshire had shown at almost any stage of their innings.

It was announced in the morning that Trescothick had signed a new one-year contract with the club. As supporters watched him pull Edwards dismissively to the square leg boundary, they were surely grateful the 39-year-old was staying on a while. Abell recently signed a four-year deal and the back-foot drives off Ryan McLaren that took him to his fifty reinforced his importance to Somerset's future. He looks a young batsman to whom good footwork and careful placement come quite naturally.

Of course nothing can be decided this week. But should either of these teams win this match, they will take a major step towards confirming their survival in an increasingly select top division. On the day it was confirmed that Andrew Gale will have a trophy and pennant to show for his side's efforts in 2015, Trescothick and James Vince will be content with the invisible reward of safety. Who can be sure which of these is the more valuable prize? If the counties are to be divided into two divisions of eight and ten at the end of next season, it may be necessary to win the second division in 2016 in order to be promoted. This could be a particularly perilous year in which to be relegated.

At the beginning of the day's cricket it had also seemed a tricky morning on which to be asked to bat first. The pitch looked green and helpful to the seamers, although batsmen have swollen their averages on such Taunton wickets in previous seasons. Indeed, some took the view that rather than being keen to bowl, Trescothick simply did not wish to bat.

Whatever the truth, it certainly makes no difference if your bowling is as awry as Somerset's was in the first two hours. Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry added 49 in 12.3 overs before Adams was run out for 7 by Jamie Overton's direct hit from deep extra cover. Still Somerset offered the predatory Carberry fare that was either too wide or too full; the ball thudded regularly into the advertising boards on the square leg and point boundaries. Having made 59, Carberry therefore had no great need to chase one from Jamie Overton ten minutes before lunch and give wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi the first of his seven catches, a tally which equalled Rob Turner's Somerset record.

That dismissal had seemed something of a consolation for Somerset towards the end of a morning which ended with Hampshire on 132 for 2. Instead it was the pivotal moment of the day. Ten minutes after the resumption, Vince, who had batted very pleasantly for his 60 runs, attempted a drive off Lewis Gregory but merely edged a catch to Allenby at first slip. Half an hour later Allenby took the wickets of Will Smith, Sean Ervine and Adam Wheater in the space of six balls. Smith and Wheater pushed forward just outside the off stump while Ervine was rather squared up. Ronchi collected the snicks and Hampshire were 176 for 6.

As so often in cricket, a team in trouble was ill served by fortune. Both Ryan McLaren and Gareth Berg fell to leg-side strangles, one to each of the Overton twins. Then Jamie removed both Mason Crane for a second-ball duck and Liam Dawson, who played on for a 48 which was accumulated when the bullets were flying. The younger Overton finished with 4 for 37 and will work harder to take only a couple of wickets.

At tea, Somerset's supporters strolled on the outfield, perhaps scarcely crediting their luck. By the end of the day a similar emotion may have been felt by the county's chief-executive, Guy Lavender, and the director of cricket, Matthew Maynard, who had called a members' forum for the first evening of this match. The questions may have still been probing and astute but they were also likely to have been a trifle less urgent now that Marcus and Tom had done them proud.