With autumn stepping into its strides – and conkers rolling fat and round outside the pavilion at Lord’s – cricket still has one hand to play in this eye-popping summer. A single round of the County Championship remains, the winner tantalisingly yet to be decided. The two contenders, Essex and Somerset, meet on Monday at Taunton to fight it out, with crowds expected to burst the gates, Sky sending a camera crew and a double-decker temporary press box for the media wheeled in for the occasion.
If Somerset, five times runners-up this century, win it will be their first championship title and romantics everywhere are knotting maroon ribbons to their hats. Because, in the season where England’s men gloriously won the World Cup for the first time and drew an absorbing Ashes series, raising the unfashionable, dog‑eared old championship pennant still matters.
Related: County cricket talking points: it's Somerset v Essex for the title
Related: Champagne moments have popped up everywhere in an intoxicating summer | Emma John
Continue reading...