SAM DALLING AT TAUNTON: Tom Kohler-Cadmore impresses, Lewis Gregory finds the middle, Jack Leach astounds while Kasey Aldridge shows encouraging signs on day two of an intriguing LV= Insurance County Championship contest
The idea is simple: success permeates downwards. County cricketers will have watched on in awe as England's men's Test side produced not one but four stunning chases. Yes, that England side. The one who was the butt of all jokes just six months ago. They couldn't beat an egg, they said.
Then came Brendon McCullum. It has been something special. The impact has been both swift and miraculous.
Has it changed how the LV=Insurance County Championship is played? It is perhaps too early to say. But the signs are there is certainly some influence, a positivity, perhaps in the knowledge that - to quote the Mandalorian - 'this is the way'.
Harry Brook is a man who could be forgiven for having mixed feelings about England's success. He is, undoubtedly, the next off the rank and looked the part here and every bit a man on top of his game.
There was a straight drive off Kasey Aldridge that was struck sweetly, crisply, and straight. It raced across the outfield. Twice he lofted Jack Leach inside out, and twice he emphatically pulled Marchant de Lange - who is no slouch - high over the temporary stand housing 1,500 local children.
Jack Leach is reportedly reborn this season (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
He fell for 41, attempting to clip Jack Brooks through midwicket. Aldridge tumbled to his left and held on to a difficult chance. Matt Revis was then trapped lbw the following ball, giving Brooks a third. The key wicket of former teammate Adam Lyth had come earlier.
Breaking the Brook-Tom Kohler Cadmore partnership felt key for Somerset. There is a sense that Yorkshire lack a batter of experience in the middle order. But by the close Kohler-Cadmore remained unbeaten on 68. Not quite all on him, but the visitors could do with him going big.
The next time he plays a match at Taunton, he will be sporting a Somerset shirt. But for now, both head and heart are with Yorkshire. This is, owing to a concussion suffered in the Pakistan Super League back in January, his first red-ball outing of the summer. There was little sign of rust.
Kohler-Cadmore has always been an aggressor, a white-ball superstar in the making. And it was a controlled mix that saw him reach an 86-ball half-century. That came from an outside edge off Brooks, mirroring his first boundary. But between those were four glorious dances down the wicket, each time Leach lofted straight and into the stands.
Leach himself is another who is feeling the influence of the McCullum-Stokes axis. A man who spent months, nay years, lugging ultimately unused kit around the world. Perennially the man who shuffled awkwardly around Cilla's screen smiling awkwardly having not been selected as the Blind Date. Not anymore.
Maybe he always believed he belonged at that level. But he is certainly now showing it. And his Somerset teammates have noticed it in him. Leach is never one of those in the dressing room, leaping about, full of energy from dawn until dusk. But Tom Banton - left out of the side and debuting on commentary - said there is a shift, a difference in Leach that cannot be placed.
Harry Brook looked good again on his way to 41 (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
He has always taken his batting seriously and possesses that infamous knock at Headingley. Re-christened the Somerset 'night-hawk' - a homage to Stuart Broad's role with England - according to Banton, his 16 included a shimmy and smash off Dom Bess and a remarkable reverse sweep over deep cover. Banton's face was a picture. Both went for six.
The day's innings of note was Lewis Gregory. Test cricket is, one would think, beyond him now. But he remains in the top-tier of county performers and proved his international aptitude when starring in the 'Covid' white-ball series against Pakistan last year.
Here, with some freedom and a platform, he made 77. A couple of streaky boundaries were hidden amongst easy-on-the-eye shots on both sides of the wickets. And as was the theme for the day, there was a straight six off Bess that he would have enjoyed.
Aldridge was another who enjoyed a good day. A career-best 41 - albeit it is a small sample size - and he looks like an exciting prospect with the ball. Bar the Brook stroke, the batters barely laid a glove on him. His first six overs brought four maidens, and cost just eight runs.
All that wrapped together made a proper three sessions of four-day cricket. Yorkshire trail by 257. Perhaps then, a proper game in store too.
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