Cometh the hour, cometh Tom Lammonby

SAM DALLING: The left-hander carried his bat for a career-best 107. The youngest man to do so in the club's history

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This was a day to stand up and be counted. 

The left-hander carried his bat for a career-best 107. The youngest man to do so in the club’s history. 

Dudley Rippon the previous record holder in 1914; he had a runner as you asked. 

It was Lammonby’s second first-class hundred in just his fifth outing, helping set Worcestershire 244 to win.

There was pressure on too; this is no dead rubber. The stakes are high. A showcase final at Lords on the line. 

Evenly poised after day two, this one could have tipped either way. 

Somerset had their noses in front before the day started. They’ve edged further ahead but it’s tight. By the close, they’d edged further into the lead but it could still go either way. 

Worcestershire closed on 58 for 2 needing another 187 for victory. 

The Bob Willis Trophy has been a competition for coming of age. Youth thrust into the limelight when opportunities might not otherwise have come their way. 

The boy from Exeter only made his first-class bow in round one.

^{The 20-year-old in full flow}

In fact, he’s not really an opener at all, batting there for Exeter but not often. 

Out you go lad. Time to sink or swim. Fair to say he’s dispensed with the float and is front crawling with the best of them. 

As he put it after the game, he’s just loving the opportunity and playing with a smile on his face. 

The Somerset conveyor belt has produced some serious talent in recent times and this 20-year-old is another to add to the list. 

Three-hundred and forty-three runs, a pair of hundreds, an average of 49; job done. 

A nod to Worcestershire too who are bringing through plenty of home-grown stars. Academy graduates by the bucket load in this clash. 

Lammonby paced his innings perfectly. Watchful at first and he needed to be. 

The hosts bowled superbly. They breed quicks by the dozen in these parts. Barnard; Pennington; Leach; Tongue; all superb. 

Leach is the skipper and leads the attack wonderfully. Not bad for a man who started life as a batter. 

Barnard passed 200 first-class wickets yesterday. Pennington and Tongue both hot prospects. 

Wickets tumbled regularly and Worcestershire were sniffing blood. 

This was turning into a scrap but Lammonby remained a bastion of calm amongst the waves. 

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As punch after calculated punch was thrown, he ducked and wove with grace. 

Scoring chances were few and far between; 104 balls for his first 23 runs. 

But you can’t stay on the ropes forever. At some stage, you need to fire back with a few shots of your own. 

He decided that time had come at the end of the 32nd over. 

Back-to-back boundaries off Pennington; the former an imposing pull to the leg side boundary. Pennington is no slouch. Lammonby was in no trouble.  

Brett D’Oliveira was introduced a few overs later. His very first ball was paddle swept classily to the fine leg boundary. 

The second sailed into the car park for a maximum. Think again Joe Leach. 

A little later he had no interest in the nervous 90s, well he wasn’t interested. A pair of glorious sixes off D’Oliveira bypassing that particular melodrama. 

This was a knock that defied his tender years. It was a knock his team needed. 

Lammonby has been earmarked for success for a while having made his England U19 bow in 2017 alongside Tom Banton. 

Adam Finch, a young quick impressing on loan at Surrey, as also in that side. His parent club? The Rapids. Strength in depth indeed. 

Few amongst the Somerset faithful would have imagined Lammonby was capable of this after his 12 T20 outings last summer.

^{Lammonby has struck two hundreds in his first five first-class matches}

His opportunities with the bat were limited - coming in down the order needing to thrash quick runs isn’t a proper audition – but even so. 

Eight wickets with his medium-pace showed promise although an economy rate touching 11 not ideal.

If in 2019 Lammonby was a bowler who bats, in 2020 he’s most definitely a batsman who bowls. 

He’s come on leaps and bounds in the off-season. A winter in Australia playing grade cricket in Perth for Rockingham-Mandurah hardened him up. 

But those in the know put much of his acceleration down to a solitary outing for the club’s commercial team in the local indoor league. He made 30 with a plastic bat before retiring.  

His side were crowned champions and he’s never looked back in his quest to be a mini-Tom 

Amazon viewers, think the Steve Smith – Marnus Labuschange dynamic. 

Fitting that the pair were in the middle when Lammonby notched his maiden first-class ton last month.

Triple figures against the old enemy at Taunton. It doesn’t get much better. Then again maybe it does; this one was more important. 

One swallow does not a summer make. Even two doesn’t. Nevertheless, this is promising; definitely, another to keep an eye on. And he plays with a smile on his face. 

These two clubs are a fine advert for county cricket, and this match is everything the four-day game should be. Twists and turns around every corner.  

Everyone expected Somerset to be up there; Worcestershire have been a surprise package. They finished second bottom of the County Championship Division Two last year.  

Game on tomorrow. Lammonby thinks it’s a winning score. Recent history suggests he might be right.

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