Somerset vs Kent, County Championship Division One, Today Match Prediction 19 September 2023

som vs kent Match Prediction & Analysis

Somerset will take on Kent at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton, a venue where Somerset have won 1 and lost 1 game while 4 matches ended in a draw.

Both teams have plenty of issues to deal with in their batting lineup. Moreover, Somerset will be missing Matt Henry, who was leading the charge with consistent wickets in previous matches.

Craig Overton is also likely to be missing from the Somerset playing XI in this game. Neil Wagner, the left-arm pacer from New Zealand known for his ability to bowl long spells and execute the short ball perfectly, is one to watch out for in the Somerset bowling attack.

Zak Crawley will be leading the batting department in the Kent lineup along with the number 3 batter Daniel Bell-Drummond. Kent were impressive with both bat and ball in their last outing but will need to deal with their poor batting performances in the second innings.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Somerset Preview

Somerset will be looking to bounce back after back-to-back losses in their recent outings. It took 3 drawn matches and a loss before Somerset registered their first win of the season.

Since then, their performances have been quite inconsistent. In their very next match, Somerset lost by 196 runs against Essex scoring just 167 runs in their 1st innings while batting second.

And though they bounced back with a win in the next match, their 1st innings performance continued to be dismal. It was their bowling performance that helped them beat Notts by 399 runs in spite of scoring just 163 runs batting first.

They are still struggling to cross the 200-run mark in the 1st innings including the last two matches where they lost by a huge margin. Tom Kohler-Cadmore is a key batter in the middle order but hasn’t been in great touch in this format.

The stars of their win over Notts, George Bartlett and James Rew will be other key players in the middle order. At the top, Tom Lammonby and skipper Tom Abell will be the ones to watch out for.

Somerset’s strength lies in their bowling attack and the likes of Lewis Gregory, Jack Brooks, and Neil Wagner will be the ones leading the attack.

Somerset Predicted Playing XI:

Tom Lammonby, Sean Dickson, Tom Abell (c), George Bartlett, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, James Rew (wk), Lewis Gregory, Ben Green, Jack Brooks, Shoaib Bashir, Neil Wagner

Kent Preview

Kent have lost two of their last 3 matches while the other one was drawn. They were pretty close to a defeat against Nottinghamshire in their last match with 6 down for 86 runs in the 2nd innings.

This was after a solid performance in the 1st innings as Kent scored 446 runs batting first. Zak Crawley scored a hundred while Daniel Bell-Drummond and Jack Leaning scored a fifty each.

These three will be the key players in the Kent lineup. The big news for Kent is Yuzvendra Chahal joining the bowling attack. The right-arm leg break bowler from India picked 3 wickets as Kent bowled out the Notts for 265 runs in the 1st innings.

The opposition bounced back in the second innings while following on and Kent never managed to get back in the game. Kent’s last two matches were against Nottinghamshire and their performance in the second innings was similar in both outings.

At Trent Bridge, Kent were bowled out for 85 runs in the 2nd innings while scoring 316 runs in the first. The batting lineup has changed quite a few times not allowing batters enough opportunities to find their rhythm.

Along with skipper Leaning, wicket-keeper bat Harry Finch will also play a crucial role in the lower middle order. T Muyeye is another promising batsman who’s struggling to score runs. While Chahal and Aaron Nijjar look promising in the bowling attack, there are no reliable and consistent performers in the Kent bowling attack either.

Kent Predicted Playing XI:

Ben Compton, Zak Crawley, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Tawanda Muyeye, Jack Leaning (c), Harry Finch (wk), Joey Evison, Aron Nijjar, Nathan Gilchrist, Yuzvendra Chahal, Michael Hogan

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch is a balanced one and offers great help for the pacers. There is movement off the surface and batters will be challenged in every inning of the match. The forecast is for showers on all 4 days of the match.

Venue Details

The Coopers Associates County Ground in Taunton will host its last match of the County Championship Division One. The average 1st innings score in Tests at this venue is 294 runs while in the second innings, it is 342. And yet, we reckon, batting first would be the right option on this ground considering the batting strength of both teams. 

Toss: To Bat

4 of the 6 matches so far at this venue have ended in a draw. It looked like a difficult track to bat on in the recent outings and considering the current form of both teams, neither of them would be comfortable chasing a target. Batting first and scoring anything over 320 would put the batting team in a good position.