Somerset v Warwickshire

Some features of an extraordinary match.

1. The toss. If Warwickshire had won it they would have bowled and this particular slice of stunning history would never have unfolded.

2. Chopra's innings. Some gloriously elegant strokeplay while perhaps most impressive was his patience and concentration, not least in the 35 minutes it took him to get off the mark and then after tea on the first day when he knuckled down with Tim Ambrose to ensure the day went Warwickshire's way after a pre-tea wobble.

3. Woakes opening the bowling in Somerset's first innings with a 'Harmy' wide through the slips leaving Somerset 5 for 0 after 0.0 overs. Then he bowled superbly in both innings to follow his high-class century. With the ball, Woakes could be another Mike Hendrick, only better. I like the way that, if he has a catch dropped or beats the bat, there are no histrionics, he simply gets on with bowling more of the same type of delivery. The batsmen are under constant pressure.

4. Umpires Millns and Mallender keeping the players on the field on the second afternoon when the light was a bit dodgy. Well done chaps.

5. Maddy and Ambrose building valuable partnerships with Chopra and looking like the Maddy and Ambrose of old.

6. Botha coming in at number nine after Chopra and Woakes had pummelled Somerset into submission and, as good professionals tend to do, giving grounded opposition a jolly good kicking.

7. Less edifyingly, about 50 seagulls took the trouble to travel inland to drop their festering deposits over as many people, cars, ant-eaters and Morrison's trolley-collectors ("Dirty scoundrels," complained the poor young victim with a rueful grin) as possible.

8. Andy Miller's bowling. Two for 50 and two for 15 doesn't look that great but while Woakes and Clarke harvested the groovy analyses, Miller applied big pressure early in both innings. He was desperately unlucky in the first innings and his dismissal of Compton and Hildreth in three balls in the second knocked the stuffing out of Somerset.

9. The buzz. There was a real buzz about Warwickshire in the field.

10. £1.40 for a cup of tea? That's £1.40 for a tea-bag and a drop of milk. £1.40? One English pound and forty new pence. ONE POUND FORTY? Oi, Somerset, no.

11. Mohammad Yousuf taking part in, or rather observing, the warm-ups before play. Warwickshire pile up the sixth-biggest total in their history and a batsman will have to make way in the next game!

12. Trescothick's captaincy. Well though Warwickshire batted, they were assisted by the Somerset captain's slow reaction to situations and, most of all, his persistence on the first day with Mendis who, plagued by no balls and four-balls, was having a 'mare but was kept in the firing line for hour after hour.

13. 2.30pm, Saturday. Sun beating down. Game over. Quite a few spectators, no doubt having looked forward to this first game of the season for some time, simply stayed on with a coffee or a pint, taking in the lovely scene at the county ground despite the cricket having finished.

14. Troughton steering Warwickshire to their biggest ever win in his first match as captain. An amazing stat, that. Everything went right for him except that he copped the ball of the innings from Kirby - though even that had a silver lining. "It was a pretty decent delivery," Troughton said, "but that's what made us think there was something in it for us. Tim Ambrose got nicked off on 40 so we knew that even when you were in there was delivery that could get you."

15. The Bears travelling supporters, punch-drunk last season, almost dazed at having seen their side exceed the previous biggest win for Warwickshire - the innings-and-340-run clobbering of Worcestershire at Edgbaston in 1920 (in which even the Reverend Waddy got runs).

16. Some observations from within:
Ashley Giles: "Woakes is exceptional. Just watching him in the nets and at Taunton the he seems to have added a yard of pace which would have been one of the criticisms levelled at him before."
Jim Troughton: "Last year we were in positions where we could have won games but didn't take them by the scruff of the neck. But we are growing into our skin in four-day cricket and can recognise moments in games where we need to move up a gear. We did exactly that and never gave Somerset a chance.
Darren Maddy: "On the first morning there was a bit of anxiety because I am sure there would have been a lot of questions if we showed signs of a collapse. But we came out really strong and showed great character."
Marcus Trescothick: "I am a little bit baffled to see 12 wickets got down in a morning session at Taunton. I have never seen it happen in my 18 years. At the end of the day it's just not a good enough performance and I don't think there are any excuses. Warwickshire bowled well, they got the ball to swing nicely and put it in the right place and all credit to them to out perform us."

17. £1.40?

18. So who drops out when Yousuf comes in against Worcestershire on Wednesday?