County Championship: Tears at Taunton once again as Somerset lose out to Middlesex

Somerset's 141-year wait for a first County Championship title continues after a dramatic last day

A dejected Chris Rodgers and Roelof van der Merwe after Somerset miss out again (Getty Images)

Not again. It was meant to be a tale of ‘at last’ for Somerset. Up there with Frankie Dettori’s victory in the Derby in 2007 at the fifteenth time of asking. [Dettori rushed into the Epsom jockeys’ room that day yelling, “Come on, me!” – pretty vital comma in that utterance.] Or AP McCoy’s famous Grand National triumph in 2010, also on his fifteenth attempt. Or athlete Marcel Hug’s performance in Rio, where he finally claimed the gold he’d been seeking since 2004. In fact, having secured his first Paralympic title in the 800m, Hug went on to grab a second a few days later in the marathon – they might have to think about changing his Silver Bullet nickname.

This, then, was supposed to be Somerset’s moment to join the ranks of the redeemed. But no. Instead they were denied in the last ten minutes of the season, Middlesex taking five Yorkshire wickets in as many overs to wrap up the win they required. Somerset, having steamrollered Nottinghamshire to go top of the table, had needed the game at Lord’s to end in a draw to take the title. As it was, Middlesex forced the issue with barely 30 balls remaining; Toby Roland-Jones wrapped things up in the grand manner with a hat-trick to secure his team’s first County Championship since 1993. The West Country side have now been waiting 141 years for their first.

It’s not as if Somerset haven’t come close. They were runners-up in 2012 and in 2010 lost out again on the final afternoon, when a lucky break in the weather allowed Nottinghamshire to take enough wickets to draw level on points, thereby winning the title on ‘countback’ of number of match victories over the season. That year, Somerset also lost in the finals of both the T20 and 50-over tournaments. Indeed, they’ve filled the runners-up berth nine times in the major competitions over the last decade. Historians might investigate the theory that several gigantic mirrors have been smashed in the Taunton area since 1875.

In all of sport, I can only suggest dear old Jimmy White as an unluckier loser. Six World finals The Whirlwind lost, four of them to the machine that was Stephen Hendry. Once he threw away a 14-8 lead and on another occasion missed the simplest black off its spot in the deciding frame to hand the title to the Scot. White never won the World crown.

The Somerset squad watch Middlesex take their final wicket to win the County Championship (Getty Images)

It’s not the done thing in polite company to equate narrow sporting failure with tragedy. That said, the grief it elicits is comparable to a bereavement. Marcus Trescothick and his Somerset colleagues must be allowed a period of mourning – just as White will have grieved several times in the ‘90s post-Crucible – before coming back for another crack at their Holy Grail next season.