Marcus Trescothick’s marathon double century delighted Somerset, but he failed to bat through an innings for the first time as he was last out during a whirlwingdseven-wicket spell from Imran Tahir

David Hopps at Trent Bridge19-Jul-2016
ScorecardImran Tahir found a response to Marcus Trescothick’s marathon [file picture]•Getty ImagesIt was moving day in the Championship, but so hot that any form of movement took considerable resolve. The sort of conditions when young wannabees reckon they can outlast the senior citizens of the county circuit on energy alone and when the senior citizens shrug that they have seen it all before and just as often come out on top.Marcus Trescothick, if he was a lesser man, would have drawn alongside Harold Gimblett as Somerset’s leading century-maker on the second day, observed the sort of searing heat that drains energy from ageing bones and left it to younger men on the third.Instead, he extended his unbeaten 117 to 218 – his seventh first-class double hundred – before he was last out after tea: a seventh wicket for Imran Tahir. Seventy-eight years betweem them and entirely dominating the day.By then, Trescothick was bereft of support, his capacious frame sweating from places where it had never sweated since unfortunate circumstances caused him to call time on his England career.While Trescothick proceeded with selectivity, occasionally drawing attention to himself by crunching a cover drive, elsewhere was midsummer madness. Around mid-afternoon, one stripped-to-the-waste Nottinghamshire spectator was splashing his bare torso with emergency cold water in a Members’ Toilet, groaning as he did so, drying himself with paper towels as if a state of emergency had been called. One day of 35C and England was falling apart. “I can’t stand much more of this,” he volunteered, so mentally destroyed that he briefly forgot the rule in conservative parts that chat in a public convenience should be determinedly avoided.For all his achievements, all his longevity, Trescothick has never carried his bat in his career. Presented with the tail for company, over the years he has preferred to go for broke. He had not offered a semblance of a chance – disregarding those swimming angrily around Luke Fletcher’s head – which invited the thought that this surely was the time.Then he pushed firmly at Tahir and planted the ball in the hands of Brendan Taylor at extra cover. Disappointment must have been tinged with relief that it was all over. He had batted for nearly eight-and-a-quarter hours, faced 355 balls, struck 32 fours and a six, and passed 1,000 runs for the umpteenth time. And, after all that, with Somerset dismissed for 437, all he had to show for it was a first of innings lead of 36.Tahir, a wiry 38 year old, looks built for these baking conditions. Whereas Trescothick proceeds like a reliable old Dormobile where, much as you treasure it, you feel it’s best to keep a wary eye on the temperature gauge, Tahir, as a legspinner, seems a natural product of the heat that has suddenly descended upon England after three months of a season ravaged by cold winds and rain.In only his third first-class match for Notts, his 7 for 112 was the best return by a Nottinghamshire overseas bowler since Stuart MacGill, a fellow leggie, had helped himself to seven for 109 against Essex at Southend in 2004. Notts’ overseas pace bowlers have failed to cause havoc in the past decade despite Trent Bridge traditionally being a haven for swing. They must wonder why. Or if they don’t, they should.Without Tahir’s monumental effort, Trescothick’s monumental effort might have put Somerset in a winning position. The only substantial partnership of the day, 102 for the fifth wicket, was eventually halted by Samit Patel, who bowled Jim Allenby for 63 as he tried to work a flighted ball of full length into the leg side. At 379 for 4, Somerset were only 22 behind, only for Tahir to cause chaos in a spell of 5 for 20 in 9.5 overs as the pitch began to provide a little purchase.Tahir fulfilled his role brilliantly and, although the game smacked more of stalemate with every wicket he took, final days will become more unpredictable if the hot weather holds: even this one.It was the sort of spell that the ECB wants young English legspinners to produce. But it will take the best part of a decade if spinners are to be produced in England and the process is a lot more complicated than just taking grass off the pitch. By then, who knows where the game will be.