Robson defies Somerset for season’s first century
At Lord’s: Middlesex (293-8) v Somerset
Barring the sepulchral skies at Lord’s, seldom can County Championship summers have begun as brightly as for Sam Robson in 2021.
Robson drilled Middlesex’s very first ball of the season, from Craig Overton, down the ground for four, a shot of pristine timing and execution. For Robson, it was a harbinger of what was to come – in the innings and, he will hope, in the summer.
He scored the first championship century of the year, his 165 underpinning Middlesex’s 293 for eight. To get there, he had defied Somerset inserting Middlesex in what appeared ideal conditions for their potent attack. At Middlesex, they reckon that Robson has never begun a pre-season looking in such fantastic touch. The assurance of his stroke play, with his cutting and driving particularly supreme, made that notion impossible to refute.
So commanding was this innings that Robson might just entertain hopes of reaching 1,000 runs by the end of May. Certainly it was not hard to see why Robson had played seven Tests in the summer of 2014, when he hit a hundred against Sri Lanka at Headingley in his second Test until becoming increasingly vulnerable outside his off stump.
Robson’s best work was done in the morning, showing the combination of defensive fortitude against seam and fluent driving to limit Somerset to two wickets in the first session. In treacherous batting conditions across the land, no team lost fewer before lunch.
As seam movement became less pronounced, Robson was able to enjoy the fruits of his labour and his century, his first since 2019, towered over his team-mates in the manner of an outstanding schoolboy playing at a level too low. No other Middlesex batsman has yet passed Stevie Eskinazi’s 22.
Somerset, whose supply of seamers is so rich that they could afford to leave out Jack Brooks, would have expected to bowl out their hosts. Lewis Gregory’s burst with the second new ball, pitching it up to invite movement, gave Somerset hope of limiting Middlesex to around 300. But even that would be a score that will challenge Somerset’s weaker suit.