Sonny Baker continued his stellar performance in the early rounds of the 2026 County Championship, taking a final innings five-for in a tense match in Southampton to further boost his England Test selection hopes.
Somerset were looking on course for a victory on day four, despite wickets continuing to fall in the final innings. They were set 287 runs to win by Hampshire, but an early burst by Baker on the evening of day three had caused them to wobble, when her removed all of their top three.
However, Tom Abell and James Rew guided them towards the win, Rew scoring a half-century and Abell finishing the match unbeaten on 101, getting his century off the final ball of the game. Coming on five overs after the new ball was taken in the afternoon session of day four, with Somerset cruising, Baker briefly threatened to turn the game on its head.
He took out Lewis Gregory's middle stump with a rapid delivery, before nicking off Alfie Ogborne to the keeper in his next over. That left Somerset eight down, with Jack Leach at the crease with Abell, and still needing 16 runs to win. Those wickets also gave Baker his first five-for of the season, and the second of his first-class career.
Match 21, Hampshire vs Somerset
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- Ball by ball Over
Baker boosts England Test selection hopes with fourth-innings five-for
His five-for on home turf follows another impressive performance from Baker in the previous round of fixtures. He took four-for in Hampshire's first innings against Yorkshire, including a triple-wicket-maiden in which he decimated Yorkshire's top-order. So far this season, Baker has 13 wickets at 21.84 in Division One.
Baker burst onto the scene at the end of last year when he was awarded a development contract for England over the winter. He was earmarked as a potential bolter for the Ashes, but endured a tough start to his international career when he endured chastening white-ball debuts when selected at the end of the summer. Nevertheless, his development contract was upgraded to a full central contract at the end of the year, and he remains in the hunt for a Test place at the start for the international summer.
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