Smeed, however, was unable to play as a like-for-like replacement at the top of Somerset’s order … and nearly didn’t make it in time to bat at all in their first innings. At the time of the injury inside the day’s first 40 minutes, he was still batting for the second XI against Cardiff UCCE at Abergavenny, where he followed up his first-innings 148 with an unbeaten 209 from 211 balls.

The substitution was ratified by the match referee, James Whitaker, at approximately 2.30pm, by which stage Smeed had already been released from his second-team duties and was heading back up towards London. However, before he could complete his journey from South Wales, the contest that he was attempting to join had gone into overdrive.

From a seemingly steady 77 for 2 in the final minutes before lunch, Essex tumbled to 149 all out in 51 overs, and by the time of Smeed’s arrival in Chelmsford at 6pm, Somerset had lost five of their own in reply. However, from a nadir of 114 for 5, the visitors were indebted to a resilient sixth-wicket stand of 65, between Lewis Goldsworthy and Craig Overton, that spanned the final hour of the day and allowed Smeed the opportunity to bat at No.8 when play resumes on Saturday.

“He arrived at six o’clock, and he wasn’t in his whites,” Jason Kerr, Somerset’s head coach, said at the close. “Obviously it’s taken him a few hours to get across, and it could have been very different if things had gone Essex’s way.”

Kerr, however, defended the reasons for calling up Smeed, irrespective of the time it took for him to arrive.

“Within the club environment, we talk about the value of second-team runs … putting in performances, putting pressure on guys,” he said. “Ultimately, that’s what he’s done.

“Archie’s been playing well. But I guess the nature of being in the squad is you’re not playing cricket. So we had the opportunity to bring in someone who’s extremely confident coming off the back of 300 runs, and he’s going to obviously make his first-class debut.”

Regardless of the chaotic circumstances, Smeed’s call-up was a notable moment in the career of a young player who took the groundbreaking decision, in November 2022, to focus exclusively on white-ball cricket, in order to maximise his opportunities on the franchise circuit.

“We were talking about that in the dressing-room,” Kerr said. “Smeedy has always scored runs. He’s been prolific as a schoolboy and age-group cricketer, he scored heavily coming on to the staff as a young player, and then made a decision to explore white-ball cricket. And obviously, it’s well documented that he’s had a lot of success in that field.

“But last year, he showed a real desire that he wanted to come back to red-ball cricket – he missed playing it, so it’s great to see the work that he’s put in, and desire to go away and make significant contributions.”

Kohler-Cadmore’s injury occurred in the eighth over of the match, when he clung onto a sharp slip catch to dismiss Wiaan Mulder off the bowling of Jake Ball. The ball appeared to flick his left thumb before he caught it in his right hand, and he was already leaving the field for treatment as his team-mates celebrated the wicket.

“Pepsi [Kohler-Cadmore] has got a very big thumb at the minute, but fortunately it’s not broken, so that’s a good thing,” Kerr said.” He can’t move it, he certainly can’t hold a bat, and obviously he wouldn’t be able to catch moving forward.”

Kohler-Cadmore was the third player to be substituted in five days of County Championship action this season – all of them after suffering hand injuries. Tom Westley sustained a dislocated finger while batting during Essex’s opening-round victory over Hampshire, and was replaced by Noah Thain, while Yorkshire’s captain Jonny Bairstow took a blow to the thumb while keeping against Glamorgan, and was replaced by Will Luxton.

Sam Cook, who took over from Westley as Essex captain, admitted his team had been keen to take full advantage of Smeed’s delayed arrival, but backed the notion of injury substitutes, after a busy baptism for the ECB’s trial playing condition.

“There was a bit of chat out there to try and get them out before he [Smeed] got off the M4,” Cook said. “But to be honest I think the injury substitutions is good for the game. We saw it last week with Tom. In a case like this where it is an obvious injury, I think it has been a sensible rule change.”

8pm BST – This story was updated with details of Smeed’s arrival