Blogs

Could there have been a better time and place to be growing up if you were a cricket-mad kid than Somerset in the seventies? Could I have been luckier to have shared all my formative life experiences with my Dad? His passing left a huge void in my life in so many ways but I feel it most at the end of any day's play for Somerset. Thanks to Steve Jennings and the wonderful … [Read more...] about Happy birthday Dad by Steve Tancock

It is a given that to win a game of cricket you must take twenty wickets.  I cannot dispute that. But in terms of winning the County Championship, the quality or rather the sheer weight of a team’s batting makes a far, far bigger difference.  Just look at the tables:  In Division 1 the range of batting points accumulated is big. From the highest points total (by Surrey of … [Read more...] about It’s batting that makes the difference!

Am I alone in thinking that the present structure of an English (and Welsh) cricket season leaves much to be desired?  One reads this in the press and on social media and I would love to hear what the players and coaches think.  Dropping franchise cricket into the schedule will only make it more congested, however short the actual games are. Rather than what feels like an … [Read more...] about The season structure – unstructured thoughts!

“Imagine if the game had been the championship decider.” For once I had to agree with Alec Stewart the Surrey Director of Cricket speaking about today’s abandonment of the top of the table championship contest at Taunton. But given the ways Somerset’s fortune (or lack of it) has twisted us supporters over the last few years, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if a … [Read more...] about An Ill Wind

It’s probably fair to say that of all the names of past Somerset cricketers that were before my time none is more evocative or held more allure to me than Harold Gimblett. So where could be more apt to write today’s blog post from than a prime seat on the front row of the wonderful little corner of the County Ground that has been named after Somerset’s troubled genius. A … [Read more...] about Live from Gimblett’s Hill