Somerset County Cricket Club

It is generally regarded as a minor county from its foundation in 1875 until 1890, apart from the 1882 to 1885 seasons when it is considered by substantial sources to have been an unofficial first-class team, holding important match status.

[10] The earliest confirmed reference to cricket in Somerset is a match on 13 July 1751 that was played in memory of the late Frederick, Prince of Wales who was a noted patron of the sport.

"This utterly unexpected result fairly took those present by surprise, and they dispersed hurriedly – a most undignified ending to what we are compelled to describe as a most unbusinesslike meeting."

Famous names from the pre-First World War period included the England players Sammy Woods, Lionel Palairet and Len Braund; the fast bowler Tom Richardson also played for the county once after his retirement from Surrey.

Of the professionals, fleeting international careers were enjoyed by the hard-hitting batsman Harold Gimblett, whose entry into first-class cricket was the stuff of legends,[33] and by Arthur Wellard, fast bowler and a mighty smiter of sixes.

A trio of world class players, Viv Richards, Joel 'Big Bird' Garner and the England all-rounder Ian Botham made the team for the first time in its long history a formidable trophy winning proposition.

[35] In the same 1979 season, Somerset's newfound ruthless streak provoked controversy in the Benson & Hedges Cup limited-overs competition when Rose declared the Somerset innings closed in the match against Worcestershire, in an attempt to safeguard passage through to the quarter-final on run rate: the county was subsequently disqualified from the competition at a special meeting of the Test and County Cricket Board.

With the successful side ageing, new captain Peter Roebuck led the move to make changes and the overseas stars Viv Richards and Joel Garner were sacked, replaced by the New Zealander Martin Crowe.

To balance the youth policy, for two seasons the club was led by high-profile overseas stars Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith to enable coaching of the young group of players.

The 2006 season was up and down in results, but in June 2006 Rose announced the signing for six weeks of the Australian cricket team opening batsman Justin Langer, while countryman Dan Cullen was on duty with Australia A.

However, they recovered well from this setback and achieved promotion, returning to Division One of the Championship for the first time since 2002, after beating Essex at Chelmsford with five sessions to spare.

Somerset performed exceptionally well, progressing from the preliminary round to the semi-final where they lost to the Mumbai Indians, in the process picking up considerable prize money.

During the 2012 season, Somerset were ravaged by injuries to the extent that on two occasions the county were reduced to their last 11 available players, with members of the coaching and support staff having to fill in as 12th men.

Nick Compton carried a batting lineup that at times missed key players such as Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter due to injury, averaging an incredible 99.25.

In one-day competitions, Somerset couldn't quite make up for a poor start in the CB40, losing their first 4 games, before winning their next 6 completed matches and narrowly missing out on the semi-finals.

In the reformatted t20, Somerset topped their group and won the home quarter-final against Essex to send them on another trip to finals day, only to fall short to Hampshire in the semi-final.

The beginning of the season had seen the departure of crowd favourite Buttler to Lancashire, and towards the end was marred by what turned out to be a career-ending eye injury to Kieswetter.

For the most part, the season followed much the same path as the last, with Somerset failing to reach the latter stages of either limited overs competition and battling for the lower places in the Championship.

With Thomas sent out on loan, new signing Jim Allenby took over the captaincy for the One-Day Cup and despite winning their last three matches, Somerset missed out on a quarter-final spot.

Chris Rogers was brought in to captain the Championship side on a one-year basis, and having been mid-table for most of the season, Somerset went on a late surge which put them right in contention for the title going into the last round of matches.

In stark contrast, Somerset's t20 Blast campaign was disastrous, the club finished bottom of the South Group and lost their last seven games in a row.

Somerset again enjoyed good success in the One-Day Cup, winning five of seven completed matches and qualifying second in the South Group for a home quarter-final against Nottinghamshire.

[40][41] Under new director of cricket Andy Hurry, who returned to the club, and new head coach Jason Kerr, Somerset enjoyed an excellent start to their 2018 Championship campaign, winning three of their first five matches whilst drawing the other two.

Somerset struggled to find consistency in their One-Day Cup campaign, but nevertheless entered the final round of matches with a chance to qualify for a playoff.

Despite losing two of their first three games, Somerset ended up finishing top of the South Group, winning 10 of their 14 matches to earn a home quarter-final and a chance to exact revenge for the previous year on Nottinghamshire.

The improved performance in the competition was in no small part due to the impact of overseas signings Corey Anderson, who was the team's leading run-scorer with 514 runs at a strike-rate of 169.1, and Jerome Taylor who claimed 22 wickets in his 11 matches.

2019 was to prove to be the year Somerset finally broke their 14-year trophy drought, as they claimed victory in the 2019 Royal London One-Day Cup, to end a run of 10 runners-up finishes across all formats over a 10-year span.

The campaign began in brilliant style as Somerset secured their largest-ever List A margin of victory by beating Kent by 264 runs in their opening match.

The installation, designed to spell out "SCCC" with the panels, will cover a substantial portion of the Club's energy needs, particularly during peak cricket seasons.

[1] This initiative is part of SCCC’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, while also cutting operational costs, and serves as a model for how sports clubs can embrace renewable energy solutions.Those who have held the office of Somerset President are:[43]

One of the earliest cricket matches played in Somerset was in memory of Frederick, Prince of Wales [ 11 ]
Somerset CCC 1892
Somerset opening batsmen Matthew Wood and Marcus Trescothick walking out to meet Gloucestershire CCC , 27 June 2007