Matches (18)

T20WC Warm-up (3)

CE Cup (3)

Vitality Blast (10)

ENG v PAK (1)

T20 World Cup (1)

RESULT • Warm-up • Lauderhill

163/8

IRE

(18.2/20 ov, T:164) 122

Sri Lanka won by 41 runs

Schedule Series

RESULT • Warm-up • Port of Spain

AFG

178/8

SCOT

(20 ov, T:179) 123/9

Afghanistan won by 55 runs

Schedule Series

Somerset

Abell ready to make his mark

Young batsman Tom Abell has yet to score a first-class century but he already has plenty of admirers around Taunton

Jeremy Blackmore

22-Jul-2015

Few young cricketers better epitomise the stoicism advocated in Rudyard Kipling's celebrated poem If than Somerset's Tom Abell. For almost four hours this week, Abell kept his head when all about him were losing theirs. Yet again Somerset's fragile batting line-up lost wickets at regular intervals as 21-year-old Abell stood firm at the other end.

For the second time this season he carried his bat and was left agonisingly short of a maiden first-class hundred. His unbeaten 88 was the sole reason that Warwickshire required a second innings.

Under the watchful eye of England selector James Whittaker, he batted in his usual phlegmatic style, avoiding risk and stroking 13 boundaries in his fifth half-century of the summer. As Kipling advised, he calmly treats the "two imposters" of triumph and disaster just the same, but retains a fiercely competitive nature underneath that calm exterior.

Full post

Somerset hope for autumn glow

Survival in the Championship remains in the balance but success in the YB40 has given supporters something to cheer

Nicky King

05-Sep-2013

September is upon us. Evenings are closing in, play will start half an hour earlier and thoughts of supporters have turned to the County Championship; promotion, relegation and, for the fortunate, an autumn day in the sun at a Lord's final. Rumours abound of contracts, transfers and which soon-to-be-retired cricketer will be announced in the line-up of this year's Strictly Come Dancing.

Meanwhile I seem to have entered a parallel universe. Ten days ago Somerset were drifting without an obvious means of propulsion along a rather murky waterway. Hovering above the danger area of the Championship table, two high-profile players were yet to sign contracts for next season and other richer/flashier/more fashionable counties were circling like sharks with chequebooks. Their chosen overseas player for the latter part of the season, Abdur Rehman, was watching grass grow in Harare as part of the Pakistan squad on a rearranged tour to Zimbabwe. His jet-lagged stand-in Piyush Chawla was failing to take a wicket at Edgbaston.

Poor light and rain may have arrived in Birmingham in the nick of time on the final day to save Somerset from their fifth Championship defeat of the season but a Derbyshire victory over Middlesex pushed them into the relegation zone. To add to their woes Peter Trego, the highest run-scorer in this year's YB40 competition, sustained a blow on the hand during the Warwickshire match and was likely to miss the final, must-win group match.

Full post

Sweet torture keeps addicts hooked

After another month of ups and downs, Somerset qualified for the FLt20 knockout stage once again

Nicky King

31-Jul-2013

So there we have it. Somerset have qualified for the T20 knockout stages for the fifth year running. As easy as shelling peas. Not. For they are a county that surely knows how to make their supporters suffer. The match thread on the Somerset supporters site entitled 'squeaky Brum time' certainly proved to be true as Darren Maddy hit Warwickshire towards a swansong, sunset-lit quarter-final. Then Alfonso Thomas and Yasir Arafat, veterans of 26 different major teams with 431 T20 wickets between them, proved that you don't need 101 bowling variations. Just 12 perfectly pitched yorkers. For Somerset supporters the sweet torture continues.

I have been doing cold turkey.

This may surprise you. It surprised me too. For I didn't realise I had a problem. But now I am in no doubt. My name's Nicky and I'm a crickoholic.

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Above Somerset only clouds

Poor form, international call-ups and injuries have left Somerset reeling in the Championship and their supporters more than "begrumpled"

Nicky King

29-May-2013

The sign for Liverpool John Lennon Airport has a scribbled picture, a copy of a self portrait by the Beatle, and an appropriate line from his song Imagine: "above us only sky". It is on a road I travel frequently. Last September some graffiti had been added by a disgruntled supporter from the red half of Merseyside: "below us only QPR and Reading".

Liverpool hadn't won a lot in recent seasons but they were generally there or thereabouts. But a dreadful start and two months into the season supporters were looking over their shoulders at the bottom of the table. A third of the way through the County Championship season and Somerset supporters are doing the same.

Following their televised draw against Warwickshire at Taunton - a match where the cricket from both teams was of the highest quality but which Somerset will know they should have won - the downward slide has gathered apace: a batting collapse after following on at Yorkshire, defeat only averted because so much time had been lost earlier in the match; a third-day deluge at Taunton only delayed the inevitable as Middlesex passed the 71 they needed to win after 7pm.

Full post

April the cruellest month for Somerset

Somerset have struggled to get out of the blocks in the opening matches of recent seasons, conceding valuable ground to their title rivals. An opening defeat to Durham only worsened their early-season record

NIcky King

26-Apr-2013

Before Somerset's Championship match against Warwickshire the ECB tweeted an interesting statistic - Somerset have lost just three matches in the County Championship at Taunton since the start of 2009. In fact the last team to beat Somerset at Fortress Taunton were Lancashire, who won the final match of the 2011 season and along with it the County Championship.

But behind this apparent near invincibility on home turf lies another less palatable Somerset statistic. For Somerset April is indeed the cruellest month.

Since their return to Division One of the County Championship in 2008 Somerset have played 15 championship matches in April. They have won just two. Six have been lost, with seven matches drawn. The lowlight was April 2011 when they lost their opening match to Warwickshire at home followed by Lancashire away each by an innings and inside three days. Each season Somerset watch the eventual champions reaching the first hurdle whilst they are still stuck behind the tape.

Full post

Returning Trescothick to lead Championship charge

Somerset's 2013 prospects previewed by the ESPNcricinfo Supporters' Network

Nicky King

03-Apr-2013

Three months ago Somerset supporters thought Dave was a Freeview TV channel broadcasting endless repeats of Top Gear and QI. They now eagerly await the arrival of Dave at Taunton. Dave Nosworthy is the man given the role of turning Somerset's brickbat-earning perennial bridesmaids into trophy-winning, bouquet-throwing brides. The new director of cricket arrived in mid-March and he will need to hit the ground running.

At his disposal he has a squad little changed from the Somerset who in 2012 were runners-up in Division One of the County Championship, reached T20 Finals Day and narrowly missed out on qualification for the CB40 semi-finals. These were remarkable achievements in a season marred by unprecedented injuries, when at one point in May the squad was down to its last 11 fit players.