Another glorious year of County Championship cricket; another glorious failure for Somerset

Nearly fifty years ago, CR Poole published a short work entitled ‘The Customs, Superstitions, and Legends of the County of Somerset’. Inexplicably, he omitted the foremost of these customs: Somerset will never, ever, win the County Championship. For a while this week, I and many others dared to dream this year might be different. This could be the week, the day, the moment, history might be made. Somerset have been tilting for the championship since 1891 and only rarely been in with a chance of glory on the final day of the season. More often, as a dozen wooden spoon finishes attests, the situation has been hopeless but never serious. Today was serious. Today there was a chance. Somerset had done their part, crushing Nottinghamshire in handsome style yesterday. A late season run at history threatened to make believers out of even inveterate pessimists. Which is to say, out of us all. And yet, even then we suspected fate lurked around the next corner, armed with the lead piping.