The Sweet Sorrow of following Somerset Cricket

Marcus Trescothick. Nick Compton. Alviro Petersen. James Hildreth. Craig Kieswetter. Jos Buttler. When all troops are fit and available Somerset enjoy a batting line-up one might compare favourably to this summer’s visiting New Zealanders.

Today they were dismissed by Sussex for 76. At Horsham. Granted, Compton and Kieswetter were absent but, even so, this was a dismal showing.  Somerset, damn it, won the toss and chose (rightly!) to bat. At the time of typing Sussex are 241/7.

The best that may be said of it is that this year the Wurzels are not teasing their supporters. A season that began with hopes that – at last! – the Cider Men might become Champions of All England is already doomed. Staving off relegation now seems a more urgent task than chasing that endlessly-elusive first County Championship title. Under-appreciated and refreshingly glitz-free the Championship may be a Maiden Aunt but who really prefers the IPL’s slutfest to the Championship’s venerable decorum? No-one of sense.