Kings in Waiting

Thomas Blow

Description

Kings in Waiting is the story of how Somerset failed to win their maiden Championship title despite finishing second five times during the 2010s. Since they finished bottom of the table in 2006, Somerset have enjoyed and endured the most exciting period in their history. Following their bottom-of-the-table finish, they hired Justin Langer as their captain and he transformed them into one of the most competitive teams in the land. He departed in 2009, although the good work he had done alongside his successor Marcus Trescothick was expected to result in trophies. But they somehow failed to deliver, remarkably finishing as runners-up in eight tournaments between 2009 and 2012. This led to them being described as the bridesmaids of English cricket. After a few quiet years, a new team began to emerge under Chris Rogers, one full of youth and promise. He guided them to second in 2016 and his successor Tom Abell finally managed to win a trophy in 2019. Yet the all-important Championship title remains absent from their cabinet.

Sujets

• Críquet
• Somerset
• Cricket

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 29 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785319167
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Thomas Blow, 2021
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Print ISBN 9781785318306
eBook ISBN 9781785319167
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue: Cricket s Great Bridesmaids
1. 2010: Never Been Closer
2. 2012: End of an Era
3. 2016: Rogers s Resurgence
4. 2018: Coming of Age
5. 2019: The Sweetest Victory
Epilogue: Can Somerset Win the Championship during the 2020s?
Appendix: Somerset during the 2010s
About the Author
To Eloise, for putting up with me for five years and counting.
Acknowledgements
YOU ALWAYS need help when writing a book. Thanks as ever to my family and friends for their unconditional support - especially my partner Eloise, who is always there for me. Last year was hard for everyone, but I would not have survived it without her love and encouragement. Thanks also to her family for housing us when we escaped London just as the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to take hold.
Thanks to everyone who bought or read my first book, The Honorary Tyke , and shared their thoughts. Your feedback is priceless. I also appreciate everyone who gave their opinion on the idea for this book, its structure and the manuscript.
Completing it would not have been possible without interviewing many people connected with Somerset. Thanks to Jim Allenby, Alex Barrow, Michael Bates, Nick Compton, Ryan Davies, Adam Dibble, George Dockrell, Andy Hurry, Jason Kerr, Steve Kirby, Phil Lewis, Matt Maynard, Michael Munday, Johann Myburgh, Chris Rogers, Dave Stiff, Arul Suppiah, Paul van Meekeren, Darren Veness, Andy Walter and Charl Willoughby for speaking to me. I feel humbled and privileged to work which such great people.
There are some great digital archives that have allowed me to conduct hours of precious research. Thanks to the BBC, ESPNcricinfo, The Guardian , the Somerset County Gazette and others for allowing the public to freely access articles from their respective websites. We need to stop taking free-to-read journalism for granted. It is also important to acknowledge Cricket Archive, a dream for anyone obsessed with looking at old scorecards.
Thanks to Paul and Jane at Pitch Publishing for turning this project into a reality - it has been a pleasure working with you. Sports journalism is thriving at the moment and Pitch Publishing deserve plenty of credit for their invaluable contribution to the industry. Thanks also to Duncan Olner for designing the cover and to Richard Whitehead for proofing the manuscript.
Finally, thanks to Somerset for entertaining a whole generation of county cricket fans. I hope this book does your recent history justice.
Thomas Blow, Spring 2021
Prologue Cricket s Great Bridesmaids
THE COUNTY Championship celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2020. During that time Somerset, a team based in the small town of Taunton, have strived in 119 editions of the competition, missing only the inaugural season in 1890. That means they have had 119 chances to become Kings of England. As of spring 2021, they have failed to take any of those. Along with Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire, they are one of only three counties to have never won the Championship, although Gloucestershire were named England s Champion County four times before the competition officially began in 1890.
Somerset s first-class history began in 1882, when they played their maiden match against Lancashire. While historic, it was not a pleasant occasion as they were humbled at Old Trafford. After restricting Lancashire to a modest 237, they were bowled out for 29 and 51, losing by an innings and 157 runs. They did pick up their first win later that summer, beating Hampshire by five wickets at Taunton. But it was a tough start to first-class cricket. They managed to win just five of their first 27 games between 1882 and 1885. After losing by nine wickets to W.G. Grace s Gloucestershire in 1885, they did not play first-class cricket again until 1891 when they entered the Championship. There were early flirtations with the title, finishing third in their second season. They were helped in 1892 by captain Herbie Hewett, who scored 1,047 runs at an average of 40.26. No one scored more in the Championship that season and just two had a better average. Hewett was named as one of Wisden s Cricketers of the Year in the following Almanack and looked to be the man to lead Somerset for years to come, but he departed in 1893 after refusing to play on a sodden pitch.
Two years later, Somerset suffered the biggest defeat in their history, losing by an innings and 452 runs to Lancashire. It was a memorable match for England s Archie MacLaren, who scored a record 424. It remained the highest first-class score in England until Warwickshire s Brian Lara hit 501 not out against Durham in 1994. To this day only Hampshire and Sussex have suffered bigger defeats in Championship cricket. It was a result which symbolised their struggles during the coming years. They failed to keep up with the likes of Surrey, Yorkshire and Lancashire, all of whom had become accustomed to winning the title. It took them more than 50 years to finish as high as third again, in 1958. Despite this, Somerset fans still saw many talented players come and go during the first half of the 20th century. Perhaps the greatest was England s Jack White. The all-rounder, who played in 15 Tests, scored more than 11,000 runs and claimed 2,165 wickets in first-class cricket for the club. No one has more of the latter for Somerset. There was also Harold Gimblett, who is their leading run-scorer in first-class cricket with 21,142 runs, and Arthur Wellard, who took more than 1,500 first-class wickets.
In the 1970s, Somerset became more consistent. The emergence of talents such as Brian Rose, Vic Marks and Ian Botham, as well as the arrivals of Brian Close, Joel Garner and Viv Richards, transformed the club into one of the best in the land. Honours followed, with both the John Player League and Gillette Cup won in 1979, the NatWest Trophy four years later, and two Benson and Hedges Cups picked up in 1981 and 1982. After failing to win any major trophies before 1979, they now had five in their cabinet thanks to a talented squad. Yet the all-important Championship title continued to evade them as they failed to break into the top two. The departures of Garner, Richards and Botham in the mid-1980s signalled the end of that great team and the opportunity to win the Championship.
Somerset did eventually finish as runners-up, coming second to Yorkshire in 2001. But with three fewer wins, they were well beaten to the title. And the following season they were relegated from Division One, leaving them a long way from breaking their duck. Their misery was compounded in 2005 as they finished eighth in Division Two. And things got even worse 12 months later as they finished rock bottom. But as they say, once you have hit the bottom, the only way is up. In January 2007, they made an appointment that triggered their return to the top. Justin Langer, the Australia opener who had just retired from Test cricket and had already agreed to join the club that summer, was named their new captain.
Since then Somerset have come very close to winning the Championship on several occasions. They finished as runners-up five times in the 2010s, metaphorically having one hand on the trophy at times. Not only that, but since they won the Twenty20 Cup in 2005, they have finished as runners-up in 12 major tournaments at the time of writing in 2020. This has led to them being described as the bridesmaids of English cricket, consistently playing a starring role in the ceremony but never being the centre of attention. In this respect the past 15 seasons have been hard. They have had to endure defeat on so many occasions, with the press labelling them as chokers. For the likes of Marcus Trescothick, Peter Trego and James Hildreth - all three of whom played for the club throughout this period, with the latter still part of the squad - they have had to live with a drawerful of runners-up medals at home, reminding them of what could have been.
Another way of looking at it, however, is recognising how brilliant they have been since Langer s appointment. Although his great side - which Trescothick inherited after his retirement in October 2009 - never managed to win a trophy, they entertained county fans across the country by playing some fabulous cricket. They challenged in every competition thanks to the brilliance of their squad. Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler were England s most exciting wicketkeeper-batsmen, Zander de Bruyn, Alfonso Thomas, Charl Willoughby and Murali Kartik were former internationals who were far better than your average county professional and, most importantly, they had Trescothick - still one of the best openers in the world despite his premature retirement from international cricket, caused by a well-documented stress-related illness. It was a team that could have, and should have, won countless honours.
That squad gradually disintegrated following Rose s