SOMERSET County Cricket Club has had many ups and downs in their long and colourful history.

Testimony to this is the contrasting fortunes of success and failure in two successive seasons in the Four Day County Championship.

We were robbed of winning the County Championship for the first time ever (in 2016) by Yorkshire and Middlesex deliberately winning a game with what is known as declaration bowling, and by contriving a result of the type of the 20/20 format of the game.

Strangely, the hierarchy of the game said that neither side had done anything illegal.

However, no other sporting competition would have allowed the rules of a game to be concluded in this way. By any other name it was cheating, and left a nasty taste in the mouth, so to speak.

Turning to the 2017 season, Somerset struggled until the last day of the season to maintain their top flight status.

Not one of the top five batsmen scored a thousand runs; There were only a handful of centuries scored and very few batting points; We kept losing early wickets in four day games, getting well below par scores.

On the other hand, the bowling was very strong and could bowl sides out twice, and performed consistently throughout the season.

Somerset have some excellent young players within the squad and, coupled with seasoned, experienced players, should be capable of winning trophies.

Silverware last appeared in the Taunton dressing room in 2005. Somerset have always had a solid loyal fan base and success on the field of play is long overdue.

The management of the club must never take members and supporters for granted.

In all formats of the game in 2017 we achieved nothing, we pay our dues and deserve better than this. Value for money comes to mind.

We shouldn’t gloat or seek revenge because we sent Middlesex down, and seek poetic justice for robbing us of the Championship in 2016.

Let’s have a reality check. We escaped the drop by one point, it could so easily have been us.

ALAN FOYLE
Taunton