We are very grateful to Kath Wilkins, who represented the West (which preceded Somerset) from 1991 – 1999, Somerset (2000 -2003), was Captain for the first season 2000-2001 and gained 3 England Caps for this collection of cricket clothing.
Thanks to the SCCC Reception Team for passing this ball onto us from an unknown donor. Apparently found in a bin!
The ball was presented to Somerset County Cricket Club’s Len Braund for his score of 104, in the first test match (July 1st-3rd) at Lord’s, of the 1907 series. The match was drawn.
This was also the first test match played at Lord’s by any South African team.
Len Braund scored 104 runs for England against South Africa in the first Test at Lord’s Cricket Ground in July 1907. Batting at number 6, he helped England reach 428. It was his sole Test century and secured his place on the honours board during a match that ultimately ended in a draw due to rain.
Match Details: 1st Test, Lord’s, July 1-3, 1907
Key Aspects of the Match:
We were very pleased to receive from the now retired Somerset CCC Scorer, Polly Rhodes, the 2025 Men’s Scorebook and a beautifully framed scorecards from the 150th Anniversary match v Sidmouth CC, in August 2025.
We are very grateful to the Director of Cricket, Mr Andy Hurry for two recent donations to the Somerset Cricket Museum
Firstly the stump smashed by Riley Meredith during the T20 Blast game during the match against Essex on July 8th 2025. Riley smashed the stump of opener Michael Pepper, who had scored 13 runs.
Secondly the Kookaburra ball used by Somerset v Nottinghamshire in July 2025. The pitch was flat, the Notts run rate was very low and captain Lewis Gregory did not ask for the new ball to be taken, this ball was therefore used for 159.2 overs.
Our thanks go to Anne Smith and her family for a very generous donation of Wisdens and other cricket books. They were the collection of her late father Stewart McLaren. The following article was written by John McLaren who is a well published author.
We are very grateful to Mr. Gary Palmer, son of former Somerset and England all-rounder, the late Ken Palmer, who was also a great friend of the Museum for items of memorabilia and press cuttings, including the balls celebrating his 9 wickets v Lancashire, 7 wickets all bowled and his 100 wickets / 1000 runs double in 1961. All of which we have added to the items celebrating his single wicket win.
The Somerset Cricket Museum is indebted to the family of the late Dennis Silk, for a donation of books that included this biography of W.G. Grace, with a handwritten letter included in the book. This will be added to our W.G. Grace collection and displayed in the Museum.
We were so pleased to receive a donation of this delightful miniature bat measuring 3inches high from Ms Jane Hodgkin, autographed by the Somerset CCC players from 1964.
Some recent additions to the Somerset Cricket Museum collections- with grateful thanks to the donors
Batting gloves belonging to Bill Andrews, an SCCC mug and a Lashings shirt autographed by Viv Richards
We are very grateful to Joanna Cotterell for the donation of this cricket bat, from the collection of the late Dave Gilham, autographed by the Somerset team as part of the centenary celebrations 1891 – 1991.
We are very grateful for this donation of a 1957 Fixture Card, sponsored by the (then) Somerset and Wiltshire Trustee Savings Bank. We are sure some readers will remember both the Bank and some of the matches in this very crowded season.
We are very grateful to SCCC scorer Polly Rhodes for passing on this collection of Umpire’s clothing from Jasmine Naeem.
Umpires Naeem Ashraf and his wife, Jasmine, made history, when they became the first husband and wife to officiate together at a professional cricket match.
The Museum is in the process of widening the display of Women’s Cricket Memorabilia as the Club takes on its Tier 1 role in 2025.
The Somerset Cricket Museum is very pleased to have received this donation from Andy Caddick – thanks Andy.
We are very grateful to former Somerset Scorer, Colin Crees for his painstaking research in producing and publishing a 50 page booklet of County Cricket at Glastonbury and Street.
A wonderful record of matches played there between 1952 and 1978.
As Colin says in his conclusion , all proceeds from the sale of the booklets (£5) will go to the Somerset Cricket Museum. Do let me know if you would like a copy.
Thank you Colin.
The Somerset Cricket Museum is very grateful to Somerset County Cricket Club scorer, Polly Rhodes, for passing on these two international umpires shirts from Sue Redfern.
After a long playing and umpiring career, in September 2023 Sue became the first female umpire to stand in a first-class match in England and Wales. She umpired in the match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire at Sophia Gardens.
Two wonderful items to join our Women’s Cricket collection.
We are very grateful to Museum Volunteer, Patrick Draycott for researching and setting up the new Vic Marks display along with one of the three international blazers that Vic donated to the Museum.
We are very grateful to Mr John Wall for the loan of this autographed miniature bat from the 1964-65 tour to South Africa. Of particular interest to Somerset fans are signatures of Jim Parkes and Tom Cartwright both of whom played for us in the latter parts of their careers
This collection of trophies that came into the Somerset Cricket Museum are associated with the (former) Taunton Nomads CC and Mr Ken Knight mostly from the late 1960s.
If anyone has any knowledge of the Nomads CC please let the Museum know via the Contact page.
The trophies, some of which are pictured below, range from Winners and Runners Up of the TNCC Single Wicket Competition, the TECL (Taunton Evening Cricket League?) winners in 1969 and 1970 plus the HGS (Huish Grammar School?) 1939 junior cricket team championship winners.
Several pieces of cricket memorabilia found their way into the museum this week for which we are very grateful.
We are very grateful to Mr. Michael Metherell for these two items. The match / programme is mentioned in his article Cricket Memories of Somerset and Berkshire (on the website).
And on the sweater, can anyone help with some history of the old Taunton Outcasts CC for whom Michael played. I will collate any responses into an article for the Club History section of the website.
We are very grateful to Mr. Ian Keitch, who brought these items of memorabilia into the Museum today. The items belonged to his father, Geoff Keitch, a Somerset CCC member, who had recently died. Thank you Ian for the booklet, programme, ticket and scorecard.
They will certainly complement the article on the website, The Forgotten Final, by Richard Walsh.
We are very grateful to Mr Roy New (Museum member and former Secretary to Berkshire County Cricket Club) for finding and donating this plaque, commemorating the Life Time Membership of SCCC awarded to Mr C.J. Ondaatje, to the Museum (September 2023)
We are very grateful to Richard Twort (author) for the donation of this book – an extensive book that documents the history of Uphill Castle Cricket Club. Extracts from the book will be published shortly on the Club History section of the Museum’s website.
We are very grateful to Richard Brice for this 1983 bat and case (pictured below) autographed by the Somerset team.
We are moving the Women’s Cricket displays from being England centric to a more regional base, do come to the Museum and see the new Anya Shrubsole display and memorabilia.
We are very grateful to Mr Roger Hines for the donation of this bat autographed by team members from Somerset, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Northamptonshire.
We are very grateful to former England and Somerset bowler and cricket commentator Vic Marks, for donating three of his England Touring Blazers to the Museum during the monthly Walkers and Talkers Group event, today July 4th 2023.
Vic also spoke for two or three minutes on his memories of each tour.
Article contributed by Richard Walsh and Anthony Gibson.
On Monday 26th June 2023, a ceremony took place at the Somerset Cricket Museum during which a cricket bat used by the legendary Lionel Palairet in 1902 was presented to them by Anthony Gibson, the BBC Somerset commentator, author and a trustee of the museum.
Continue reading “Lionel Palairet’s Cricket Bat”We are very grateful to Mrs Patricia Minson for the donation of many items of cricket memorabilia from her late husband’s collection – including an SCCC Members Blazer (circa 1985-1990), an autographed picture of Viv Richards, a home made SCCC pennant (taken to all away games) and a cricket cap with badges from all 18 counties.
We are very grateful to Mr. Malcolm Hill for donating several boxes of books for the Museum Bookshop and this game of Wicketz
We are grateful to Sophie Luff and the Somerset Cricket Foundation for the Women’s Division 2 T20 Champions Cup from 2019, the season in which Sophie was the highest scorer in both divisions with 316 runs.
We are very grateful to an anonymous donor for giving these Annuals (amongst other things) to the Museum. These and the Playfair Annuals ran concurrently until the same publisher owned both and decided to merge them in 1963, Playfair taking on the format of the News Chronicle annual.
We are very grateful to Mr. David Seaman and Mr. Geoff Dawe for the books they have donated to the Museum and to David for the lovely set of framed cards pictured below,
Thanks to James for this autographed bat
We are very grateful to Mr.Tony Elston for the donation of two books which will be placed in the upstairs Museum bookshelf for avid researchers to wend their way through.
We are very grateful to Museum Volunteer, Mr. Paul Smith, for donating this game to the Museum and filling a gap in the Cricket Toy display drawer.
We are very grateful to Nick Larder and the Frome CC for allowing us to have photographs of these lovely pictures (which have been returned to Frome). Photographs by Museum Trustee Alain Lockyer.
We are very grateful to Sarah Hawken for sending the autographs to the Museum. Another reminder of the long association of the Somerset and Kidmore End Cricket Clubs.
To look at the history of this long association click here.
Former England and Somerset cricketer Jan Godman (pictured here with Museum Volunteer Patrick Draycott) recently called into the Somerset Cricket Museum at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton to donate a Cup and Photograph to add to the Women’s and Girls Cricket collection
The Somerset Cricket Museum is very grateful to Mr Pete Lloyd and Mr Ray Usher of the Whitchurch Cricket Club for donating a copy of the history of the Club – 100 Not Out (1922-2022) to the Museum.
Copies are available from the Club.
We are very grateful to Mr Garry Merrifield from Bristol and Mr Lloyd Shattock for their kind donations of bats to the Museum. Garry has sent us a bat (in memory of his Auntie Pat who took him to Taunton to watch cricket matches), autographed by the 1984 West Indies Touring Team including some Somerset CCC favourites and Lloyd has given us an SS Jumbo bat, once owned / used by Viv Richards.
We have recently acquired two framed commemorative prints donated by Somerset County Cricket Club, A list of Somerset Stragglers members who presented a silver bowl to the Revd. E.P. Spurway in 1912 and a list of SCCC Supporters who donated to the 1991 Centenary Appeal.
We are very grateful to Mr. Harry Everrett for the donation of a small bat autographed by the Somerset Stragglers team following their match v Ramblers July 2022, continuing their long history. The bat pictured below has been added to the Stragglers collection.
We are very grateful to Mr. I Stone, pictured here with Richard Johnson, for loaning this autographed cricket shirt (from the 2005 season) to the Somerset Cricket Museum.
The booklet published in 1991 containing the poem Harold Gimblett’s Hundred by John Arlott has kindly been loaned to the Museum by Mr D, Harrison.
The poem has also been recorded and the audio version can be found here.
We are very grateful to Brigid Riddell for two donations from her fathers cricket collection. An autographed salver commemorating the SCCC wins in the Gillette Cup and John Player League in 1979 and tankard presented to her father for his role as President of the Somerset Wyverns between 1984 and 1986.
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