Category: Ticker

Barry Phillips, the writer of several Somerset cricketer biographies and co-writer of the Somerset Cricketers series, has written a biography of William Stephens Donne. It is likely you have never heard of William, but a hundred years ago his standing and reputation in sporting circles was second to none. A larger than life character in every respect, he was born and lived in Castle Cary where, as its major employer, he was duty-bound to play an active part in the town’s cricket and rugby clubs.

His lasting cricket legacy was to form a touring club, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers. One of these tours was to Paris in 1900, while the city was hosting the second Modern Olympiad. Years later, one of the matches played and won by the Wanderers was deemed to have been an Olympic final between England and France So much has been written about this match that it might be assumed there is nothing further to tell, but the book corrects the identity of one of the players, misidentified for decades, and addresses a question that has perplexed cricket historians – how did these West Country amateurs of average ability ever come to represent their country?

As for William’s rugby, he became President of the English Rugby Union and a national selector. He was heavily involved in the earliest United Kingdom tours by Southern Hemisphere countries, and these tours were not without controversy and incident, particularly those involving the All Blacks. William’s diplomacy and sheer force of personality did much to ensure they were a resounding success.

Outside of sport, William was a successful businessman, continuing the flax manufacturing business that his great, great grandfather started in Castle Cary two centuries ago, and he was loved and respected for the tireless work he did on behalf of his town. You can read about his extraordinary life in LARGER THAN LIFE.

The hardback book is to be published on December 5th 2025, priced £22, and you can contact Barry Phillips (bpwg@sky.com, 07704855278) to pre-order a copy. The book will also be available at Somerset County Sports at the Cooper Associates County Ground or from any bookseller (ISBN 978-1-0369-6400-9).

On August 18th 2025 a team of Somerset cricketing legends returned to Sidmouth CC to play a match to celebrate the formation of the County Club at the same venue exactly 150 years ago.

The Somerset legends team led by chief executive Jamie Cox, included five  members of the team that he led at Lord’s to win the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lord’s in 2001- Andy Caddick, Mike Burns. Keith Parsons and Steffan Jones. The team also included three current members of the Somerset Women’s team, Chloe Skelton, Sophie Luff and Jess Hazell, who kept wicket, as well as James Hildreth, Pete Trego and Mike Parsons.

Batting first against a Men and Women’s Sidmouth XI the Somerset side opened with Burns and Caddick who put on 17 before Caddick was out in the fourth over for 8.

Burns was joined by Trego, who upped the tempo immediately and hit the first 6 of the evening. In response Burns hit his first six, but it was Trego who lit up the evening with his big hitting antics, peppering the Belmont Hotel boundary wall and even blasting one into the sea!

The pair added 70 together when Burns was out for 23.

Trego was joined by Hildreth and both showed that they had lost none of their prowess with the bat. Trego went to his half century with a big six and immediately retired, his 55 coming from 29 balls with three 4s and six 6s.

Hildreth also went to his half century off 29 balls with three 4s and five 6s before he retired..

When Cox was joined by Keith Parsons suddenly it was 2001 again as the pair ran between the wickets and added 31 in three overs.

Skipper Cox remained unbeaten on 24 off 14 balls as Somerset ended on 196 for five from their 20 overs.

When Sidmouth batted Cox tossed the ball to Jones, another throwback to the 2001 final and the Welshman duly obliged by having opener Charles Brock sharply caught by ‘keeper Hazell.

Josh Patidar and new batter Matt Matravers added 42 in three overs before the opener was caught by Luff off Mike Parsons.

Matravers hit 25 off 11 before Hazell caught him off Trego after which only Akeem Jordan threatened to spoil the party with 23 before he fell to Keith Parsons.

Appropriately the final wicket was claimed by Captain Cox who had Will Murray caught and bowled from his only delivery.

Immediately afterwards the Somerset CEO addressed the crowd saying: “It’s awesome to have this many people here.This club has been around a long time and as you know it’s our birthday today. The club is here because of our people who are amazing snd I can’t thank you enough for coming along and supporting tonight.  Quite frankly it’s overwhelming to see so many people come and watch a friendly game.

“Thank you to Sidmouth for putting on the night, to everyone for coming and playing, and to my team, many of them my old team mates and to the three girls – not one of them said no.”

He added: “I cant thank you enough for coming along tonight.”

This was a unique and special cricketing occasion that was enjoyed by the very large crowd in a warm and relaxing atmosphere against the backdrop of the sea, a perfect way to celebrate Somerset’s 150th birthday!

The Somerset Cricket Museum was recently presented with a cricket bat that was used by Sir Viv Richards in 1979.

The bat was presented to Museum Trustee, Mike Unwin ahead of Friday’s (July 18th 2025) Vitality Blast match against Gloucestershire by Denise Marsh on behalf of her father Roy Williams, who both reside in Minehead.

Roy, now a sprightly 94, was previously a bank manager in Taunton where he had connections with Taunton CC. His son, Neil, also played for Taunton CC as well as appearing for Somerset Second XI. Neil is now MD of Harris Fowler who are a Commercial Partner of SCCC.

Regarding the bat, Roy said: “If my memory serves me correctly, this sponsorship was the first one that Viv received in his cricketing career with Somerset. In fact it may be the only sponsorship he received as, of course, sponsorships were more rare in the 70s.

“In 1979, Urch Harris (Stamp dealers) sponsored Viv for £1 for every run he scored that season. At the end of the summer his runs totalled 1500 or thereabouts.

“The bat was presented to Viv at the Ground and he subsequently paid the bat as a cheque into his account. Obviously a bat cannot go through the banking system so we had to duplicate the cheque and I was left with the original item which I have cared for ever since, although time has taken its toll on the handle of the bat.”

Roy added: “I found Viv to be a very humble man off the field and we had a good banker/customer relationship. I had the pleasure of meeting him again about 12 years ago when he visited Minehead where I am living in retirement.”

Mike Unwin said: “This is a marvellous addition to our collection and we are most appreciative of this donation. It will take pride of place in the Museum, either in the bat collection or alongside the tribute to Viv.”

An article by Mike Unwin, Museum Volunteer/ Trustee.

We are very grateful to Mr Phil Wrixon from West Dorset for donating this cricket bat to the Museum. Just another cricket bat, I hear you say, but is it ?

Let’s look at some of the stories and memories that lie behind the donation.

Nothing out of the ordinary about the bat, a fairly standard Gray Nicholls Crusader bat from the 1960s, but one that has been autographed by the Somerset and 1960 South African Tourists. What makes it so different for me is that, as a 12 year old, I was at that game, in July 1960.

I remember catching the 10:00 am train from Yeovil, arriving at Taunton at around 10:50 and then the short walk down to the County Ground, with an eager anticipation of seeing the South Africans play against Somerset, on the last day of the three day match. Fancy allowing a child nowadays to travel alone across the county by public transport!

The first two days had not gone well for Somerset. In their first innings South Africa scored 365 all out, the captain Jackie McGlew top scoring with 65 runs before being bowled by Brian Langford. In reply Somerset only made 122 with McKinnon taking 6/22. Somerset were asked to follow on and were 94/4 at the end of the second day’s play. Adding only another 126 to the total, Somerset were all out for 220, the South Africans winning by an innings and 23 runs sometime after lunch.

Now, my return train was not until 5:00 pm so this gave a lovely opportunity for autograph hunting in the afternoon. Waiting with other children outside the players entrance, somewhere near where the Stragglers Coffee Shop is now, slowly the tourists emerged. Firstly Neil Adcock, the fast bowler, carrying only his cricket boots, but he was too busy to give autographs, then the captain Jackie McGlew and vice-captain Trevor Goddard came out laden with blazers, boots, bats etc. When asked for their autographs more in hope than expectation, they immediately put their kit down, signed our books and instructed other team members including Adcock to do the same. Memories that are still with me today – see Autograph Book (although sadly the second page is missing) below.

What about the bat autographed by both teams ? Well it was won by Mr Wrixon in a raffle, at a fund raising event for Bridport Cricket Club in August 1960 – see press cutting below – after a match between a Somerset XI and Bridport – no auto correct in those days. Another example of Somerset supporting clubs within the region.

As a teenager, Mr Wrixon well remembers the Bridport players although sadly many have now passed away. Members of the BCC team that day were Brian Follett, Dave Cox, Mike Gurd, Mike Break, Tony Samways, Derek Callam, Clive Taylor, Derek Gale (capt), Val Tambini, Des Lawes, B. Pearce, ? Courtier and Bill Graves. Brian Follett also recalls playing in the 1962 and 1963 matches.

Andrew Moulding in his articles for the Axminster Nub News (‘Moulding’s Memories’) noted that “The Bridport Cricket Club ground was a stone’s throw away from Palmer’s Brewery and when the wind was in a certain direction, the smell of hops brewing was quite intoxicating” and “Apart from the beery smell wafting across the field, one of the features of the Bridport ground was the lengthy walk for batsmen from the pavilion to the wicket – and back again, particularly if you had managed to get out early in your innings.”.

For whatever reason, Bridport CC now longer exists. According to reports they had to withdraw from League cricket in 2015 due to a lack of players, finally closing in 2018 and passing their score hut / board to Broadwindsor CC.

So what other stories can be found from the bat and the 1960 tour ?

From nearly every point of view the 1960 South African tour of England proved disappointing.

 Firstly, it was a wet summer, and many matches were disrupted by rain. What’s new? 

Secondly, the young fast bowler Geoffrey Griffin, who had suffered an elbow injury as a child, and therefore unable to effectively straighten his arm, was no-balled for throwing on several occasions, thus ending his career. 

He was no-balled for throwing in several matches prior to the Test series, but nevertheless retained his place in the side. In his second Test appearance, at Lord’s in June 1960, he became not only the first South African cricketer to take a hat-trick in a Test match, but also the first cricketer of any nationality to do so at Lord’s. In the same match, however, he was no-balled for throwing eleven times, 

A sad parallel here with the Somerset bowler Eric Bryant who was no balled 5 times during a match v Gloucestershire in 1960, after which Somerset did not re-engage him and his career ended.

Thirdly, anti-apartheid demonstrations were held outside most venues. 

Fourthly, none of the young players showed signs of developing into good Test players. 

Fifthly, South Africa lost the first three Tests and drew the other two. 

Sixthly, the tour showed a financial loss and lastly, apart from Roy McLean (whose autograph can be seen above) the South Africans “found themselves short of enterprising batsmen”.

At face value, just another autographed bat in the Museum’s collection but then look a little further. As we always say, ‘it’s not the objects themselves but the memories and stories that are invoked by them’.

An article contributed by Museum Trustee Richard Walsh (with additional contributions from Mike Unwin).

Somerset County Cricket Club are mourning the sad loss of Ken Palmer who passed away in Musgrove Park Hospital on Tuesday  23rd July aged 87 and the Trustees and Volunteers at the Somerset Cricket Museum, share and feel the same sadness as do all Somerset supporters on hearing of the passing of the Somerset all rounder Ken Palmer.

After a long and successful playing career with Somerset, during which in 1961 at the age of 24 he became the youngest player to achieve the double of 1000 first class runs and 100 first class wickets, he then served as a first class umpire for 31 years  before retiring in recognition of which he was awarded the MBE for his services to cricket 

Ken was a classy right handed batter and a fast medium bowler, who was born in Winchester  on 22nd April 1937 and grew up in Devizes where he made quite an impression on the local cricketing scene as a result of which he was invited to Hampshire for trials. 

However he wasn’t offered terms and instead signed for Somerset and arrived at the County Ground in the spring of 1954 at the age of 16.

Ken made his first team debut against Middlesex at Bath in June  the following year in which he claimed two wickets in their first innings- Freddie Titmus and Don Bennett and was then dismissed twice himself by Titmus.

After that introduction between 1955 and 1969 he went onto play in 302 matches for the county, scoring 7567 runs at an average of 20.67 which included two centuries and a best of 125 not out against Northamptonshire in 1961, the year in which he topped 1000 runs for the only time.

With the ball Ken took 837 wickets at an average of 21.10 with his best return being nine for 57 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1963. He took 100 first class wickets in a season four times, his best being in 1963 when he claimed 126.

Ken was 12th man for England in 1963 and two years later when he was coaching out in South Africa in 1965 he got called up to play in the Fifth Test Match against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, which was to be his only appearance for his country.

After retiring from playing Ken became a first class umpire and went onto officiate in 22 Test Matches and 23 One Day Internationals.

In retirement, Ken was a very familiar face at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton and also a great friend of the Museum. He made a surprise visit to the Museum in March 2024, with his son Gary, also a former Somerset Cricketer (photographed below with Museum Volunteer Patrick Draycott) and also a few weeks ago, meeting up with Museum Volunteer, Mark Reeve.

Peter Robinson who played alongside Ken in the Somerset and was a good friend said: “Ken was a gutsy cricketer – what I would call a muck and bullets player, he would always get stuck in with the bat and bowl all day. He was a tough cricketer and was unlucky not to have played more Test matches- he should have played in England really.”

His record for the Club has been fully documented on the Somerset CCC website and his reminiscences recorded by Richard, in Episode 2 of the Former Somerset Players podcast.

The Museum, over the years has held many items of Ken’s, from his cricket bag (pictured below), his testimonial tie, and the story of his Single Wicket Trophy success in 1963.

From a personal perspective, I first started watching Somerset in 1956 and Ken’s autograph sits in my autograph book alongside other childhood heroes such as Bill Alley, Peter Wight and Brian Langford.

Ken was one of the Somerset greats and will be much missed by everyone who knew him.