A gem of a book about Somerset cricket since the war (From This is The West Country)

A gem of a book about Somerset cricket since the war

1:23pm Saturday 25th March 2006

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Sixty Summers, Somerset Cricket Since the War, by David Foot and Ivan Ponting (Fairfield Books, £20) WITH a foreword by Marcus Trescothick, this is a must for any fan of cricket, not just of Somerset. It is a comprehensive update of a paperback published in 1993 and is a 320-page hardback full of information about the 278 cricketers who have played for Somerset from World War Two until now.

Veteran west-country journalist David Foot has penned portraits of them all, even one-game wonders, and his elegant, perceptive style revealed quite a few of them in a new light to me.

Those OGWs include ex-Bridgwater licensee Ray Windsor, a prodigious scorer at club level, who was unfortunate enough to be bowled by Tony Greig for a duck in his only first-class match.

Journalist Ivan Ponting, a Somerset fanatic since he was old enough to walk on the family farm at Chewton Mendip, has compiled the statistics in typically-meticulous fashion and has also collected all the photographs.

Several Somerset players past and present have chosen their dream teams and the book is studded with excellent quotes from those 60 years, as well as old photos of some of the grounds the county doesn't use now. It's a gem of a book.

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