List of Somerset cricket captains

Tom Abell is the current captain of Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club are an English cricket club based in Taunton, Somerset. The club was founded in 1875 after a match between "Gentlemen of Somerset" and "Gentlemen of Devon" in Sidmouth, Devon.^[1] Somerset played their first undisputed first-class cricket match in 1882 against Lancashire. After missing the first season of the official County Championship, Somerset were admitted for the second in 1891, and have participated in the competition ever since.^[2] The club have played both List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket since their introductions into the English game in 1963 and 2003 respectively.

Considered in terms of trophies won, Brian Rose was Somerset's most successful captain, with the county winning five one-day trophies in as many seasons under his captaincy.^[3] The county's longest serving captain was Sammy Woods, who was club captain for thirteen seasons from 1894 to 1906. Woods also captained the side on the most occasions, leading his team in 230 first-class fixtures. John Daniell, Brian Close, Marcus Trescothick and Rose are the only other captains to have led Somerset over 200 times, and Rose's total of 112 List A matches as captain is the most by a Somerset player. Trescothick has captained Somerset in Twenty20 cricket on the most occasions, doing so 49 times.

Captaincy history

Since attaining first-class status, Somerset have named 37 official captains. Stephen Newton was the club's first official captain, holding the position during the county's first three seasons of first-class cricket, from 1882 to 1884. Due to his commitments as a schoolmaster in London, he did not play in the opening three matches of 1882, so other players were required to deputise for him in these fixtures.^[4] Edward Sainsbury, who took over from Newton for the 1885 season, captained the side in the joint least number of matches along with Mandy Mitchell-Innes: both players captained Somerset in six first-class matches. During the 1885 season, Somerset failed to arrange sufficient fixtures with the other first-class teams to be retain its first-class status, and matches played between 1886 and 1890 were considered 'second-class'. During this time, the captaincy was transferred to Herbie Hewett who, after captaining his side unbeaten against county opposition in 1890, retained the captaincy upon Somerset's return to first-class cricket the following summer.^[5] Hewett continued as captain for three further seasons, but retired from the captaincy and the club at the end of the 1893 season following an incident in which he felt his authority had been undermined by the club.^[6] His successor as captain was Sammy Woods, who remained in the position for twelve years, the longest by any Somerset captain. Woods, born on the outskirts of Sydney in Australia had played three Test matches for Australia in the late 1880s, and was Somerset's first captain of overseas origin, although he lived the rest of his life in Somerset and also played three Tests for England.^[7] He led Somerset in 230 first-class matches, and holds the record for both the most first-class and the most overall matches captained by any Somerset player.

Between 1894 and 1946, the club captaincy remained reasonably stable, six official captains spanned the 52-year period. In addition to Woods, John Daniell, Jack White and Reggie Ingle all captained the side on more than 150 occasions, and Lionel Palairet led the team for one season and Massey Poyntz for two. Bunty Longrigg was captain of the side either side of the Second World War, totalling 73 matches. In contrast, the following nine years saw the club utilise eight different official captains, and a number more unofficial ones. Jack Meyer, who went on to found Millfield, stood down at the end of 1947, his first season as captain. In 1948, the club committee claimed that it was unable to find anyone of suitable pedigree to lead the side for the whole summer, and was forced to name three captains for the season. Mandy Mitchell-Innes led the side throughout the pre-season and for the first five matches of the County Championship during leave from the Sudan Political Service.^[8] The captaincy then passed onto Jake Seamer, also on leave from the Sudan Political Service, for seven matches, before the committee settled on George Woodhouse, who remained in the position for the following 1949 season.^[9] The next three captains – Stuart Rogers, Ben Brocklehurst and Gerry Tordoff – all captained the side for three seasons or less, and in the words of cricket writer and Somerset County Cricket Club historian David Foot, "captaincy had, ever since the war... been a matter of recurrent concern."^[10] This concern, and the fact that there was a lack of amateurs with the necessary time and money to dedicate to the role, meant that in 1956 the club appointed Maurice Tremlett to the role, the county's first professional captain.^[10]

The Australian, Colin McCool had been favoured by many, but claimed that he "wouldn't have taken it had there been a life pension to go with it." He observed that the rapid turnover of captains in the previous few years meant that the club had "no feeling of being a cricket team.. players just didn't know what was going on." The decision to pick a professional captain had not been the committee's first choice, and they had chosen Tremlett only after considering a number of amateur options.^[11] Even once he had the position, his four years as captain did not run smoothly; club officials felt he was too lax, and there were numerous attempts to remove him from the captaincy.^[12] During his tenure, Somerset rose rapidly in the County Championship standings. In 1955, the season before he took over, they had finished in 17th place, bottom of the table. In 1958, his penultimate year as captain, they finished in third, their joint highest position since formation.^[13] Despite this success, the Somerset committee was critical of Tremlett's captaincy. Tremlett, in face of constant criticism, lost interest in the captaincy and after a poor 1959 season, was removed from the position.^[14]

Key

• Years denotes the years in which the player was named as official club captain for Somerset.
• First denotes the date of the first match in which the player captained Somerset.
• Last denotes the date of the last match in which the player captained Somerset.
• FC denotes the number of first-class matches in which the player captained Somerset.
• LA denotes the number of List A matches in which the player captained Somerset.
• T20 denotes the number of Twenty20 matches in which the player captained Somerset.
• Total denotes the total number of first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches in which the player captained Somerset.

Official captains

Sammy Woods was Somerset's first official captain born outside England

South Africa's Graeme Smith captained Somerset to victory in the 2005 Twenty20 Cup.

Justin Langer captained Somerset between 2007 and 2009, gaining promotion from Division Two of the County Championship in 2007.

No.	Name	Nationality	Years	First	Last	FC	LA	T20	Total	Refs
1	Newton, StephenStephen Newton	England	1882–1884	000000001882-08-04-00004 August 1882	000000001884-08-28-000028 August 1884	16	-001 !–	-01 !–	16	[15]
2	Sainsbury, EdwardEdward Sainsbury	England	1885	000000001885-07-16-000016 July 1885	000000001885-08-27-000027 August 1885	6	-001 !–	-01 !–	6	[16]
3	Hewett, HerbieHerbie Hewett	England	1891–1893	000000001891-05-18-000018 May 1891	000000001893-08-28-000028 August 1893	44	-001 !–	-01 !–	44	[17]
4	Woods, SammySammy Woods	Australia/  England	1894–1906	000000001893-07-06-00006 July 1893	000000001908-08-10-000010 August 1908	230	-001 !–	-01 !–	230	[18]
5	Palairet, LionelLionel Palairet	England	1907	000000001898-08-18-000018 August 1898	000000001907-08-29-000029 August 1907	20	-001 !–	-01 !–	20	[19]
6	Daniell, JohnJohn Daniell	England	1908–1912 1919–1926	000000001908-05-11-000011 May 1908	000000001926-08-28-000028 August 1926	212	-001 !–	-01 !–	212	[20]
7	Poyntz, MasseyMassey Poyntz	England	1913–1914	000000001910-05-23-000023 May 1910	000000001914-08-31-000031 August 1914	44	-001 !–	-01 !–	44	[21]
8	White, JackJack White	England	1927–1931	000000001919-05-16-000016 May 1919	000000001935-07-13-000013 July 1935	158	-001 !–	-01 !–	158	[22]
9	Ingle, ReggieReggie Ingle	England	1932–1937	000000001929-07-17-000017 July 1929	000000001939-08-19-000019 August 1939	154	-001 !–	-01 !–	154	[23]
10	Longrigg, BuntyBunty Longrigg	England	1938–1946	000000001937-06-23-000023 June 1937	000000001947-05-31-000031 May 1947	73	-001 !–	-01 !–	73	[24]
11	Meyer, JackJack Meyer	England	1947	000000001939-08-30-000030 August 1939	000000001947-08-30-000030 August 1947	26	-001 !–	-01 !–	26	[25]
12	Mitchell-Innes, MandyMandy Mitchell-Innes	England	1948	000000001936-08-01-00001 August 1936	000000001948-05-22-000022 May 1948	6	-001 !–	-01 !–	6	[26]
13	Seamer, JakeJake Seamer	England	1948	000000001948-05-29-000029 May 1948	000000001948-07-10-000010 July 1948	7	-001 !–	-01 !–	7	[27]
14	Woodhouse, GeorgeGeorge Woodhouse	England	1948–1949	000000001947-07-19-000019 July 1947	000000001949-08-27-000027 August 1949	34	-001 !–	-01 !–	34	[28]
15	Rogers, StuartStuart Rogers	England	1950–1952	000000001950-05-03-00003 May 1950	000000001953-05-27-000027 May 1953	89	-001 !–	-01 !–	89	[29]
16	Brocklehurst, BenBen Brocklehurst	England	1953–1954	000000001953-05-02-00002 May 1953	000000001954-08-28-000028 August 1954	56	-001 !–	-01 !–	56	[30]
17	Tordoff, GerryGerry Tordoff	England	1955	000000001955-05-07-00007 May 1955	000000001955-08-31-000031 August 1955	28	-001 !–	-01 !–	28	[31]
18	Tremlett, MauriceMaurice Tremlett	England	1956–1959	000000001949-05-11-000011 May 1949	000000001959-09-02-00002 September 1959	118	-001 !–	-01 !–	118	[32]
19	Stephenson, HaroldHarold Stephenson	England	1960–1964	000000001957-07-17-000017 July 1957	000000001964-05-23-000023 May 1964	134	001 !1	-01 !–	135	[33][34]
20	Atkinson, ColinColin Atkinson	England	1965–1967	000000001961-06-21-000021 June 1961	000000001967-09-06-00006 September 1967	88	012 !12	-01 !–	100	[35][36]
21	Kerslake, RoyRoy Kerslake	England	1968	000000001968-05-11-000011 May 1968	000000001968-08-31-000031 August 1968	24	-001 !–	-01 !–	24	[37]
22	Langford, BrianBrian Langford	England	1969–1971	000000001965-06-19-000019 June 1965	000000001972-08-26-000026 August 1972	80	048 !48	-01 !–	128	[38][39]
23	Close, BrianBrian Close	England	1972–1977	000000001971-08-18-000018 August 1971	000000001977-09-07-00007 September 1977	118	110 !110	-01 !–	228	[40][41]
24	Rose, BrianBrian Rose	England	1978–1983	000000001978-04-19-000019 April 1978	000000001983-07-10-000010 July 1983	111	112 !112	-01 !–	223	[42][43]
25	Botham, IanIan Botham	England	1984–1985	000000001980-05-17-000017 May 1980	000000001985-08-24-000024 August 1985	32	049 !49	-01 !–	81	[44][45]
26	Roebuck, PeterPeter Roebuck	England	1986–1988	000000001983-06-08-00008 June 1983	000000001988-08-21-000021 August 1988	60	053 !53	-01 !–	113	[46][47]
27	Marks, VicVic Marks	England	1989	000000001980-07-09-00009 July 1980	000000001989-09-08-00008 September 1989	73	051 !51	-01 !–	124	[48][49]
28	Tavaré, ChrisChris Tavaré	England	1990–1993	000000001989-05-17-000017 May 1989	000000001993-08-31-000031 August 1993	84	087 !87	-01 !–	171	[50][51]
29	Hayhurst, AndyAndy Hayhurst	England	1994–1996	000000001993-09-05-00005 September 1993	000000001996-07-30-000030 July 1996	42	050 !50	-01 !–	92	[52][53]
30	Bowler, PeterPeter Bowler	England	1997–1998	000000001995-05-25-000025 May 1995	000000002004-07-27-000027 July 2004	49	054 !54	-01 !–	103	[54][55]
31	Cox, JamieJamie Cox	Australia	1999–2002	000000001999-04-15-000015 April 1999	000000002004-05-12-000012 May 2004	62	078 !78	-01 !–	140	[56][57]
32	Burns, MikeMike Burns	England	2003–2004	000000002001-06-17-000017 June 2001	000000002004-09-16-000016 September 2004	39	045 !45	09 !9	93	[58][59][60]
33	Smith, GraemeGraeme Smith	South Africa	2005	000000002005-06-05-00005 June 2005	000000002005-07-30-000030 July 2005	2	005 !5	11 !11	18	[61][62][63]
34	Blackwell, IanIan Blackwell	England	2005–2006	000000002005-07-26-000026 July 2005	000000002006-05-24-000024 May 2006	8	010 !10	02 !2	20	[64][65][66]
35	Langer, JustinJustin Langer	Australia	2007–2009	000000002007-04-18-000018 April 2007	000000002009-10-18-000018 October 2009	46	043 !43	32 !32	121	[67][68][69]
36	Trescothick, MarcusMarcus Trescothick	England	2010–2015	000000001999-05-23-000023 May 1999	000000002015-09-22-000022 September 2015	97	070 !70	49 !49	216	[70][71][72]
37	Rogers, ChrisChris Rogers	Australia	2016	000000002016-04-10-000010 April 2016	000000002016-09-20-000020 September 2016	16	-001 !–	-01 !–	16	[73]
38	Abell, TomTom Abell	England	2017–present			—	—	—	—

Unofficial captains

This is a list of players who have captained Somerset without having been appointed official club captain.

Name	Nationality	First	Last	FC	LA	T20	Total	Refs
Welman, FredFred Welman	England	000000001882-06-08-00008 June 1882	000000001883-07-30-000030 July 1883	003 !3	000 !–	000 !–	3	[74]
Newton, ArthurArthur Newton	England	000000001897-08-05-00005 August 1897	000000001910-05-16-000016 May 1910	003 !3	000 !–	000 !–	3	[75]
Johnson, P. R.P. R. Johnson	England	000000001909-07-19-000019 July 1909	000000001925-07-04-00004 July 1925	013 !13	000 !–	000 !–	13	[76]
Lewis, TalbotTalbot Lewis	England	000000001910-08-01-00001 August 1910	000000001910-08-01-00001 August 1910	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[77]
Lyon, DarDar Lyon	England	000000001923-09-01-00001 September 1923	000000001938-08-17-000017 August 1938	006 !6	000 !–	000 !–	6	[78]
MacBryan, JackJack MacBryan	England	000000001926-09-01-00001 September 1926	000000001929-08-10-000010 August 1929	002 !2	000 !–	000 !–	2	[79]
Earle, GuyGuy Earle	England	000000001928-05-19-000019 May 1928	000000001929-06-15-000015 June 1929	004 !4	000 !–	000 !–	4	[80]
Greswell, BillBill Greswell	England	000000001928-07-18-000018 July 1928	000000001928-07-18-000018 July 1928	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[81]
Case, BoxBox Case	England	000000001933-05-27-000027 May 1933	000000001934-07-04-00004 July 1934	006 !6	000 !–	000 !–	6	[82]
Barnwell, JohnJohn Barnwell	England	000000001936-07-08-00008 July 1936	000000001946-06-15-000015 June 1946	004 !4	000 !–	000 !–	4	[83]
Bennett, MichaelMichael Bennett	England	000000001937-05-22-000022 May 1937	000000001939-07-29-000029 July 1939	007 !7	000 !–	000 !–	7	[84]
Castle, FredFred Castle	England	000000001946-08-21-000021 August 1946	000000001948-06-26-000026 June 1948	002 !2	000 !–	000 !–	2	[85]
Watts, HughHugh Watts	England	000000001948-06-19-000019 June 1948	000000001948-06-19-000019 June 1948	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[86]
Lawrence, JohnnyJohnny Lawrence	England	000000001952-05-03-00003 May 1952	000000001955-07-13-000013 July 1955	002 !2	000 !–	000 !–	2	[87]
Walford, MickyMicky Walford	England	000000001953-08-29-000029 August 1953	000000001953-08-29-000029 August 1953	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[88]
Lomax, GeoffGeoff Lomax	England	000000001959-07-08-00008 July 1959	000000001961-08-02-00002 August 1961	002 !2	000 !–	000 !–	2	[89]
McCool, ColinColin McCool	Australia	000000001960-06-15-000015 June 1960	000000001960-06-15-000015 June 1960	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[90]
Alley, BillBill Alley	Australia	000000001961-07-29-000029 July 1961	000000001964-09-02-00002 September 1964	027 !27	002 !2	000 !–	29	[91][92]
Wight, PeterPeter Wight	West Indies	000000001963-06-19-000019 June 1963	000000001963-06-19-000019 June 1963	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[93]
Virgin, RoyRoy Virgin	England	000000001968-05-25-000025 May 1968	000000001972-06-21-000021 June 1972	004 !4	002 !2	000 !–	6	[94][95]
Robinson, PeterPeter Robinson	England	000000001969-08-31-000031 August 1969	000000001969-08-31-000031 August 1969	000 !–	001 !1	000 !–	1	[96]
Burgess, GrahamGraham Burgess	England	000000001975-05-28-000028 May 1975	000000001975-05-28-000028 May 1975	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[97]
Taylor, DerekDerek Taylor	England	000000001976-05-15-000015 May 1976	000000001977-08-14-000014 August 1977	011 !11	018 !18	000 !–	29	[98][99]
Denning, PeterPeter Denning	England	000000001978-06-04-00004 June 1978	000000001979-09-05-00005 September 1979	002 !2	001 !1	000 !–	3	[100][101]
Kitchen, MervynMervyn Kitchen	England	000000001979-06-23-000023 June 1979	000000001979-06-23-000023 June 1979	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[102]
Richards, VivViv Richards	West Indies	000000001981-07-04-00004 July 1981	000000001986-07-20-000020 July 1986	009 !9	006 !6	000 !–	15	[103][104]
Cook, JimmyJimmy Cook	South Africa	000000001991-08-10-000010 August 1991	000000001991-08-10-000010 August 1991	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[105]
Harden, RichardRichard Harden	England	000000001992-05-13-000013 May 1992	000000001995-06-01-00001 June 1995	009 !9	007 !7	000 !–	16	[106][107]
Mallender, NeilNeil Mallender	England	000000001994-07-17-000017 July 1994	000000001994-07-17-000017 July 1994	000 !–	001 !1	000 !–	1	[108]
Rose, GrahamGraham Rose	England	000000001994-07-31-000031 July 1994	000000001994-07-31-000031 July 1994	000 !–	001 !1	000 !–	1	[109]
Ecclestone, SimonSimon Ecclestone	England	000000001997-08-01-00001 August 1997	000000001998-06-14-000014 June 1998	004 !4	004 !4	000 !–	8	[110][111]
Ahmed, MushtaqMushtaq Ahmed	Pakistan	000000001998-06-21-000021 June 1998	000000001998-06-24-000024 June 1998	000 !–	002 !2	000 !–	2	[112]
Parsons, KeithKeith Parsons	England	000000002002-07-24-000024 July 2002	000000002002-07-24-000024 July 2002	001 !1	000 !–	000 !–	1	[113]
Dutch, KeithKeith Dutch	England	000000002003-06-24-000024 June 2003	000000002003-06-24-000024 June 2003	000 !–	000 !–	001 !1	1	[114]
Turner, RobertRobert Turner	England	000000002005-04-09-00009 April 2005	000000002005-06-01-00001 June 2005	004 !4	005 !5	000 !–	9	[115][116]
Wood, MatthewMatthew Wood	England	000000002006-04-18-000018 April 2006	000000002006-05-14-000014 May 2006	004 !4	003 !3	000 !–	7	[117][118]
White, CameronCameron White	Australia	000000002006-05-29-000029 May 2006	000000002006-08-13-000013 August 2006	007 !7	009 !9	008 !8	24	[119][120][121]
Caddick, AndrewAndrew Caddick	England	000000002006-08-15-000015 August 2006	000000002008-08-19-000019 August 2008	008 !8	004 !4	000 !–	12	[122][123]
Trego, PeterPeter Trego	England	000000002010-09-02-00002 September 2010	000000002016-07-03-00003 July 2016	002 !2	001 !1	000 !–	3	[124][125]
Thomas, AlfonsoAlfonso Thomas	South Africa	000000002011-01-12-000012 January 2011	000000002015-07-17-000017 July 2015	007 !7	004 !4	040 !40	51	[126][127][128]
Hildreth, JamesJames Hildreth	England	000000002012-03-31-000031 March 2012	000000002014-06-18-000018 June 2014	005 !5	004 !4	003 !3	12	[129][130][131]
Allenby, JimJim Allenby	Australia	000000002015-07-23-000023 July 2015	000000002016-08-29-000029 August 2016	000 !–	018 !18	013 !13	31	[132][133]
Waller, MaxMax Waller	England	000000002016-07-29-000029 July 2016	000000002016-07-29-000029 July 2016	000 !–	000 !–	001 !1	1	[134]

References

General

Walsh, Richard (ed.), "Somerset Captains 1882–2010", Somerset County Cricket Club Yearbook 2009/10, Somerset County Cricket Club, p. 3 

Specific

Bibliography

• Foot, David. Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: The History of Somerset Cricket (1986 ed.). David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8890-8.