Trophy to be treated seriously by county
Jason Kerr insists Somerset’s players will treat the Bob Willis Trophy as seriously as if it were another tilt at a first-ever County Championship title.
The fixtures for the four-day competition, named in honour of the former England fast bowler and starting on August 1, were announced on Friday.
It will be played in three regional groups, North, Central and South, with the two top two points scorers facing each other in a five-day final.
Somerset and Gloucestershire are in the Central Group, along with Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
The two West country counties will face each other at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, starting on Saturday August 22.
It will be one of only two home group games for Somerset, the other being their opening match against Glamorgan.
Somerset are still waiting to hear from the ECB Cricket Disciplinary Committee whether their 12-point penalty imposed for a poor-quality pitch and due to come into force at the start of this summer’s County Championship, will apply for the new competition.
While it will be a much-abridged version of the Championship, with less than half the matches, head coach Kerr believes it will prove ultra-competitive.
He said: “If our players are a guide, those throughout the country are itching to play competitive cricket again.
“I know we are going to be right up for it. I have been so impressed by the level of fitness our lads managed to sustain over lockdown and their attitude to training since the return.
“The intensity and energy shown has been amazing and stems partly from all the frustration at being unable to play. We will be giving everything to try and win the Bob Willis Trophy.”
The red-ball competition will precede and partly overlap the shortened Vitality Blast tournament, scheduled to start on Thursday August 27.
Somerset and Gloucestershire will complete preparations for the Bob Willis Trophy with a four-day friendly, the first two-days being played at the Cooper Associates County Ground and the last two at the Bristol County Ground.
That behind-closed-doors game commenced on Sunday and the score at Taunton on Monday evening was carried over to Bristol the next day before coming to an end yesterday.
Kerr is convinced a derby game, however ‘friendly,’ will hone his side’s competitive edge ahead of the opening Trophy fixture.
“We respect Gloucestershire as a very good side on the back of their promotion to the First Division of the Specsavers County Championship, so the game will be a great test for us,” he said.
“There will be the natural rivalry of a match against our neighbours and I am sure both teams will benefit from that.
“It should have us spot-on for the opening competitive game and there is a real excitement about it as it draws nearer.”
Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry said: “There is enormous excitement about playing competitive cricket again. Some of the teams in our group we last met in four-day cricket back in 2007 when we were in the Second Division of the Championship.
“We would have been playing Gloucestershire anyway this season following their promotion and we are delighted to be welcoming them to Taunton for a match that will create enormous interest.
“That applies to the competition as a whole and we will go all out to win it. People will be talking cricket again once it gets underway and that is fantastic for the game as a whole.”
While the matches will be played behind closed doors, Somerset fans will be able to watch them via live streaming on the club website. Other new rulings will see a reduction from a minimum of 96 overs to a minimum of 90 overs in a day’s play and each county’s first innings of a match can last no longer than 120 overs. The follow-on will increase from 150 to 200 runs and the new ball will be available after 90 overs rather than 80.
The loan system has also been relaxed this summer so that counties can loan a player from another county for a minimum of one week. Points awarded for a draw will be increased from five to eight points, while all other points scoring will remain the same as in the County Championship.
In the event of a drawn final there will be one tie-breaker option which will be whoever was leading from the first innings, as long as there were two fully-completed first innings, would be deemed the winner. Otherwise, a drawn or tied final will result in the trophy being shared by the finalists.
The ECB has also announced that this summer’s 50-over women’s competition will be staged as a special-edition tournament and feature the eight teams that will launch the new Women’s Domestic Elite Structure next summer. It will be a regionalised competition with two groups, containing four teams per group. The two group winners will play in a final to decide the champions.