So what do you think then?

Wonder what he thinks
By Grockle
October 2 2010

The 2010 season. What did you lot make of it? We came out of it with no silverware. It was Marcus Trescothick's first as skipper. It was Jos Buttler's first as a first team player. It was the first in my experience without Phil Frost on the roller and mower. But how did it leave the club and what can we expect in 2011? Here I try and set the scene for later comments on what happened.

I always find the first frontpage after the end of a season a difficult one to put together. It is the start of a difficult 6 months for a cricket feature writer because the county goes into semi-hibernation, the players go to faraway places where information is difficult and Bagpuss isn't going abroad any more! This season it may be easier.

Somerset went into the 2010 summer with high hopes of winning something. The supporters went into the 2010 season expecting them to win something after the disappointment of the 2009 T20 Final when we played so well in the semi against Kent and then didn't turn up in the second half of the Final and gave the trophy to Sussex. We'd done roughly the same in the 40 over competition quarter final and had been badly affected by the weather in the Championship.

New additions from internal and external sources were exciting prospects. Jos Buttler had made his debut at the end of the season and found himself in his second match facing Brett Lee in front of 30,000 Indians in Hydrabad in a poor but exciting foray into the Champions League by the county. We hoped for a lot from him but all worried that the pressure of having to learn how to keep wicket might affect his game and our chances. The reason for that happening was the rise of Craig Kieswetter's England credentials as the keeper and opening bat in the World Champion T20 side. We expected to lose our first team keeper for part of the season.

Externally we welcomed a number of 'newbies' to Taunton. Nick Compton finally brought his name and skills to the county from Middlesex (where else?). This had taken two years and the supporting public were not the only people expecting great things. He was seen as the man to replace Justin Langer in that vital number 3 spot and Brian Rose had him in his sigths since 2008.

To fill an early gap we took on Damien Wright from Oz because our new international player Murali Kartik was involved in the IPL and wouldn't be with us until nearly the end of May. Our first real international wicket taking spinner for nearly 10 years was eagerly awaited. No disrespect to any of the slow men who had filled that position in the last decade (Ian Blackwell, Kieth Dutch, Adrian Pierson, Cameron White, Darren Cullen, Omari Banks, Max Waller, Arul Suppiah) but their main job was to 'stop' runs leaking. They were not there to make significant inroads into the opposition batting line-ups. Mushtaq Ahmed was our last real wicket taking spinner and Kartik was our replacement for him...we hoped. He was the missing link in a side that was becoming really hard to beat but which found it difficult to win in the four day format.

We hoped for a pace development from the raw but fast David Stiff and the promising but injury prone Mark Turner. We also prayed that our slightly aged pace attack would survive the season injury free. It was also a season where we wanted Peter Trego to play a more significant role with the ball and become the all rounder we think he can be.

We hoped that the massive contributions with the bat of 2009 would be the start of something regular from Arul Suppiah and James Hildreth. We wanted to see the destructive power of our new captain Marcus Trescothick continue but we also wanted the side to rely less on his contribution and for the other 5 major batsmen to take more weight on their shoulders.

The pitch? Well the debate about it has rumbled on for years. The urban myths about its flatness continued into the second decade of the millennium but there was a difference this year. Philip Frost the Head Groundsman who had been digging it up and putting it down, mowing it, covering it and sitting with it over night before games for 22 years was deemed 'reduindant' for the 2010 season and had left the club and his house on the grounds by the beginning of the summer. Brian Rose had taken over management of the wicket and the boys of the groundstaff had the job of working the ground. What were the implications of that we all wondered.

A season to forget or one to remember. Anticipation and trepidation in equal amounts met the first match of the new season and I really don't think anyone expected what came next!!