Keeping the mind and body in shape

The 70s play against local counties selected from a 28-county league. The standings at the end of the league phase defines if a county would go into the cup/plate or bowl competitions. This setup keeps a competitive interest of as long as possible. All matches are two 45 over innings.

Qualification to play for Somerset is based players being at least 69 years of age and having permanent residency or being born in the county. There is an allowance for players who have previously represented the county but do not qualify by these criteria; contact us for clarification.

We are always welcoming of new players, so please contact us if you are interested in playing.

Looking to find out more?

If you are interested in playing, or are just wanting to find out more about seniors cricket at Somerset, please do get in touch.

2025

70s 1st

The 70s 1st XI enjoyed their most successful season yet, finishing 7th in the National League and reaching the National Cup semi-finals after a memorable quarter-final win over Cheshire. Somerset began strongly, beating Wiltshire, Devon, Wales, Hampshire and Cornwall to top the national table, with major contributions from Andy Ashfold, Brian Hamer and Pete Rebera. Ashfold was outstanding all season, finishing with 635 runs at an average of 127, while the bowling unit was led by Andrew Taylor, Steve Sheppard and Steve Pursey. A key win over Cheshire, built on runs from Brian Hamer, Rebera, Miles Richards and Steve Pursey, secured a home semi-final against Kent. Losing the toss on a difficult surface proved costly, and Somerset fell short despite an excellent campaign. It was still a deserved top-four season and the team can look ahead to 2026 with confidence under new leadership.

70s 2nd 

The inaugural season for the Over 70s 2nd XI was a major success and confirmed both the depth of playing numbers and the value of a wider club approach. Early concerns about squad size quickly disappeared, with almost 40 players keen to play and 28 used during the season. While this created understandable frustration for some who missed out, it also showed strong demand for more cricket in future. Selection was managed so that the side usually included at least eight genuine 2nd XI players, supported when needed by returning or non-selected 1st XI players. The team developed excellent spirit and produced impressive results, finishing with nine wins, one tie, one defeat and one abandoned match from 12 fixtures. A standout memory was the away win over Hertfordshire, then league leaders, when Somerset were judged to have out-batted, out-bowled, out-fielded and out-captained the opposition.

2023

The season saw a further improvement over the huge strides we took in 2022 and the League record saw us finish 6th of the 22 teams in our competition and qualify for the play offs.

The team won 8 of the 11 completed league matches and along the way we comfortably beat the eventual National competition winners Gloucestershire at home and lost fairly narrowly to them away. Another positive came when we laid to rest the grip that Wales had over our (and most other age groups!) when we soundly beat them at Taunton – a win that I think helped convince some of the players they were performing as well as I had told them they were!

A major reason for the successful season is that the team would usually contain around 7 or 8 all-rounders. but more importantly – because that many egos could be a difficult thing to keep content – they gelled together so well and had a terrific team ethic that they really wanted to win for their teammates!

The team boasted 9 batsmen each with a league average in the range of 30 to 58, which provided a terrific base to play from. The team usually had at least 7 sometimes more, very competent bowlers who greatly enabled us to contain most of the batting we came up against and the icing on the cake was that most teams in our age group have 3 or 4 reasonable fielders, whereas we had 7 – and most counties would complement us on that!

Whilst not wishing to single out any of the players when it was such a solid team effort that enabled us to achieve another successful and enjoyable season – that being said I would just like to congratulate Brian Hamer for the first century  – so far –  for us.

2022

In only their second National Over 70s League season, Somerset reached their first final, losing in the Vase Final. Somerset began with defeats against Hampshire, just failing to chase 230 despite unbeaten half centuries

from Somerset’s England player, Steve Sheppard, and Steve Chaudoir, and against Devon. After a walkover over v Wiltshire and a cancellation at Worcestershire, Somerset set a competitive target against Gloucestershire with Sheppard (45*) again top scoring. Tight bowling from Philip Webber (8-3-21-0) and Glyn ‘Polly’ Flinders (5-2-8-2) saw Somerset to their first win on the pitch albeit under the DLS method. Defeats against Wales, despite an unbroken partnership of 106 between Steve Pursey (76*) and Andrew Taylor (49*), and Hampshire followed.

Flinders took over the captaincy from the injured Nigel Manley but rain curtailed his first match in charge against Devon after another half century from Sheppard. The renaissance under Flinders quickly gained momentum with comfortable victories over Wiltshire (Sheppard 51, Webber 42, Steve Edwards 45 and 3-24) and Worcestershire (Brian Hamer 68, Flinders 6-2-10-2). Somerset travelled to Gloucestershire without Sheppard only for Gloucestershire’s own two England batters to put on 171. The reliable Geoff Flynn dismissed them both but the target was a daunting 258 – though nobody told the Somerset batsmen. Hamer (49) hit eleven boundaries, the same number as Brian Pearson in a magnificent 85. Webber hit his first ball over the bowler’s head, two hedges and a road but wickets continued to fall leaving ten needed off the last over with two wickets left. Webber (40*) won it with a ball to spare for a memorable victory. Half centuries by Hamer and Pursey weren’t quite enough to beat Wales but Somerset finished high enough for a bye to the Vase quarter finals. Sheppard’s undefeated 80, well supported by Taylor (41*), saw off Leicestershire.

Semi-final opponents Hampshire had already defeated Somerset twice but Hamer (82) and Pete Rebera (40) gave us a great start, finished inevitably by Sheppard (58*). Hampshire didn’t get close after Pearson’s opening spell of 8-1-20-1. Sadly, it was an anticlimactic final against Devon, Somerset failing to adapt to the conditions after heavy overnight rain. However, that should not detract from what was a successful and most enjoyable season. Our thanks to umpires Chris Martin and Mike Cook and ever-present scorer Chalky Whyte.

Get in touch

If you’d like to speak to us about our seniors cricket, please contact us using the short online form below. By doing so, we’ll also keep you informed of new initiatives, competitions and club opportunities. You can unsubscribe at any time.

If you have any questions about filling in the form, please email us at info@somersetcricketfoundation.org. For full details on how we collect, use and store your personal information; please see our Privacy Policy.