I was reading David Hopps’ article on ESPN Cricinfo yesterday, dredging up my own memories of that awful period thirty years ago when Somerset CCC was racked by an internal civil war.
The late Seventies and early Eighties were great periods to be a Somerset supporter. After years in the wilderness, the county were propelled to the forefront of county cricket, alongside Essex where I actually lived. Much of our success was down to the triumvirate of Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner, all brought into the side as promising youngsters rather than established international stars. One-day trophies were won although the County Championship remained infertile ground.
In 1985, we actually finished bottom of the league, then a single-division format, won by Middlesex. We won just one of our 24 three-day fixtures although, to be fair, most games were drawn in those days. The 1985 debacle had been despite excellent seasons for Richards and Botham (with the bat) but the England all-rounder was captain and understandably took the flak.
He was replaced as skipper by the thoughtful opener, Peter Roebuck but 1986 wasn’t much better, as Somerset ended in sixteenth place. The ex-Millfield schoolboy enjoyed an excellent summer with the bat while Viv and Botham definitely weren’t at their best. They could be relied upon for star performances in the televised limited overs matches but when it came to the Championship, their hearts rarely appeared to be in it, especially in a struggling side. They certainly didn’t have a galvanising effect.
Roebuck identified the big stars as being a problem rather than the solution. A young Kiwi batsman called Martin Crowe was being courted by Essex and he was keen for the Somerset members to get in quick. The scene was set for a big showdown in Shepton Mallet in November 1986, the issue being who would be the overseas players for 1987: young Crowe or the old-stagers Richards and Garner?
I recall backing the Roebuck argument. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Viv. He was, and remains, one of my all-time sporting heroes. I’ve never seen a batsman like him. But Somerset needed a new strategy of building a new team around Crowe and Botham, with Roebuck guiding the troops from the front. The captain got his way, but the water were muddied when the flamboyant Botham promptly quit in support of his West Indian teammates.
His loyalty to friends was admirable but there was a bigger picture. The newly-published Roebuck diaries reveal Richards to be a bully and Botham too much of an egotistical playboy to make for a happy dressing room. I’m not saying Peter Roebuck was perfect, and rumours and charges of decidedly dodgy advocacy of personally-delivered corporal punishment caught up with him in 2011 resulted in suicide. However, he was a great servant of the county. Only four men have scored more County Championship runs for Somerset, and Viv isn’t one of them!
It was a difficult autumn for Somerset supporters but at least our first-class cricket improved in 1987. Crowe scored more than 1,600 runs at 68, with Roebuck, Felton and Hardy also topping 1,000. A young Steve Waugh also played two matches, scoring two centuries. Whatever happened to him?! With the ball, Vic Marks – later to be another excellent cricket journalist – continued to top the wickets table, while Garner’s pace was replaced by Adrian Jones and Neil Mallender, who both enjoyed a fine season. Meanwhile, Botham was a big-money signing for Worcestershire, Garner was sadly lost to county cricket for good and Richards switched to the Lancashire League before returning with Glamorgan in 1990. Roebuck himself ceded the captaincy to Marks in ’89 and stayed on as batsman until 1991.
In retrospect, this was not only a divisive but decisive period for county cricket. The traditional power of ‘old duffers’ – in Somerset, Yorkshire and elsewhere – was in decline, and player power was beginning to grow in the domestic as well as international game. Roebuck and Botham were never reconciled before the former’s death in South Africa and the latter remained a feisty personality. His fame grew in indirect proportion to his performances over the next several years and, for all his success at Taunton, I consider him over-rated, certainly in the second half of his career. I do have sympathy with Peter Roebuck, as much a Somerset legend as anyone. However, when you look around the County Ground, you see the Garner Gates, Richards Gates and the Sir Ian Botham Stand, but nothing for the captain who tried to put his club ahead of people. That’s the way of sport!
