PRESS Day at Somerset CCC at the Cooper Associates County Ground was attended by one of the largest numbers ever seen at the club.

The men’s captain Lewis Gregory, head coach Jason Kerr and director of cricket Andy Hurry were the first to face the media corp.

Lewis Gregory told those present that everyone was fit and raring to go for the start of the season. Regarding the opening attack he said that there were a variety of options and that there were four or five in the squad who had experience bowling with the new ball.

Regarding the signing of Josh Shaw, the director of cricket, said that he brought a huge depth of experience and understood the domestic structure well and will complement the bowling attack.

Regarding Thomas Rew, the head coach said that he’d had an outstanding winter especially at the Under 19 World Cup where he had made an impact with both the bat and the gloves and as captain.

His priorities were his exams and it’s important that he concentrates on what’s happening at school. Thomas is a prodigious talent and as soon as he joins the club full time some decisions will have to be made.

Regarding the county championship in 2026, the director of cricket said that there was a drive and a belief in the club and an opportunity to create history. Everyone was looking forward to starting the challenge against the current champions and that will give a benchmark as to where the team are. One thing that Somerset are really focussing on is the consistency of performances that will allow the team to be really competitive.

The head coach told everyone that the team would be giving it absolutely everything throughout the season.

It was then the turn of the Somerset women’s captain Sophie Luff, head coach Erin Osborne and Matt Drakeley, the director of talent and women’s performance to be put under the media spotlight.

The new head coach said that the club had welcomed her with open arms and that the pre season tour to South Africa had been really valuable. It was her first time to see the players playing out on the grass and everyone had taken a lot from that time away.

It had enabled the squad to find their brand and how they wanted to go about their cricket this year.

The captain said that in 2025 the team had done pretty well in 50 over cricket but there was a lot to work on in the T20.

Going into this year Somerset should be full of optimism, take their learnings from last year and climb up the table.

Somerset want to be as competitive as possible so the captain is really looking forward to the opening game against Yorkshire to see how they stack up against and is hoping for big things this year.

Matt Drakeley explained that his role was to support the women’s environment from the planning point of view to allow the head coach to concentrate on the here and now.

The head coach said the club is really keen to develop the group of players they have and is backing them to do a job, but it is going to take time, particularly in the T20.