Somerset has never won the County Championship, but ranks very high as the county that has played the most enjoyable cricket over the years of failure and success. In picking a Somerset side, I have concentrated on the cricketers who have given me the greatest personal enjoyment. I have had three periods when I was able to watch a good deal of Somerset cricket, my prewar childhood days, mostly at Weston-super-Mare, when the wicket would become unplayable when the tide came in, student days after the war and the glory days of Richards, Botham and Garner, when the Somerset side included the world’s best batsmen, world’s best all-rounder, and the world’s best fast bowler, and still failed to win the county championship. My all-time Somerset team would be:

1. Harold Gimblett: A sadly introverted man, but a gloriously extroverted batsman. The last time I met David Sheppard, which was at the long table for tea at the House of Lords, we discussed Gimblett’s over-the-shoulder hook, playing against Sussex at Frome, shortly after the war. Sheppard had been fielding at silly mid-on - not the place to be when Gimblett was hooking. Characteristically, the Bishop, who ought to have been made Archbishop of Canterbury, if only for his humility, never mentioned his own contribution to Sussex's nine-wicket victory.

2. Marcus Trescothick: A great forcing opening batsman of true world class, an aggressive batsman in the true Somerset tradition, as Gimblett was.

3. Sir Vivian Richards: The greatest batsman ever to play for Somerset and one of the half-dozen greatest in cricketing history. When I was nine I saw Donald Bradman score a double century at Taunton, before generously giving his wicket to Bill Andrews. Richards was a batsman of Bradman’s class, a truly great cricketer.

4. Brian Close (captain): The best Somerset captain of my lifetime as a spectator. He came to Somerset in 1971, when the county had become demoralised by a succession of failures, having been bottom of the Championship in 1969 and risen only to 13th place in 1970. His courage put Somerset on the road to its greatest period. In 1974, under his captaincy, Viv Richards joined the side and made 1,200 runs in his first season; Ian Botham also joined and took his first 30 wickets for the county.

5. Ian Botham: A true Somerset all-rounder, but on the highest international scale. He played for Somerset from 1974 to 1986 and played in 102 Tests between 1977 and 1992. Somerset’s greatest all-rounder, perhaps second only to WG Grace as an all-rounder for England.

6. Arthur Wellard: The archetypal fast-bowler and six-hitter who for many years held the record for having hit five sixes in an over. I saw him perform that feat for the second time against Frank Woolley at Wells in 1938 .

7. Harold Stephenson: Somerset’s finest wicketkeeper, who played from 1948 to 1964. As a wicketkeeper his dismissed over a thousand batsmen, 694 caught and 312 stumped. He also scored over a thousand runs for Somerset on four occasions.

8. Jack (”Farmer”) White: whom I saw in his second-to-last match, bowling to the great Hammond at Bristol. He did not take a wicket. In 1929, Jack White won the Test in Adelaide with bowling figures of five wickets for 130 in the Australia first innings and eight for 126 in the second. In the match he bowled 124.5 overs for 256 runs. England won by 12 runs.

9. Bill Andrews: One cannot include Arthur Wellard and leave out his partner, who probably swung the ball more than Wellard, but was always the junior member of the pair. Wellard played for Somerset from 1927 to 1950 and Andrews from 1930 to 1947. They usually bowled in tandem; Andrews took 750 wickets for the county and Wellard 1,517.

10. Andrew Caddick: A very fine bowler for Somerset and England, and another match-winner. He is still playing for Somerset and was unlucky to be left out of the England side after playing in 62 Tests.

11. Joel Garner: One of the three great heroes of Somerset’s finest period. Known to the Somerset crowds as “Big Bird”, he was loved by children and by the scrumpy drinking set. With his height he produced a bounce that made him the most unplayable bowler I saw bowl for Somerset.