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I jested, of course – Lathwell and Trescothick have had their struggles, from which the former never fully recovered, but yes, Jimmy Cook was definitely a formidable opener atop a fitfully-firing batting line-up.
(I may have got my timelines horribly skew-whiff here, but that was the era of Neil Burns, Peter Roebuck, Andy Hayhurst, Graham Rose, Nick Folland, Andre van Troost and the wonderfully-named Harvey Trump, wasn’t it?)
Bowler did nothing quickly, and that included retiring – he was 41 when he called it a day in 2004, if memory serves.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Your dead right about Lathwell & Trescothick, it’s funny how Trescothick had a better test match average then county.
Yeah, it’s the right era, Cook was there from 1989 – 1991 he played 71 first class matches for Somerset scored 7604 runs at an average of 72.41 with 28 hundreds and a best score of 313 not out. My mates and I use to play cricket in the nets at the back of the old pavillion, we only really use to watch the match when Cook was batting.
Harvey Trump was average imo but he did get a hat trick vs Gloucestershire, Neil Mallender use to open the bowling, he played a few times for England before becoming an umpire. Richard Harden was pretty solid in the middle order, Van Troost was a lunitic but with a heart of gold.
Peter Bowler loved batting for his average and with the good batting track at Taunton probably thought he could knock his average up a little.
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Neil Mallender use to open the bowling
The Ghost! Another from the "how did he ever get to play for England" brigade? Discuss.
Richard Harden was pretty solid in the middle order
…until he moved to Yorkshire and an absolute mare with injuries finished him off. A great pity.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Mallender was ok for Somerset, but if he was the best availible for England duty then things must have been pretty bad. The Ghost was a scary looking guy, i always got my older brother to get his autograph for me.
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gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Mallender wasnt a regular was he? And if memory serves right, he was picked as a "horse (no sniggering at the back) for course" at Headingley and did very well….
Mallender wasnt a regular was he? And if memory serves right, he was picked as a "horse (no sniggering at the back) for course" at Headingley and did very well….
Mallender played two test’s vs Pakistan in 1992 at Headingley and the Oval and done ok getting a total of 10 wickets at a cost of only 21.50
. In his first match he was in the bowling line up along with Tim Munton, Chris Lewis and Derek Pringle and in his Second was joined by Devon Malcom and Phil Tufnell.Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Cook was there from 1989 – 1991 he played 71 first class matches for Somerset scored 7604 runs at an average of 72.41 with 28 hundreds and a best score of 313 not out.
Some stats those, as are these:
In 270 first class matches he scored 21,143 runs with a top score of 313* at an average of 50.58. He scored 87 first class hundreds. This record compares well with any batsman in the history of the game (Wikipedia)
Shame he was in his prime during South Africa’s exile from Test Cricket. What could have been…
Do you happen to know why he spent only three seasons with Somerset?
Good stuff Drone
I’m not sure why he was only there for three season’s, but give me a few days and i’ll come back with something. Somerset’s overseas replacment for Cook was also South African called Richard Snell he was at Taunton for one season and he was totally useless in comparison.
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Do you happen to know why he spent only three seasons with Somerset?
Visited my Dad this morning and had a look through my old Somerset year books at around the time Cook played. Found nothing as to why he only spent three seasons there, so im going to hazzard a guess with a few theory’s.
He was no spring chicken when Somerset signed him back in 1989 and perhaps he wanted to spend the last couple of cricket playing years back in South Africa before retiring, where maybe he thought he would stand a better chance of breaking into the South African test team which was about to play official tests after years of exile. Peter Roebuck, Cooks opening batting partner at Somerset was retiring from the game and maybe the club thought it was time for a fresh new look team with the young talented Marcus Trescothick and Mark Lathwell coming up through the ranks to spearhead the opening batting places.
Jimmy Cook did write a farewell piece published in the 1992 yearbook saying how saddend he was to be leaving and that the time had flew by, but grateful and thankful for his opportunity to play county cricket in England.
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Meanwhile the North division is something of a group of death – outstanding performance by Durham today and astonishing bowling figures from Callum Thorp 10-3-14-1 !
And Lancashire’s indifferent start to the season took a blow with defeat vs Derbyshire in the North group today. it certainly has been the group of death.
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Somerset record first county championship division 1 win since 2002 Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Nice win for Somerset, overturning a first innings deficit. Trescothick, Willoughby and Jones take the plaudits but credit too to Blackwell’s second innings display. With Nottinghamshire’s position at the top looking like a false one and both Lancashire and Durham struggling, this is looking like a fairly open division at the moment.
I was glued to teletext yesterday, a bit to close for comfort when Kent’s last wicket partnership was steaming along. Delighted for Jones, a fans favourite always puts his heart and soul into every game. still only early days but the division is wide open but i’d just be happy to stay up this year, not dreaming of the title just yet, but who knows.
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Two things I’d say about that.
1. It is four years out of date, so only of limited relevance, wouldn’t you say.
2. It bears a remarkable similarity to a chapter in the Racing Post Betting on Sport book, written by Ed Hawkins. An astonishing coincidence or a regrettable oversight, I’m sure.
Nathan,
Thanks for the info on Jimmy Cook’s departing. He’d have enjoyed at least one more season with Somerset given the chance, I reckon
Andrew,
Is that Staffordshire’s finest Sydney Barnes? Certainly nothing to declare but his genius
Then, elbows linked, but straight as sailors
On a tilting deck, they move. One, square-shouldered as a tailor’s model,
Leans over whispering in the other’s ear:
`Go easy, Steps here. This end bowling’.Turning, I watch Barnes guide Rhodes into fresher air,
As if to continue an innings, though Rhodes may only play by ear. (Alan Ross)
. In his first match he was in the bowling line up along with Tim Munton, Chris Lewis and Derek Pringle and in his Second was joined by Devon Malcom and Phil Tufnell.
Somerset record first county championship division 1 win since 2002 
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