List of Somerset cricket captains
are an English cricket club based in Taunton, Somerset. The club was founded in 1875 after a match between "Gentlemen of Somerset" and "Gentlemen of Devon" in Sidmouth, Devon. Somerset played their first undisputed first-class cricket match in 1882 against Lancashire. After missing the first season of the official County Championship, Somerset were admitted for the second in 1891, and have participated in the competition ever since. The club have played both List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket since their introductions into the English game in 1963 and 2003 respectively.
Considered in terms of trophies won, Brian Rose was Somerset's most successful captain, with the county winning five one-day trophies in as many seasons under his captaincy. The county's longest serving captain was Sammy Woods, who was club captain for thirteen seasons from 1894 to 1906. Woods also captained the side on the most occasions, leading his team in 230 first-class fixtures. John Daniell, Brian Close, Marcus Trescothick and Rose are the only other captains to have led Somerset over 200 times, and Rose's total of 112 List A matches as captain is the most by a Somerset player. Trescothick has captained Somerset in Twenty20 cricket on the most occasions, doing so 49 times.
Captaincy history
Since attaining first-class status, Somerset have named 37 official captains. Stephen Newton was the club's first official captain, holding the position during the county's first three seasons of first-class cricket, from 1882 to 1884. Due to his commitments as a schoolmaster in London, he did not play in the opening three matches of 1882, so other players were required to deputise for him in these fixtures. Edward Sainsbury, who took over from Newton for the 1885 season, captained the side in the joint fewest matches along with Mandy Mitchell-Innes: both players captained Somerset in six first-class matches. During the 1885 season, Somerset failed to arrange sufficient fixtures with the other first-class teams to be retain its first-class status, and matches played between 1886 and 1890 were considered 'second-class'. During this time, the captaincy was transferred to Herbie Hewett who, after captaining his side unbeaten against county opposition in 1890, retained the captaincy upon Somerset's return to first-class cricket the following summer. Hewett continued as captain for three further seasons, but retired from the captaincy and the club at the end of the 1893 season following an incident in which he felt his authority had been undermined by the club. His successor as captain was Sammy Woods, who remained in the position for twelve years, the longest by any Somerset captain. Woods, born on the outskirts of Sydney in Australia had played three Test matches for Australia in the late 1880s, and was Somerset's first captain of overseas origin, although he lived the rest of his life in Somerset and also played three Tests for England. He led Somerset in 230 first-class matches, and holds the record for both the most first-class and the most overall matches captained by any Somerset player.Between 1894 and 1946, the club captaincy remained reasonably stable, six official captains spanned the 52-year period. In addition to Woods, John Daniell, Jack White and Reggie Ingle all captained the side on more than 150 occasions, and Lionel Palairet led the team for one season and Massey Poyntz for two. Bunty Longrigg was captain of the side either side of the Second World War, totalling 73 matches. In contrast, the following nine years saw the club utilise eight different official captains, and a number more unofficial ones. Jack Meyer, who went on to found Millfield, stood down at the end of 1947, his first season as captain. In 1948, the club committee claimed that it was unable to find anyone of suitable pedigree to lead the side for the whole summer, and was forced to name three captains for the season. Mandy Mitchell-Innes led the side throughout the pre-season and for the first five matches of the County Championship during leave from the Sudan Political Service. The captaincy then passed onto Jake Seamer, also on leave from the Sudan Political Service, for seven matches, before the committee settled on George Woodhouse, who remained in the position for the following 1949 season. The next three captains – Stuart Rogers, Ben Brocklehurst and Gerry Tordoff – all captained the side for three seasons or less, and in the words of cricket writer and Somerset County Cricket Club historian David Foot, "captaincy had, ever since the war... been a matter of recurrent concern." This concern, and the fact that there was a lack of amateurs with the necessary time and money to dedicate to the role, meant that in 1956 the club appointed Maurice Tremlett to the role, the county's first professional captain.
The Australian, Colin McCool had been favoured by many, but claimed that he "wouldn't have taken it had there been a life pension to go with it." He observed that the rapid turnover of captains in the previous few years meant that the club had "no feeling of being a cricket team.. players just didn't know what was going on." The decision to pick a professional captain had not been the committee's first choice, and they had chosen Tremlett only after considering a number of amateur options. Even once he had the position, his four years as captain did not run smoothly; club officials felt he was too lax, and there were numerous attempts to remove him from the captaincy. During his tenure, Somerset rose rapidly in the County Championship standings. In 1955, the season before he took over, they had finished in 17th place, bottom of the table. In 1958, his penultimate year as captain, they finished in third, their joint highest position since formation. Despite this success, the Somerset committee was critical of Tremlett's captaincy. Tremlett, in face of constant criticism, lost interest in the captaincy and after a poor 1959 season, was removed from the position.
Key
- Years denotes the years in which the player was named as official club captain for Somerset.
- First denotes the date of the first match in which the player captained Somerset.
- Last denotes the date of the last match in which the player captained Somerset.
- FC denotes the number of first-class matches in which the player captained Somerset.
- LA denotes the number of List A matches in which the player captained Somerset.
- T20 denotes the number of Twenty20 matches in which the player captained Somerset.
- Total denotes the total number of first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches in which the player captained Somerset.
Official captains
| No. | Name | Nationality | Years | First | Last | FC | LA | T20 | Total | Refs |
| 1 | 1882–1884 | 4 August 1882 | 28 August 1884 | 16 | 16 | |||||
| 2 | 1885 | 16 July 1885 | 27 August 1885 | 6 | 6 | |||||
| 3 | 1891–1893 | 18 May 1891 | 28 August 1893 | 44 | 44 | |||||
| 4 | / | 1894–1906 | 6 July 1893 | 10 August 1908 | 230 | 230 | ||||
| 5 | 1907 | 18 August 1898 | 29 August 1907 | 20 | 20 | |||||
| 6 | 1908–1912 1919–1926 | 11 May 1908 | 28 August 1926 | 212 | 212 | |||||
| 7 | 1913–1914 | 23 May 1910 | 31 August 1914 | 44 | 44 | |||||
| 8 | 1927–1931 | 16 May 1919 | 13 July 1935 | 158 | 158 | |||||
| 9 | 1932–1937 | 17 July 1929 | 19 August 1939 | 154 | 154 | |||||
| 10 | 1938–1946 | 23 June 1937 | 31 May 1947 | 73 | 73 | |||||
| 11 | 1947 | 30 August 1939 | 30 August 1947 | 26 | 26 | |||||
| 12 | 1948 | 1 August 1936 | 22 May 1948 | 6 | 6 | |||||
| 13 | 1948 | 29 May 1948 | 10 July 1948 | 7 | 7 | |||||
| 14 | 1948–1949 | 19 July 1947 | 27 August 1949 | 34 | 34 | |||||
| 15 | 1950–1952 | 3 May 1950 | 27 May 1953 | 89 | 89 | |||||
| 16 | 1953–1954 | 2 May 1953 | 28 August 1954 | 56 | 56 | |||||
| 17 | 1955 | 7 May 1955 | 31 August 1955 | 28 | 28 | |||||
| 18 | 1956–1959 | 11 May 1949 | 2 September 1959 | 118 | 118 | |||||
| 19 | 1960–1964 | 17 July 1957 | 23 May 1964 | 134 | 135 | |||||
| 20 | 1965–1967 | 21 June 1961 | 6 September 1967 | 88 | 100 | |||||
| 21 | 1968 | 11 May 1968 | 31 August 1968 | 24 | 24 | |||||
| 22 | 1969–1971 | 19 June 1965 | 26 August 1972 | 80 | 128 | |||||
| 23 | 1972–1977 | 18 August 1971 | 7 September 1977 | 118 | 228 | |||||
| 24 | 1978–1983 | 19 April 1978 | 10 July 1983 | 111 | 223 | |||||
| 25 | 1984–1985 | 17 May 1980 | 24 August 1985 | 32 | 81 | |||||
| 26 | 1986–1988 | 8 June 1983 | 21 August 1988 | 60 | 113 | |||||
| 27 | 1989 | 9 July 1980 | 8 September 1989 | 73 | 124 | |||||
| 28 | 1990–1993 | 17 May 1989 | 31 August 1993 | 84 | 171 | |||||
| 29 | 1994–1996 | 5 September 1993 | 30 July 1996 | 42 | 92 | |||||
| 30 | 1997–1998 | 25 May 1995 | 27 July 2004 | 49 | 103 | |||||
| 31 | 1999–2002 | 15 April 1999 | 12 May 2004 | 62 | 140 | |||||
| 32 | 2003–2004 | 17 June 2001 | 16 September 2004 | 39 | 93 | |||||
| 33 | 2005 | 5 June 2005 | 30 July 2005 | 2 | 18 | |||||
| 34 | 2005–2006 | 26 July 2005 | 24 May 2006 | 8 | 20 | |||||
| 35 | 2007–2009 | 18 April 2007 | 18 October 2009 | 46 | 121 | |||||
| 36 | 2010–2015 | 23 May 1999 | 22 September 2015 | 97 | 216 | |||||
| 37 | 2016 | 10 April 2016 | 20 September 2016 | 16 | 16 | |||||
| 38 | 2017–present | 14 April 2017 | 23 September 2019 | 41 | 64 |
Unofficial captains
This is a list of players who have captained Somerset without having been appointed official club captain.| Name | Nationality | First | Last | FC | LA | T20 | Total | Refs |
| 8 June 1882 | 30 July 1883 | 3 | ||||||
| 5 August 1897 | 16 May 1910 | 3 | ||||||
| 19 July 1909 | 4 July 1925 | 13 | ||||||
| 1 August 1910 | 1 August 1910 | 1 | ||||||
| 1 September 1923 | 17 August 1938 | 6 | ||||||
| 1 September 1926 | 10 August 1929 | 2 | ||||||
| 19 May 1928 | 15 June 1929 | 4 | ||||||
| 18 July 1928 | 18 July 1928 | 1 | ||||||
| 27 May 1933 | 4 July 1934 | 6 | ||||||
| 8 July 1936 | 15 June 1946 | 4 | ||||||
| 22 May 1937 | 29 July 1939 | 7 | ||||||
| 21 August 1946 | 26 June 1948 | 2 | ||||||
| 19 June 1948 | 19 June 1948 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 May 1952 | 13 July 1955 | 2 | ||||||
| 29 August 1953 | 29 August 1953 | 1 | ||||||
| 8 July 1959 | 2 August 1961 | 2 | ||||||
| 15 June 1960 | 15 June 1960 | 1 | ||||||
| 29 July 1961 | 2 September 1964 | 29 | ||||||
| 19 June 1963 | 19 June 1963 | 1 | ||||||
| 25 May 1968 | 21 June 1972 | 6 | ||||||
| 31 August 1969 | 31 August 1969 | 1 | ||||||
| 28 May 1975 | 28 May 1975 | 1 | ||||||
| 15 May 1976 | 14 August 1977 | 29 | ||||||
| 4 June 1978 | 5 September 1979 | 3 | ||||||
| 23 June 1979 | 23 June 1979 | 1 | ||||||
| 4 July 1981 | 20 July 1986 | 15 | ||||||
| 10 August 1991 | 10 August 1991 | 1 | ||||||
| 13 May 1992 | 1 June 1995 | 16 | ||||||
| 17 July 1994 | 17 July 1994 | 1 | ||||||
| 31 July 1994 | 31 July 1994 | 1 | ||||||
| 1 August 1997 | 14 June 1998 | 8 | ||||||
| 21 June 1998 | 24 June 1998 | 2 | ||||||
| 24 July 2002 | 24 July 2002 | 1 | ||||||
| 24 June 2003 | 24 June 2003 | 1 | ||||||
| 9 April 2005 | 1 June 2005 | 9 | ||||||
| 18 April 2006 | 14 May 2006 | 7 | ||||||
| 29 May 2006 | 13 August 2006 | 24 | ||||||
| 15 August 2006 | 19 August 2008 | 12 | ||||||
| 2 September 2010 | 25 May 2018 | 4 | ||||||
| 12 January 2011 | 17 July 2015 | 51 | ||||||
| 31 March 2012 | 18 June 2014 | 12 | ||||||
| 23 July 2015 | 18 August 2017 | 52 | ||||||
| 29 July 2016 | 29 July 2016 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 July 2017 | 28 July 2019 | 26 |