Sir Viv Richards set to make nostalgic return to the County Ground

Sir Viv Richards will back at the County Ground on July 21st to make a nostalgic appearance playing for Lashings Cricket Club against his old county.

The great mans appearance at Taunton at the age of fifty one, in what will probably be the last time that he visits the ground as a player is bound to attract a considerable amount of interest in a match that is the centrepiece of the Somerset Appeal Year.

The former Somerset player will be joined in the Lashings team by fellow West Indians Brian Lara and Richie Richardson as well as Jaques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Ahktar, Allan Donald, Grant Flower and several others from the world of international cricket.

Sir Viv, along with Ian Botham and Joel Garner were the Cidermen's star players during the Glory Years of the late 1970's and early 1980's when the county won the Gillette Cup and the Bensons and Hedges Cup twice and the John Player League once.

He played for Somerset between 1974 and 1986 scoring nearly 15000 runs at an average of just under 50 which included 322 against Warwickshire in 1985, a record that still stands as the highest individual innings by any player for the county.

The match against Lashings Cricket Club will be 45 overs a side,starting at 1pm with everybody paying including members. As there is expected to be considerable interest in the game tickets will be available in advance from the County Ground nearer the time.

Sir Viv joins his old sparring partner Ian Botham in helping the club where they both started their cricketing careers. Last week Ian Botham launched the club's 2003 membership appeal.

Commenting on Sir Vivian Richards the Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson said: "Tony Lewis once said that it was worth the admission money just to see him bat. It will be great to see him back at the County Ground."

Other events that are planned to take place during the Appeal Year include an Opening Lunch on April 4th when the guest speaker will be Roy Palmer, Sunday Lunch on April 13th after which Peter Robinson will share some of his cricketing recollections, a corporate six-a-side tournament on July 22nd, a cricket tour to Guernsey in September, a Lord's Dinner on October 6th and a Closing Lunch on December 5th.