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Somerset County Cricket Club competed in four domestic competitions during the 2009 English cricket season: the first division of the County Championship, the Friends Provident Trophy, the first division of the NatWest Pro40 League and the Twenty20 Cup. Through their performance in the Twenty20 Cup, the team qualified for the Champions League Twenty20. They enjoyed a successful season, but fell short of winning any competitions, prompting Director of Cricket Brian Rose to say "We've had enough of being cricket's nearly men." Consistent performances in the County Championship helped Somerset remain challengers for the competition until the last few weeks of the season, but the batting-friendly pitch at their home ground, the County Ground, Taunton, meant that the county finished with too many draws to claim their first Championship title. Consistency was also key for Somerset's success in one-day cricket, where they remained unbeaten in the group stage of the Friends Provident Trophy, but were eliminated in the first knock-out round, and finished runners-up by one point in the NatWest Pro40. In the Twenty20 Cup, Somerset finished as losing finalists. This meant that they qualified for the Champions League Twenty20, where they progressed into the second group stage of the competition. They failed to win any matches in that phase of the competition, resulting in their elimination. Somerset were captained for the third successive season by their Australian overseas player, Justin Langer, who announced during the season that it would be his last with Somerset. Marcus Trescothick topped the national batting tables, scoring almost 3,000 runs in all competitions in 2009; as a result, he was named as both Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) Player of the Year and the PCA's Most Valuable Player of the Year. ==Background== After promotion from the second division of the County Championship in 2007, Somerset were among the first division title contenders in the 2008. A loss to Lancashire in the final match of the season meant they finished in fourth place. David Foot, writing in ''Wisden'', claimed that too many of the Somerset batsmen had "lost their way" in one-day cricket, as they narrowly avoided relegation in the NatWest Pro40, and were eliminated in the Friends Provident Trophy. Somerset promoted four players from their academy for the 2009 season, giving contracts to Jos Buttler, Adam Dibble, Chris Jones and James Burke. Of these, only Buttler appeared in the first-team during the season. They also signed David Stiff, a fast bowler capped at Under-19 level for England, on a two-month contract at the beginning of the season, which was later extended to the end of the season. Ian Blackwell, captain of the side in 2005 and 2006, left for Durham after coach Andy Hurry and captain Justin Langer made it clear that they regarded fitness as a priority. John Francis and Keith Parsons both retired at the end of 2008,〔 Francis cited lack of first-team opportunities for his departure, while at the age of 35, Parsons declared that: "There comes a time when your body tells you it's time to pack in professional sport." In his preview of the 2009 season for ESPNcricinfo, Andrew McGlashan identified Somerset's opening partnerships with bat and ball as their main strengths, but predicted that the middle order would struggle to make an impact in the County Championship, stating that "none (the middle order ) jump out as potential match-winners in four-day cricket." He speculated that the team's best chance of success would come in the one-day competitions.〔 ''The Daily Telegraph'' provided a more positive outlook, claiming that the county had "enough depth in batting and seam bowling to challenge (the County Championship ) again."〔 They identified spin bowling as an area of weakness following the departure of Blackwell.〔 Bob Willis, writing in ''The Guardian'', shared this view, and predicted that Somerset would also be hindered by the difficulty of getting 20 wickets at home, resulting in too many draws. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Somerset County Cricket Club in 2009」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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