Back at his desk in Taunton on Tuesday the Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson described the Bath Festival as a "great success, both cricketing wise and off the pitch."

He went on: "at least it gave our batsmen a chance to score runs and we had a magnificent Sunday game."

The cost of staging the festival this year was somewhere in the region of £50,000, which in past years has rarely been covered. This year however it seems likely that the profits from the festival could be in excess of £25,000, which could well mean that Somerset's trip to the north east of the county will be assured for the foreseeable future.

The Chief concluded, "this year there have been positive changes and all credit must go to Bob Appleyard and the Bath Festival Committee. They have the organisation of festival cricket under control and are starting to maximise income opportunities. If that sort of effort continues I can't see any financial arguments against staging the Bath Festival."

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