From the start of next season every overseas touring side that plays against Somerset will compete for the Patrons Bowl to commemorate the occasion.

The Patrons Bowl will be engraved after each match with the date and the name of the winner and will be kept at the Somerset Cricket Museum as a record of the occasion.

The solid silver bowl is being presented to the club by the Somerset Patron Christopher Ondaatje, who has commissioned the bowl to be specially designed and made in Sri Lanka, where he was born.

Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson told me: "Christopher was so pleased with the way that the recent match against Sri Lanka went that he has given us the silver bowl that will be played for each year. We are absolutely delighted with the idea."

Mr Ondaatje said: "Following my recent sponsorship of the match against Sri Lanka, which was such a great success, I am presenting the club with a silver bowl that will be played for when each of the touring sides visits Somerset. A match against the tourists is very important not just for Somerset but for the west country in general and this award will be a lasting record."

© SOMERSET