The County Ground was a sorry place to be this morning after a series of heavy showers passed across leaving puddles on the covers and the second eleven and Academy players restricted to indoor net practice.

Out in the middle Phil Frost was desperately trying to mop up with a view to getting the ground ready for the Somerset Second XI game against Glamorgan that was scheduled to start today, but has now been put back until tomorrow.

Phil told me: "With the volume of rain that we have had I just can't keep it dry. We have had two inches of rain on the covers, and I have only ever seen it like this once before and that was during a championship match against Warwickshire when Dermot Reeve was still playing for them."

The 2001 Groundsman of the Year continued: "It's a depressing situation really. Last week when we should have been putting the ground to bed for a break during the Bath festival, all we did was pull the covers on and off, so we are behind with things. We will be lucky to get any play here at all on Wednesday."

As Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson surveyed the sad scene from his office in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion he told me: "How do you keep young professionals and Academy players motivated if there are no matches for them to play in? That is the question I am wrestling with at the moment."

The chief continued: "On cost grounds Somerset have reduced the second team match programme and contracted staff. However with the weather the way that it is the players don't have a shop window to impress Kevin Shine."

Meanwhile at the Centre of Excellence assistant coach Mark Garaway was busy putting the second team and the Academy players through their paces.

He told me: "I think that we have had just three days of cricket out of a possible thirteen so far this season and we are all feeling very frustrated about it. The lads have practiced hard and I have been impressed at the way that they have gone about it. We have also had one or two fresh faces on the scene which is always a good thing."

When the game against Glamorgan does eventually get started the Somerset team will be: Neil Edwards, Piran Holloway, Tom Webley, Pete Trego, Scott Cunningham, Martin Dobson, James Hudson, Carl Gazzard, Gareth Andrew, Joe Tucker and Steve Jacques.

New faces to the seconds are: Neil Edwards,who hails from Cornwall who is attending the Academy, Scott Cunningham a triallist from Yorkshire, Martin Dobson a forceful right handed batsman who is a triallist from Northants, James Hudson who has come through the Somerset age groups and is currently on the MCC groundstaff, and Steve Jacques a quick bowler from Cornwall who played in the first match of the season against Worcestershire.

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