Somerset have confirmed that young fast bowler Joe Tucker will not be given a first class playing contract for next season because at the moment he is suffering from a recurrence of a major back injury which has rendered him unfit to play first class cricket.

Mr Anderson told me that the club is going to continue to support the twenty three year old with the cost of his rehabilitation programme even though nobody knows whether or not he will ever be fit enough to resume his first class playing career.

What the former England Under 19 player hopes to do when he has recovered is to go back in the leagues and if his fitness and performance warrants it he will try to play Somerset Second XI cricket to see how it goes.

Regarding Joe Tucker the Somerset chief executive told me: "We have a duty to ensure that our players leaving the game do so relatively injury free. It is right and proper that we help a young player like Joe in the way that we are."

© SOMERSET