CRICKET: Touring side celebrates 50 years at the Shrubbery Hotel

A TOURING cricket side has just enjoyed its 50th successive year of staying at the Best Western Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster.

The Four Counties Nondescripts team has been visiting Somerset for five decades and played at grounds across the county.

They first came to Somerset on tour in 1956, but it was the following year when they made the Shrubbery Hotel their touring base and they have stayed at the hotel in Station Road every year since.

The Four Counties team is made up of players from Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire and gets its name from the Four Counties Inn pub in Tamworth which is said to have bits of its building situated in all four counties.

A special anniversary dinner to commemorate the 50 years at the Shrubbery was held last week at the hotel and among the guests were former Shrubbery proprietor Stuart Shephed, president of Ilminster Cricket Club, and the Ilminster club’s very own Craig Rice.

Mr Shepherd said: “Over the years I have made many friends with the players and supporters of the Four Counties Nondescripts.

“Memories cannot be dismissed easily and I sincerely hope that this tour continues in one way or another and I’d like to thank the Four Counties for the fun times we’ve had over the last 50 years.”

Over the 50 years several hundred different players - it is believed - may have appeared for the Four Counties team on tour in the West Country.

But the old adage that “what happens on tour, stays on tour” might not quite be widely used by the players of the Four Counties team – they have always brought their wives, partners and girlfriends and family members on tour as well.

PHOTOS: Members of the Four Counties Nondescripts touring cricket party at the Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster.

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