The Somerset Cricket Club says it’s ready to host Cup Match next week.

In fact, says club president Alfred Maybury, it could be played right now such has been the club’s preparation.

“I would be ready to host Cup Match tomorrow,” he told The Royal Gazette. “All we need to do is put up signs which can point people towards their seats. Other than that we’re done.

“For emergency services we already have St John’s Ambulance on site and police on site. “We start planning two years in advance for Cup Match, so we’ve been getting ready for this year since 2012 and we’ll begin getting ready for 2016 in September.

“Since I’ve been president we’ve been ready early because I don’t like last-minute work.

“We have an excellent team who are always on target.

“We wanted to be ready by July 26 at the latest and we will be.

“Between July 26 and 30 we have a decorating competition for the best camp spots at the grounds.

“We look at the challenges, the mistakes we have made, and fix them when preparing for the next game. That way we can only improve.

“For example this year we’ll have two scoreboards instead of one.

“These boards will be synchronised so that we can make sure that everyone will always know what the score is at all times. Right now we’re ready to go.”

Mr Maybury said that he expects between 7,000 and 10,000 people to attend the second day of Cup Match but that the ground could hold more.

The game will be played on July 31 and August 1.