A Twenty20 match featuring former greats will jump start the Cup Match festivities at Somerset Cricket Club.

The West End club will host the Cup Match Legends T20 pitting a Janeiro Tucker XI against a Dean Minors XI.

Tucker is a former Somerset captain and the most prolific batsman in Cup Match history and Minors a former wicketkeeper-batsman for St George’s.

“We are very excited,” said Tracee Seymour, who leads the event’s organising committee. “It was an idea of Mr Maybury [the former Somerset president Alfred Maybury] that didn’t come through in 2016 so we are definitely excited we can put it on for 2018.

“Mr Maybury wanted to bring the players we fell in love with and let them have their time.

“Obviously the game can’t be long as they’re getting up in age, so a T20 will be ideal.”

The match will take place on July 27, starting at 6.30pm, with free admission.

“It’s come one come all and, as usual, we have that Friday night dedicated to Colin [the late Somerset president Colin Smith] here at Somerset Cricket Club so it coincides with that,” Seymour added. “He was a big fan of Cup Match.”

The T20 match will start a busy weekend of cricket at Somerset, who will stage their final Cup Match trial and host the annual Colts Cup Match over the following two days.

“We are making a weekend of it so it’s sort of a pre-Cup Match celebration,” said Michael Corday, the chairman of Somerset’s cricket and selection committees. “We have some good legends coming out so it should be interesting.”

Also taking place for the first time this year is a ceremony honouring the oldest surviving players from the Cup Match clubs to be held during the innings break of Somerset’s final trial match.

“We are reaching out to honour the oldest living members of the Cup Match fraternity and that would be Mr Leroy Richardson of St George’s and Mr Junius Durrant of Somerset,” Seymour said.