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Somerset’s young guard promotion charge

Photo by Mark Tatem ¬ Somerset Team 2010 - Jacobi Robinson ¬ ¬ Jacobi Robinson ¬ Club: Somerset ¬ Captain/right arm fast bowler ¬ Somerset skipper since 2008, this is it for Robinson, he simply has to win. No more Marshall, no more Clay Smith, a young St George's team, means no more excuses.

Jacobi Robinson believes the best is yet to come from Somerset this season as they push for promotion to the Premier Division at the second time of asking.Somerset have lost just once this summer, to Premier Division side Southampton Rangers, with two wins in the Lindo’s Twenty20, and victories in their opening First Division and Knockout Cup fixtures.Their 273 run mauling of Young Men’s Social Club at the weekend was a clear indicator of the team’s ability, with many individuals sharing the limelight.Jordan DeSilva smashed an unbeaten century (104), assisted by Shaquille Jones (55) and Kamal Easton (73), while Robinson himself snatched five wickets with youngster Kwasi James helping himself to three scalps.“It was good result over one our rivals for promotion in the First Division and it’s important for us to get these results in order to gauge how far we have come along and how much further we need to go,” said Robinson.“The Knockout Cup is key to us because we want to play against the best teams in the country. Even though we are in the First Division we feel we are a big club as well.“The past few years have been difficult in terms of being relegated and also not being able to get promoted at the first time of asking, so we want to show that we can compete.“We are confident we can get promoted, with the players we have and their ability we can see ourselves getting back into the Premier Division and doing a few good things.”With the emergence of Jones, Easton, and most notably James, the load has been evenly distributed throughout the team, leaving senior players like skipper Jekon Edness, Jermaine Warner, Ricky Hoyt and Robinson who now bowls spin to focus on their roles.The team will be further bolstered by the return of Justin Donawa and Justin Corday, Greg Maybury and Joshua Gilbert from overseas commitments.“We don’t have a coach at the moment but our skipper Jekon Edness and the senior players are pulling their weight and we are moving along with what needs to be done in terms of training and it is showing in the games we have played so far,” said Robinson.“It’s important to have the younger guys coming in and stepping up to the plate, the likes of Jordan, Shaquille, Kamal and Kwasi have been tremendous thus far and it takes a burden off of us as senior players to focus on what we need to do.“My personal form is good at the moment, I’m more of a spinner now and when it comes to the batting that will come along as well. I haven’t got a big score yet apart from a 40 odd, but in time everything will work itself.“We are still missing Joshua Gilbert, Greg Maybury, Justin Donawa, and Justin Corday, but these guys should back before Cup Match and we will be ready to roll on.”Somerset play Cleveland Saturday at Southampton Oval in Twenty20 action before facing Somerset Bridge in the First Division at White Hill Field on Sunday.