Somerset issue apology following triple floodlight failure

Somerset have apologised to fans for “occasional floodlight outages” during their Vitality Blast victory over Glamorgan on Thursday.

The club said it did not yet know the reason for the failure, having also experienced issues in their County Championship clash with Sussex last month.

In total, there were three stoppages because of issues with floodlights against Glamorgan, including in the final over with the hosts chasing 203 to win.

In a statement, Somerset said: “Somerset County Cricket Club would like to apologise to anyone who attended last night’s Vitality Blast fixture against Glamorgan whose experience was adversely affected by the occasional floodlight outages which occurred during the match.

“The Cooper Associates County Ground is award-winning for its presentation of the Vitality Blast, and it is always disappointing when this experience is not optimised.

“At this stage the precise reason for the failure remains unknown. Regular visitors to the ground this year will know that we began experiencing occasional, unpredictable issues with the lights during our recent Rothesay County Championship fixture against Sussex.”

Somerset added that, following those issues against Sussex, work had gone on to improve the system, and later Vitality Blast matches against Hampshire and an England Women’s T20 international had passed off without any glitches.

The club also stated that “all of our standard pre-game operational checks were completed, and no issues were identified with the floodlights or the related infrastructure” prior to the fixture against Glamorgan.

“However, a problem clearly remains, and a deeper intervention will now be initiated to diagnose and rectify this problem as soon as possible,” said the statement.

“This will include working with our floodlight suppliers, Musco, and the mains power supplier, National Grid.

“The process will be concluded in good time ahead of our next floodlit fixture which is scheduled for later this month.

“We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the Members, supporters and players from both teams, the match officials and broadcast partners for the disruption that this issue caused.

“We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding in this regard and for bearing with us last night whilst the issue was resolved.

“Despite the disruption, the atmosphere at the Cooper Associates County Ground was, as always, exceptional and we thank you for your continued and vociferous support.”