OVER three decades on from the notorious summer of 1986 that saw Somerset CCC plunge into bitter civil war, previously unseen diaries have been released by Peter Roebuck’s family that provide a remarkable insight into the turmoil that engulfed the club during that chaotic period.

Roebuck was club captain when the decision was made to bring to an end the glittering Somerset careers of West Indian stars Viv Richards and Joel Garner, with Ian Botham consequently quitting the club in protest.

In the years that have passed, Roebuck has borne the brunt of the blame for the handling of the saga, which also began a personal feud with Botham that would last until Roebuck’s death in November 2011.

Excerpts from his diaries at the time, however, reveal that the decision was in fact made by the club’s committee of “genial, sensible pensioners”.

Roebuck did, incidentally, agree with the move – he accuses the team of having become “lazy and arrogant” – but he was left lamenting the fact that he became the “spokesman on behalf of the club”, realising that as a consequence “fingers will be pointed at me as the man who got rid of Joel, Viv and Ian.”

The newly-released memoirs begin on September 18 1986, the day that Roebuck finds a ‘Judas’ placard placed above his spot in the dressing room.

“Immediately I knew the identity of the author of this rotten word,” he writes, as “only Ian Botham was angry and brazen enough to do such a thing.”

He describes the stunt as “crass bullying” and reveals that other “more direct” teammates had physically threatened him with violence during the bitter end to the season that saw the club implode on and off the field.

It is without doubt Richards and Botham who come across as the protagonists of the ‘rebel’ cause, a term Roebuck thinks makes the episode sound like “a skirmish in an African bush”.

Richards is described as “a dauntingly physical man within whom love and hatred do daily and passionate battle” who “mistrusted anyone that threatened his position at Taunton”, while Botham “is not a worker and cannot claim to be a working class hero.”

Meanwhile, Martin Crowe – the man who was chosen to replace Richards and Garner as the club’s overseas player – is portrayed as a somewhat unwilling pawn of the piece, though Roebuck admires his grit.

If anything, he writes, Crowe was probably “surprised at how much people care”, and certainly the passion of the supporters – on both sides of the argument – regularly comes to the fore.

While eating at an Italian restaurant whose owner had been critical of the club’s decision, Roebuck reflects ruefully that “in Somerset, even the pizza makers have opinions on cricket” before going on to ask the owner’s wife “if she could recollect any occasion on which I’d advised her husband upon the preparation of pizza.”

In one of several disagreements between himself and Botham, the latter thinks that “in any county other than Somerset, the rebels would win.” Roebuck has a terse response to that particular claim, stating that “only in Somerset would they have a chance.”

There is an inescapable feeling of sadness, regret and no little anger that such a memorable era for the club was being tainted by such a public dispute - between them, after all, Botham, Richards and Garner were involved in five one-day trophy successes for Somerset and royally entertained spectators along the way.

By 1986, however, performances were declining - Somerset finished rock bottom of the County Championship in 1985 and just one place higher the following year - and there was a growing feeling that it was time for a change.

“Opponents had commented on the ‘gangsterish’ attitude at Somerset,” Roebuck says.

“In the game we were regarded as a circus, on and off the field.

“In 1982 and 1983 our cup victories had hidden these cracks – now we were without success, and without virtue.”

Also notable is the sheer volume of media coverage devoted to, as Roebuck puts it, “a small county area with a small county team”.

There are national reporters camped in Taunton as the saga develops, and interviews are given to national television networks.

Of course, the fact Botham was figuring so prominently no doubt boosted national interest, but such large-scale coverage of county cricket is unimaginable today.

The diaries end on November 4, so there is no coverage of the meeting four days later at which the final decision was made that Richards and Garner – and by extension Botham – were to leave the club.

Needless to say, the move divided opinion and continues to spark debate today.

Meanwhile, thirty-one years on, Somerset are about to embark on their latest quest to claim that elusive County Championship title.

Fans will pour through the Sir Vivian Richards gates, watch the action from the Sir Ian Botham Stand and perhaps even leave through the Joel Garner gates.

Roebuck is not marked at the County Ground in such a way, but his impact during that famous summer was just as notable and his family have ensured that his real-time perspective on events has now, at long last, been heard.