IT’S a crisp, spring morning in Taunton and the County Ground sits a frosty, picturesque scene, as the ground staff, in hats and gloves, continue preparations for the new season in the background.

The on-field action will return in a just a handful of weeks, having taken its annual break during the winter months - but off the field, there has been no such respite, with construction work, sponsorship deals and big-name – huge, in fact – player signings all forming just a smidgeon of the season preparations.

The summer ahead is a huge one for Somerset, who will be the only side in Division One of the County Championship playing their home games at a ground without Test Match status – and while attentions are predominantly focused on the coming season, the planning and forethought is also pitched much further along the timeline.

Although not Test cricket, 2017 will see the Cooper Associates County Ground host a number of international fixtures – both men’s and women’s – and chief executive Guy Lavender says he and everyone at Somerset is determined to deliver a memorable experience for players, supporters and broadcasters alike.

“It’s a very exciting time at the moment, with international cricket coming up,” he said.

“We’ve got England versus South Africa, the men’s match in 2017, we’ve got the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017 and then the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2019, so international cricket is incredibly exciting, but also, challenging.

“We’ve really got to gear up in the next 12 months and that’s a big part of our focus at the moment – not just in terms of the ground development, but in the staffing procedures and the broadcast requirements that we’ve got to do for that, so there’s lots of work to be done.

“But it feels really exciting and should be great for the club and great for Taunton.

“I think we’re very lucky in that there’s this enormous appetite for cricket in the West Country, we see it for our domestic fixtures, we’ll certainly see it for international fixtures and I think if we get them right, we can deliver a brilliant experience for people coming to the ground.

“It’s a great place to watch cricket and a small, tightly knit ground, with a big passionate crowd and it will be a great spectacle and we’re looking forward to it.

“There will hopefully be lots of runs (in the matches), but we’ve got lots of work to do first.”

One of the many changes during the off-season – on top of the completion and opening of the stunning Somerset Pavilion – is the sale of naming rights at the County Ground, to Taunton-based business, Cooper Associates, whose head office is just a straight drive from the ground on St James' Street.

Somerset have agreed a five-year deal with the mortgage advice and wealth management business, to become naming rights partner, in a deal which sees the ground renamed ‘The Cooper Associates County Ground’ – and Lavender says the deal is a ‘good fit’.

“We’ve been looking for a ground naming rights partner for some time, but the fit for us was really important and this was something that came up, as it does, in discussion with your current partners,” he said.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Cooper Associates already and it came together, as these things do with your sponsorship.

“Our approach to commercial partnerships is actually about partnership, they’re not about taking a cheque, there about what the fit is, what they want to do, what we want to do and how we can help.

“So that’s a great arrangement for both us and them, we think – and I think that reflects with all of our commercial partners.”

Somerset County Gazette:

'A GOOD FIT': Guy Lavender (left) with Lee Cooper from Cooper Associates

Another huge development over the winter is the highly anticipated return of a certain West Indian for Somerset’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

Chris Gayle, who smashed 328 runs in just three NatWest T20 Blast group matches last season, has signed a six-match contract to appear in this season’s competition – and the chief executive believes the explosive left-hander is one of only a handful of players worldwide, with the ability to drive ticket sales in the domestic game.

“We’re delighted to have Chris Gayle back – whether we should expect the same level of cricket performance we had last time from him, I don’t know, because he was amazing,” he said.

“But we were keen to see him back, primarily because of what he can deliver on the cricket pitch – and also, he did a lot of work for us off the field, whether it was in coaching and community based programmes, or just stuff that we asked him to do around the club – he was great to have about.

“So, it's really good to have him back and he puts bums on seats, he sells membership and he sells tickets and that’s really, really exciting."

Somerset County Gazette:

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: West Indian batsman Chris Gayle

"We’re really pleased to have him back and we’ve got other signings that we’ll announce over the winter as we approach the season, which I think will add to that excitement of the year ahead.

“T20 is critical for the club and it’s really important that we do well this year, vitally important.

“There are very, very, very few players who I think will make a substantial difference to your attendance – I would almost be tempted to say that Chris Gayle is the only one who makes a big difference, because of the profile and how well he’s known.

“If you asked a lot of other people around Taunton, about the three of four best T20 players in the world, a lot of people wouldn’t know who they are, so I think we need to over-egg it.

“We’re not really driven by the commercial aspects of it, it’s more about what they can do in the team, but in the case of Chris, it’s an added bonus.

“Membership sales are going really well this year and there’s clearly a veracious appetite for tickets this season.

“What he (Gayle) does, is he raises the profile of Somerset and cricket to a new audience that don’t normally see it.”

Last year may have been a disappointing one for Somerset on the field, but off of it, there has been plenty to shout about.

Somerset’s accounts revealed a surplus of more than £330,000 for the last financial year - despite it being a challenging one for the club, with the construction of the Somerset Pavilion and the associated reduction in seating capacity and facilities during the playing season.

The accounts, for the year ending September 30, show a pre-tax surplus of £330,389, which Lavender and other club bosses say highlights the club’s position as one of the strongest performing first-class counties.

“We’ve been profitable now for, I guess, 22 of the last 23 years of the club’s history and we’ve returned another very good profit last year as the year before.

“I think the year just gone past, is particularly pleasing because we of course had a ground under development; we had a major construction programme, we had less capacity, less parking, everything was challenging and yet we came through it again – and a poor season, of course, and we came through it again, financially in a good position to move forward."

Somerset County Gazette:

COMPLETED: Guy Lavender, club chairman Andy Nash and club former club president Roy Kerslake at the opening of the new Somerset Pavillion

“That reflected of people wanting to come and watch cricket, strong membership, good catering, conferencing and hospitality sales and lots of good commercial partners coming on board – so that really positions us this year, for a much better year and I think we’ll have a really, really strong financial performance this year.”

A strong cricketing performance is also key, and the chief executive hopes to see the county’s home grown players thriving in the coming years, while also continuing to identify stars of the future in younger age groups.

“We’ve taken a deliberate decision this year to put more money into talent development and take a bit of money out of the playing budget,” Lavender explains.

“If you like, to plough into talent because that’s so vital for future of the club and we are not a big enough club to be reliant on being able to buy players in – and in fact, buying players in, doesn’t work."

Somerset County Gazette:

HOMEGROWN: Tom Abell is a product of the Somerset Academy      Photo: Alexander Davidson

“In most cases, you end up losing a bit of the heart of the club and what we want to see is West Country born and bred, or schooled players, developing their cricket here and coming to play for Somerset – and if we can get that bit right, I’m sure we’ll have a very strong future moving forward.”

Somerset supporters will be hoping that the county’s performances on the field can match the success seen off of it – and while it still feels a little chilly to be thinking about cricket, the season is most certainly under way.