Somerset County Cricket Club, founded in 1875, is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales, representing the historic county of Somerset. The club’s visual identity is centered on a dragon emblem, a symbol shared with the county’s flag and coat of arms.
Design and History
The Somerset County Cricket Club crest features a dragon, a figure well known in Somerset and used across the county’s civic and sporting identities. The club itself has used both “Wyvern” and “Dragon” terminology in its own communications, with an official club article noting that players have “worn the Wyvern (or donned the Dragon) in red ball cricket.”[1] The distinction matters in heraldry: dragons have four legs plus wings, while wyverns have two legs plus wings. A 2023 news report on a hand-sewn club flag clarified that the central figure was a dragon, not a wyvern, because the image had four legs.[2]
The club’s colours are red, white and black, as documented on a commemorative plaque presented to Ian Botham featuring the Somerset dragon emblem in those club colours.[3] A 2023 flag made for the club used burgundy and black material with white, with the central dragon rendered in a separate scarlet red.[2]
In 2025, the club marked its 150th anniversary with an “anniversary adaptation of the Club crest” featured on its playing shirts for the season.[4] The club also added a second star above the crest on its 2024 Vitality Blast shirts to commemorate T20 trophy wins in 2005 and 2023.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The dragon on the Somerset crest connects the cricket club to the broader identity of the county. Somerset’s flag, coat of arms, county cricket team and the new Somerset Council are all represented by a dragon.[6] The club itself has referenced the emblem as a marker of its history, describing past players as “heroes worthy of the Club crest” in its 150th anniversary commemorations.[7]
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