Somerset want to use The Rec for Twenty20 games

Somerset are planning to hold Twenty20 cricket at Bath's Recreation Ground, with potential for 12,000 fans to watch.

The club is ready to lay a cricket pitch between the Rec's touchline and where the temporary East Stand of Bath Rugby Club's ground currently sits. Somerset play a single one-day match in Bath every year on the other side of the Rec, with the boundary well behind the East Stand.

With that stand removed, Bath's other three stands – plus the dressing rooms and executive boxes for corporate hospitality – would be available for cricket use.

The Bath Festival used to feature a four-day match and a one-day game, but the cost of moving from Taunton led to the reduction to one fixture.

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Bath have long-term plans to redevelop the Rec, but it is thought unlikely they will come to fruition in the next five years.

The rugby club is favourable to the plan, which would see a cricket pitch laid in front of the East Stand next month with a view to playing a couple of minor games on it in 2010.

England and Wales Cricket Board rules state a pitch must be laid for two years before an official game can be played on it, so 2011 appears a likely date for the new surface to be used for first-team games.

Somerset CCC chief executive Richard Gould said: "We are looking at how we can make more use of the facilities.

"There are 6,000 to 7,000 semi-permanent seats there and we could add another 4,000 to 5,000 temporary seats. That would give us a huge capacity to work with. We could foresee having a one-day match and a Twenty20 game.

"There is also the possibility of women's international cricket, as the England team already play matches (at Bath CC) and enjoy playing in Bath."

Councillor Chris Watt, one of the trustees of Bath Rec, said: "It would be great for the trustees to be able to move cricket over and therefore accommodate other sports on the other side of the Rec."