The Cidermen’s campaign actually started OK, with a loss to Warwickshire followed by victory over Worcestershire. Somerset made 287-9 and bowled out the Bears for 251. Happy days.

Since then, however, the runs have flowed from the oppositions’ bats with some force. Somerset have conceded two 400-plus totals in the space of five days, with the most recent of those an eyewatering 454-3. It’s the second highest List A score in men’s county cricket history, and the sixth highest List A score by any men’s side, anywhere in the world, ever.

But we’ll get to that. For now, let’s go back to Wednesday, when Somerset rocked up to Wantage Road and were treated to the Prithvi Shaw show. The prodigious India youngster tore into the Somerset attack, bringing up a second List A double of his career – a feat achieved by only three other players. He finished with 244 off 153 balls, the sixth highest score of all time in the format, as Northants racked up 415-8. Given that they had been 403-3, it could have been worse.

Friday saw something of a breather, though Somerset’s attack did allow Cheteshwar Pujara, a county run machine but not famed for his fast scoring, to race to a century at better than a run a ball as 319 was gunned down with relative ease.

That brings us to today (Sunday, August 13), and the biggest mauling of them all. Gallingly for Somerset, it came in a local derby too, with Gloucestershire putting up a mammoth 454-3 in the West Country clash. James Bracey didn’t quite reach Shaw heights, but his 224 not out off 151 was still a record-breaker, finishing by a distance as his county’s highest ever limited-overs score, and sitting in 11th place – just behind another Shaw knock – in the all-team list.

And if anything, Bracey was the anchor. Chris Dent blasted 65 off 38, Harry Tector notched 37 off 17, and Graeme van Buuren 35* off 12. The only county to hit a higher score are Surrey, back in 2007, and ironically it came against Gloucestershire. Ali Brown – the first man to join the two doubles club that Shaw entered this week – mashed 176 off 97, James Benning notched 152, and Rikki Clarke blitzed 82* off 28.

It’s been a chastening few days for Somerset’s bowlers, but there is plenty of mitigation. The T20 Blast champions are victims of their own success. That campaign was one of the best in T20 history, with 15 games won out of 17, and their players are highly sought after in The Hundred – but Somerset are not a club with the means to have back-ups ready to go.

Of their 10 wicket-takers in the T20 Blast, only two – Jack Brooks and Shoaib Bashir – have featured in the One-Day Cup, and the replacements are largely youngsters with little top-level experience. Ned Leonard is 20 years old and sat out the Sussex game, but conceded 0-78 in each game either side, off nine and then eight overs. James Langridge is 17 and made his professional debut against Sussex, opening the bowling with three overs for 17 runs and taking the wicket of the highly-rated Tom Haines. Today, he travelled for 1-95 in eight overs.

Will these be experiences to set them up for the future, baptisms of fire to harden them for challenges to come? Or is there a risk of players being blooded before they are ready and leaving cowed? Whatever the outcome individually in months’ or years’ time, this is the state of the English game at the moment, and Somerset are feeling the pain.