MATTHEW WOOD made light of the absence of Marcus Trescothick, Ian Blackwell and Andrew Caddick to lead Somerset to a victory that gives them a far better chance than Surrey of reaching the final.Blackwell is injured, Caddick was putting his feet up and, in the absence of any official explanation, it must be assumed that Trescothick had gone home for family reasons, picked up a virus on his recent trip to Northampton or, most likely, was simply resting on the orders of Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, now that he is back in the Test side.

No matter. Wood, the vice-captain who was unlucky not to make the England A team during the winter after scoring more than 1,000 championship runs last season, accepted his responsibility and hit 92 off 100 balls, including 13 fours, to lay the foundation for a total of 279 for five.

Arul Suppiah, 22, an emerging talent from Malaysia who would not have played if Trescothick had been available, joined Wood in a second- wicket partnership of 100 in 19 overs and picked up four for 39 with his left-arm spin, including the wickets of Alistair Brown and Rikki Clarke. Cameron White, captain of Victoria at 22, also had an influence, scoring 47 and taking the wickets of Mark Ramprakash and Azhar Mahmood with his leg spin as Surrey again fell below the standards expected of them. Their attack, with the exception of Ian Salisbury, lacked control and their batsmen flattered to deceive.

Mark Butcher was going well until James Benning ran him out and left soon afterwards to face the consequences. Brown struck 48 off 40 balls but was caught behind trying to cut Suppiah. Ramprakash made 56 before he was caught at extra cover attempting something out of character and Clarke perished to a desperate slog.