As the Australians would confirm, you underestimate Somerset in one-day cricket at your peril. The cider county arrived yesterday for the Twenty20 Cup finals day at The Oval as firm outsiders, but they came away with the booty some 12 hours later after pulling off major upsets to defeat Leicestershire, the holders, in the semi- final and Lancashire in a final reduced to 16 overs a side.
It was only their second one-day trophy in 22 years since the glory days inspired by Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner ended at Taunton with victory in the NatWest Trophy in 1983. The club’s only success since then was in the same event, sponsored now by C&G, in 2001.
Somerset first came back from the dead to beat Leicestershire, who got off to a gallivanting start in pursuit of 158, but in the final, bowling first, Somerset struck early and never allowed Lancashire to get away from them. It was the most one-sided contest of a day watched by a sell-out crowd of 20,000.
Somerset’s inspiration was Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, who has galvanised them since arriving in mid-June and guiding them to an incredible victory over the Australians in his first match.
Then, Smith scored a century as Somerset reached a 50-over target of 343 on a sublime Taunton surface. Conditions were a bit tougher under floodlights last night, but Smith was again the anchorman.
Andrew Flintoff dismissed both Marcus Trescothick and Matthew Wood to keep Lancashire’s hopes flickering, and Ian Blackwell, who failed in both games with the bat but not with the ball, holed out against Gary Keedy. But Smith was not to be shifted.
He saw his side home with an unbeaten 64 off 47 balls and his side won by seven wickets with 11 balls to spare. The first player to congratulate Smith was Flintoff, who was Lancashire’s best bowler with two wickets from his four overs.
Smith’s partner at the end was James Hildreth, who scored a brisk 16. Hildreth had also been at the crease when Somerset pulled off their famous victory over the Australians.
“I’m buzzing, it’s unbelievable,” said Hildreth, “especially with the side we’ve got — young, exuberant — and the side we were playing against, they had some star players there. But we’ve gone out with a no-fear attitude and it’s paid off. We always thought we could do it. There were times in the game where it could have been said they were ahead, but we fought through it, battled on and won the game.”
Smith is expected to return to South Africa this week but after the success he has brought to the club, albeit in a relatively minor sphere, both parties will surely be keen for him to return next year, even if for only part of the season.
It is asking a lot of an international captain to lead a county as well but Smith’s appetite for the game seems insatiable. In four-day cricket Somerset’s progress has been less evident and they languish near the foot of the second division.
Lancashire will be bitterly disappointed to have again fallen short of a prize. They haven’t won a trophy for six years, although they have come close several times. The main difference here was that while they have often fallen at the semi-final stage (as in the Twenty20 Cup last year) at least this time they made the final.
Somerset got off to a sensational start, ripping out five wickets inside the first six overs. Andrew Caddick and Richard Johnson, the former England bowlers, claimed two scalps each (Johnson added a third later), but perhaps the most significant blow came from a fine throw from Wes Durston at backward point to run out Andrew Symonds.
Symonds, whose unbeaten 52 off 29 balls had been a key factor in Lancashire’s semi-final victory over Surrey, had faced only seven balls and already hit two boundaries.
Rain, which had caused stoppages during the semi- finals, delayed the final by more than an hour and led to the game being reduced by four overs per side. Lancashire won the toss and opted to bat, but conditions favoured the bowlers and Caddick and Johnson proceeded to take full advantage.
Caddick ought to have had Mal Loye caught on the midwicket boundary with his second ball but Johnson spilled a regulation chance. Three balls later Loye obligingly repeated the shot and this time Johnson got his hands in the right position. In his second over Caddick was gifted a second wicket when Flintoff aimed a loose drive into the on-side and skied an easy catch to Blackwell. Earlier in the day, Flintoff had struck the ball well to score 49 off 29 balls against Surrey, but whether such a day’s tomfoolery is what England’s allrounder needs ahead of the second Ashes Test is a moot point.
Ideally, he would spend time in the middle remembering how to construct a long innings but this summer’s bizarre schedule does not allow for such a thing. Before last week’s chastening Test at Lord’s, he had not batted in a first-class match for two months and it showed. Then again, there’s a case for saying Flintoff should approach Shane Warne in less inhibited fashion and just go out and play his shots against him. Perhaps a touch of Twenty20 is what his Test game needs.
Symonds was run out in Caddick’s third over and in the next one, from successive Johnson deliveries, Dominic Cork edged to slip and Glen Chapple dragged on. That left Johnson, who had not played in the competition before yesterday, on his second hat-trick of the day and Lancashire languishing on 41 for five in the sixth over.
For Lancashire to then score 73 runs off the remaining 10 overs of their innings represented a fair recovery and for that they owed a lot to Stuart Law, who stayed until the last over of the innings for 59 from 45 balls to at least give his team something to bowl at. But to successfully defend 114, even off 16 overs, would have been quite an achievement.
