As a Somerset fan, it's hard to stomach another Cup final defeat - five out of five in less than two years. Are we chokers or just constantly foundering on the rocks of bad luck. T20 finals are a complete lottery but a bit more is needed to win a 40- or 50-over game and, this weekend, Surrey just had too much for Somerset.
When Marcus Trescothick and Nick Compton were declared fit to play, there must have been more optimism in Somerset's corner, even though they won their semi-final without two of their best batsmen. However, Surrey were consistently the most successful team in the group stages while Somerset stuttered occasionally, and needed only to carry that form into the big occasion at Lord's. They were also on a high having secured promotion to the County Championship Division One a few days earlier.
Somerset won the toss and, presumably mindful of the predicted showers heading eastwards towards London, decided to bat first. What was not part of the plan was the top order's failure to boss the Surrey bowlers. The big guns Trescothick, Kieswetter and Trego failed to pass 20 and at 79-5, the game looked up, each of the wickets falling to a different bowler. However, young Jos Buttler again demonstrated why he is such a huge local find for the Westcountrymen. Combining maturity with powerful hitting, he single-handedly kept the innings going, making 86 before being deceived by a full, slower delivery from Jade Dernbach. The seamer then wrapped up the tail and Somerset were all out for 214.
The rain came down early in the Surrey reply and once the weather settled down, the revised target was a fairly comfortable 186 from 30 overs. Skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown has proved himself to be a canny opening batsman in these circumstances and, even though the dangerous Davies, Roy and Maynard had departed cheaply, he kept the scoring rate ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis target, aided and abetted by Chris Schofield. If only Kartik hadn't spilled the catch he offered from the third ball. Somerset tried everything but missed several reasonable run-out attempts which could have panicked Surrey towards defeat. Only Buttler's direct hit proved successful, dismissing Hamilton-Brown, but ex-Somerset favourite de Bruyn and Spriegel somehow survived and won the game by five wickets. Dernbach capped a fine season with the Man of the Match award for his 4-30.
So what now for Somerset? Since winning promotion under Justin Langer's captaincy they have progressed to be without doubt the best all-round county in English cricket. They have the best opening batsman in Trescothick, capable but ageing Kolpak-ers Thomas and Willoughby, the determination and heart of Kirby, sturdy batting support in Suppiah, Trego, Compton and Hildreth, plus young talent like Kieswetter (an apparent veteran at 23), Meschede, Buttler, Jones and Gregory and the overseas spinning wiles of Kartik. Everything was in place in 2010 but Somerset finished second in all three competitions. This year they missed De Bruyn, while the absences on IPL duties of Kartik and Thomas in April may have proved crucial in the Championship. Hildreth and Kartik didn't perform as well during the 2011 season, either. I can only hope that they retain the nucleus of the team next year.
Even should they pick themselves up well enough to make the flight to India, let alone reach the T20 Champions League proper, 2011 will go down as another disappointment when they failed to translate dominance into trophies. This dominance far outweighs the 'glory years' when, despite the individual brilliance of Botham, Richards, Marks and Garner, occasional one-day titles concealed frequent failure in the first-class game. All we need is a bit of good fortune when it matters the most. Keep the faith, boys!
