Something special

It will take a massive effort from Somerset to win Saturday's CB40 Final at Lord's, says Ian Ward.

Tough test in store for Tresco's troops as Bears target trophy finish

Can Somerset get over their County Championship heartbreak? That's the big question going into Saturday's CB40 Final at Lord's, where Warwickshire await Marcus Trescothick's jaded troops. There's nothing like a final at Lord's to get the juices flowing but after the agony of missing out on the Championship title to Nottinghamshire, it is going to be tough both mentally and physically for Somerset to hit the ground running. Trescothick said afterwards that getting so close but not close enough to the trophy will live with his side for a long, long time - as will just missing out on this year's Twenty20 crown too. But they can't afford to go into this match anything other than fully committed if they hope to beat an excellent Bears side. I'm sure they will be focused but my concern is whether they've got enough left in the tank. Their body language at Saturday lunchtime should tell us a lot. Warwickshire, conversely, will be delighted because they played well at Hampshire and have secured division one status for next year, so they should go into the game with more of a mental spring in their step.

Whacking

Given the impressive manner in which both sides have qualified it should be a great final. Somerset have played almost faultless 40-over cricket from the off, winning 10 of their 12 group games. Their batting is outstanding; four players have hit centuries in the competition so far and Trescothick isn't even on the list! Craig Kieswetter has the perfect opportunity on Saturday to give it a crack and remind everyone what England are missing. The way he went about his business in the World Twenty20 was exceptional; whacking top-quality bowlers around the park takes some doing but he did it and did it phenomenally well. Unfortunately for him - and Hampshire's Michael Lumb for that matter - he hasn't really kicked on this summer and scored the weight of runs that we expected but this is a great chance for him to get himself on the plane to Australia for the one-dayers. I'm sure he's still very much in England's World Cup thoughts, not least because of where the competition is being played; you need people to smash it at the top of the order and take on the powerplay overs with the new ball on the sub-continent and he's got all of the shots. We all know how good a batsman Trescothick is - but he gave us a timely reminder anyway by hitting 79 in the CB40 semi-final win over Essex - but what about James Hildreth and Jos Buttler? Hildreth's stats are particularly staggering: he's scored 583 runs at an average of 72.87 to dwarf even Buttler's impressive return of 440 at 62.85. In many ways, their exploits have taken some of the attention away from two of Somerset's other class one-day performers - bowlers Alfonso Thomas and Murali Kartik. Somerset are an exceptionally well-drilled side and their renaissance owes a lot to the ethos instilled by Justin Langer and Andy Hurry, the coach, and Trescothick has carried that on. Hurry is a very unassuming guy; he's from the school of working very hard, then working that little bit harder. He's very much Somerset's unsung hero and if anyone deserves a trophy it is him.

Fight

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