the jumpy wicket came in for criticism over the days of Cup Match.

Unquestionably, the wicket influenced the outcome of the match, but Smith had revealed beforehand that he would be preparing a wicket to produce a result.

Unfortunately for Somerset, St. George's had the bowlers to better exploit the conditions and went on to win the match by eight wickets. It was their first victory at home in 28 years.

"I realise that both teams had to bat on it twice and I was very surprised when Clay won the toss and sent Somerset in,'' said Smith.

"I thought they would have wanted to bat first because the pitch was made to deteriorate over two days. Both teams played on the same pitch and St.

George's, by batting last, had to get the worst of it.

"Our batsmen overcame what the pitch was doing and they played positive and aggressive cricket while I felt Somerset played too defensive and too negative. That was the difference in the game.'' Somerset did not have a bowler who consistently exploited the conditions, as the absence of paceman Roger Blades weakened their attack. Corey Hill was the pick of the Somerset bowlers with two for 47 in the first innings and one for 33 in the second.

"The St. George's bowlers worked hard and took advantage of the situation and proved to be better bowlers than Somerset's, and our batsmen proved to be far superior in adjusting to the situation,'' said Smith, who is also the club president.

"Everybody has to remember that both teams played on the same pitch and that St. George's batted last so they had to get the worst of the conditions, but they overcame adversity.'' Gregory Foggo, chairman of the St. George's selectors and a former captain of the team, felt that Somerset lost the game with their approach on the first day when they batted 89.4 overs for 212 runs.

"They didn't come down here to win, but not to lose,'' Foggo said. "They went for the draw from the word go.'' Somerset coach John Tucker, also a former team captain, admits the team was too defensive in their first innings when too many bad balls were left unpunished. Still, he was also unhappy with the state of the wicket.

"I always believe that if you want to see good cricket then you have to have a good wicket,'' said Tucker.

"I'm not knocking the wicket too much, but I thought our team didn't really apply themselves. They tried to stay to the wicket but they didn't hit the bad balls.

"I always believed that if a ball is there to be hit for four than hit it for four, whether the wicket is bad or not.'' Of the 39 maidens that St. George's bowled in the first innings, a total of 19 maidens were bowled by colts Herbie Bascome and Gary Brangman. By comparision, Somerset's colt Kevin Hurdle was never allowed to settle into a rhythm in the first innings and was the most expensive bowler, giving up 72 runs in just 10 overs in the first innings. In the second innings he was overlooked for the new ball which Richard Basden shared with Hill.

"Our bowlers didn't hit the mark and as a matter of fact that is where we lost the game,'' Tucker believes.

"If they bowled on a line and length like St. George's did than maybe they (St. George's) wouldn't have gotten all those runs Thursday evening. We gave away too many runs from bad bowling.'' Somerset batters conservative? Said captain Dexter Basden, "It was a bad wicket and both of us had to bat on it, but unfortunately we got the worst of it. I give Clay and his opening bowlers (Bascome and Brangman) credit; they saw a spot and they kept with that spot.'' "We couldn't find that area while they bowled accurate.'' Basden defended his team's batting approach in the first innings. "We weren't chasing for too many runs just before lunch,'' he explained.

"We tried to pick up the runs after lunch and lost quick wickets. We had the cup, it was a jumpy wicket and the ball wasn't always there to drive.

"When St. George's were batting their batsmen were getting their drives in because our bowlers weren't putting the ball on the spot.'' St. George's worked out the right way to approach the conditions, both in the batting and the bowling.

"When you just play defensive on it (wicket) that is going to make it look bad,'' said captain Clay Smith.

"We just decided to go ahead and be very aggressive and therefore it eliminated those guys from being around the bat so we didn't have any problems with that.

"We had some experienced bowlers, they knew what to do with the wicket and it favoured us.''