Somerset executed a carefully thought out plan to claim a memorable victory in Cup Match last week, and former captain Andre Manders feels they have a team good enough to dominate for several years.The victory marked the third straight time that Somerset had dethroned the champions in an Olympic year, having previously done so in 1996 during the Atlanta Games when they ended 13 years without a victory only to lose the cup the following year in St. George’s.Then, in the year of the Sydney Games in 2000, Somerset reclaimed the cup from St. George’s before losing it again in 2005. This time the West Enders will be looking for a long reign as champions and Manders feels they have a crop of players capable of dominating for several years.“Our plan is to hold onto the cup with the youngsters who have at least 10 or 15 years left in the game,” said Manders, who coached the team in the build-up to Cup Match along with former players Jeff Richardson and Albert Steede.“We want to groom these young players in the next couple of years and they should be alright. The future looks good, ‘Neiro (Janeiro Tucker) is the oldest at 37 and the rest are 28 down to 17 so it bodes well. We have Joshua Gilbert who is 17, Jordan DeSilva who was unlucky not to get picked this year, and a few other Somerset players like Shaquille Jones, Justin Donawa and Kamal Easton, all whom played in the trials so it looks good for Somerset with their youth.”Somerset’s team in Cup Match had an average age of 24 compared to 34 for St. George’s. Both teams were evenly balanced but Manders said Somerset’s success was down to the preparation they put in from the end of May.“Albert, Jeff and myself sat down with the Somerset selectors and started putting things forward, we wanted to get a nice young group along with some experienced players,” said Manders whose son Tré was a colt while nephew Jekon Edness was in his second year as captain.“Last year it was a close game and came down to Somerset’s first innings which let us down. We had said that if we were going to win this game we would win it on the field and that’s what it came down to. In fact, I don’t think we dropped any catches. And the younger guys in the team gave us that extra energy over the two days, guys like Kamau (Leverock), Tre, Greg (Maybury) who, even though they are young they have some experience from playing at national level. Our thing was balancing it out, the experienced players with the younger players.”After winning the toss and restricting St. George’s to 219, Somerset’s aim was to build a lead of at least 70, which might have happened had captain Edness not retired hurt with severe cramp, forcing Somerset to end their innings before he had time to recover.“We just told the guys to stick to the game plan, hold our catches and eventually St. George’s would break,” said Manders. “On the first day they were batting well, 50-something without loss and could possibly have made 250 to 300 in that first innings but they let themselves down by only scoring 219 because the wicket was pretty good in the beginning.“As the day went on it got drier and drier and then started to turn. Our main objective was to bat the one innings and try not to have to bat in the second innings, but if we did then try not to chase too many runs.”Manders noted that Somerset batted more confidently on the turning wicket, using their feet against the spinners. “Even though we had that 50-run lead, I don’t think the St. George’s batsmen batted well in the second innings,” said Manders.“We told our guys to try to use their feet to get down to the spinners. All our batsmen did the same thing but only one of their batsmen, Treaddy Gibbons, was doing that early in his innings and used his feet well.”The Somerset colts handled themselves well during the occasion with Manders, just 17, scoring 29 on his debut while Maybury took five for 18 in the second innings. “I was nervous, probably more nervous than him, I just wanted him to get off the mark,” said Manders who played for Somerset from 1982 to ‘97 and captained the team in ‘92, 93 and ‘94.“What’s good about it is in my first year I won and in his first year he won. In my first year I scored 40-something and didn’t bat the second innings and in his first year he scored 29 and didn’t bat the second innings. When I started I was 21 and he is 17. What we did was let him play in the Colts Cup Match to find his form and luckily he found his form and that gave him the confidence going into Cup Match. If that bat hadn’t slipped out of his hand he had an easy 50 because once he gets into the 20s he is pretty confident.”Manders, also a talented footballer for Western Stars, will be further developing his cricket when he attends a sports academy in Southampton, England later this month. The family is moving to the south of England while Tré attends school, with dad Andre planning pursue his level three coaching qualifications while in England.