Jekon Edness ended his stint as Somerset captain with a bang, hitting the winning boundary to earn the champions a first triumph at Wellington Oval in 34 years.

“I knew we only needed four to win but I thought somebody was still out there [on the boundary],” Edness said.

“I didn’t even see that OJ [Pitcher] had brought the field in. I was just going through for one and then I got halfway down the crease and looked again and it was crazy.”

Somerset thumped St George’s by eight wickets with a session to spare to claim a first win in the East End since 1981, with Edness and Terryn Fray anchoring the cup holders to victory with an unbroken 44-run third-wicket partnership.

“It doesn’t get any better than this, and it was all written because Stephen [Outerbridge] got injured, so I had to go in at four and then Tre [Manders] got out and I said ‘well, I guess it’s really my time’ and everything worked out perfectly today.

“You could not have asked for a more perfect display with bat and ball from my team. It was awesome and the victory hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The game remained in the balance heading into the final day with Somerset clinging to a 41-run first-innings lead after 20 wickets fell on the opening day.

“St George’s put us under pressure yesterday and we didn’t bat the way wanted to,” Edness said. “We were disappointed in ourselves yesterday that we didn’t put the game to bed earlier. But I guess we are a second day team because the past couple of years we have played poorly on the first day and then dominated the second day.

“Hats off to my team, the coaches and everybody that’s made this happen.

“For the whole month of July I have been consumed with winning down here. And to finally achieve it there’s no better feeling. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Jeff Richardson, the Somerset coach, agreed. “This is one of the most special moments of my post-cricketing career,” he said. “I have had a son born since then, I’ve remarried since then and this is right up there with those moments.

“This is a very special victory. You are talking about 34 years and some of these guys were not even born. If one or two were born, that’s it.

“Things didn’t quite go to plan, but we got the job done.”

Somerset will now have to figure out who is going to captain them next year.

Edness said before the game that this would be his last match as captain, although he intends to continue playing in Cup Match.

“It is something I’ve been thinking about since last year, trying to figure the right time to let someone else take over,” Edness said. “I felt the best time was this year so if a new captain comes in then he would come in, in Somerset where you have a lot more control.”

Edness replaced Jacobi Robinson as Somerset captain, following his uncle Andre Manders as captain of the West End side.