St. George's captain Clay Smith thanked Somerset for keeping the Cup Match trophy shiny over the last year.

Then without hesitation he graciously accepted it last night at Wellington Oval following a thrilling eight-wicket victory.

In the process Smith made up for last year's loss in Somerset to end the West Enders' stint as champions after just one year.

"Mission accomplished,'' was how a delighted Smith summed up the first victory at Wellington Oval by St. George's since 1969 -- that last win being back in the days of concrete wickets.

Glenn Blakeney's knocks of 79 and 90 not out and the bowling of Herbie Bascome and Gary Brangman played a big part in the victory.

But it was a toss that Smith was clearly happy to win on the first morning and he did not hesitate to send the champions in.

And while his bowlers, especially colts Herbie Bascome and Gary Brangman, exploited the wicket, the same could not be said for Somerset who lacked penetration in their attack.

So much so that captain Dexter Basden chose to give the new ball to his brother Richard in the second innings instead of colt Kevin Hurdle who proved expensive in the first.

Brangman claimed five wickets in the first innings and Bascome four, but it wasn't until the second new ball was taken at 3.47 p.m. on the first day, with Somerset comfortably placed at 169-5 that the match took a sudden turn.

The last five Somerset wickets went down for 11 runs with the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth all falling on 201 in the space of 18 minutes.

Brangman finished with four of them for figures of five for 35 from 17.4 overs. Bascome took four for 66.

High man for Somerset in the first innings was Richard Basden with his fifth Cup Match 50, scoring 61, including 13 fours, in his return to the team after missing last year. Albert Steede scored 41 and captain Dexter Basden 28 as they added 60 for the second wicket in just under two hours. Roger Trott also scored 28.

It was the slow scoring of the first innings that would prove costly for the champions as they allowed no less than nine St. George's bowlers to bowl a total of 39 maidens in their 89.4 overs. By comparison St. George's batted for just 39.5 overs in reducing the Somerset lead to 16 before Smith decided to make a declaration that kept them in sight of victory.

In the St. George's first innings, Blakeney and Arnold Manders helped the team recover from the early loss of Jason Lewis for one with a second wicket stand of 100. That partnership was dominated by the elegant Blakeney who smashed 10 fours and four sixes off 58 balls.

So brutal was he that his first 32 runs came in boundaries, with 28 coming off Hurdle (two fours and two sixes), including 18 in one over as Hurdle was removed from the attack.

Lionel Cann kept it going in the first evening after Blakeney's departure with a dashing 32 which included four sixes and a four.

"Going into the second day we were just going to decide if Dean Minors, Lionel Cann and myself could `get off' on the second day and if we could we were going to try to get a big lead,'' explained captain Smith.

"But when we didn't we decided to declare behind and the game was won in the second innings between Gary, Herbie and Arnold who bowled exceptionally well for us.'' Manders returned his best bowling figures in Cup Match when he claimed five for 30 from 12 overs of spin as Bascome took three for 33 and Brangman two for 36. Of the 20 Somerset wickets to fall, 19 were taken by Bascome, Brangman and Manders with Clay Smith getting the other.

In the second innings the pace pair again exploited the wicket, alternating at the western end while Manders picked up wickets at the other.

Another middle order slump contributed to Somerset's demise as they crashed from 111-3 to 126-9 and were all out with an overall lead of just 154.

Three wickets went down on successive balls as Bascome removed Richard Basden for a duck with the last ball of one of his overs and then Manders claimed two more at the other end to put Somerset in deep trouble at 114-6.

Mission accomplished! From Page 13 This time captain Dexter Basden was high man with 39 from six boundaries while Andre Manders scored 31, opener Treadwell Gibbons 25 and Albert Steede 17. No other Somerset batsmen reached double figures, as to complement his bowling, Manders also picked up two important catches close to the wicket from pop ups to finish with four catches for the match.

St. George's had more than three hours to reach their target, though there was an early scare when Jason Lewis and Manders departed inside the first six overs with just 12 runs on the board.

But the Somerset bowlers failed to find that magic spot outside the batsman's crease which caused the ball to jump or stay low and as a result the home team were able to complete a leisurely stroll to victory as the shadows fell.

This time Clay Smith led from the front, coming in to join Blakeney for an unbroken third wicket stand of 146 two hours and 43 minutes. The first 50 came up in one hour and the 100 in 141 minutes as Blakeney finished with 90 not out, including five sixes and seven fours, and Smith 48 not out off seven fours.

"I told Glenn we had worked hard for it. It was between me and him and I didn't want anyone else to do the job,'' said Smith of his determination to carry the team to victory.

It hasn't been a happy year for Smith who considered quitting the job in the midst of criticism which rarely abated after last year's loss.

"This has been a most frustrating year, but I got it (cup) back and it will be a long time before they (Somerset) get it back again,'' said Smith.

"I would like to thank my wife (Nicole) and kids who have been the most supportive people this year when things got tough.'' Opposing captain Dexter Basden has promised he will be back in the fight again next year at Somerset.

"I had said you would see the best of the St. George's team and they had no choice but to come out and attack,'' said Basden.

"We didn't score enough runs in the first innings. I figured we needed 260, 265 and in the second day that wasn't any runs.

"I take my hat off to Glenn, he had two excellent innings. but I'll be back.

I'm a fighter.'' SCOREBOARD ST.GEORGE'S v SOMERSET St. George's won by eight wickets at Wellington Oval: Somerset first innings A.Steede c Arn.Manders b Bascome 41 T.Gibbons lbw b Brangman 4 D.Basden c Ray b Bascome 28 And.Manders c Brangman b Bascome 7 R.Basden c Blakeney b Brangman 61 D.Leverock c Manders b C.Smith 22 R.Trott c wk Minors b Brangman 28 C.Hill c and b Brangman 0 K.Fubler c Lewis b Bascome 0 H.Durham not out 2 K.Hurdle c sub (Scotland) b Brangman 9 Extras (4-b, 4-lb, 2-nb) 10 Total 212 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-74, 3-88, 4-93, 5-153, 6-201, 7-201, 8-201, 9-201 Bowling: H.Bascome 25-8-66-4; G.Brangman 17.4-11-35-5; L.Cann 10-3-21-0; D.Adams 11-8-6-0; G.Blakeney 2-0-17-0; E.Foggo 8-3-17-0; Arn.Manders 5-2-14-0; M.Ray 5-3-11-0; C.Smith 5-1-17-1 St. George's first innings (overnight 130-3) Arn.Manders c D.Basden b Fubler 24 J.Lewis b Hill 1 G.Blakeney c Durham b Leverock 79 L.Cann c R.Basden b Hurdle 32 D.Minors c Gibbons b Hill 6 C.Smith c R.Basden b Hurdle 15 M.Ray not out 7 G.Brangman not out 19 Extras (7-lb, 3-w, 3-nb) 13 Total (for six wickets declared) 196 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-107, 3-113, 4-140, 5-152, 6-169 Bowling: C.Hill 13.5-2-47-2; K.Hurdle 10-1-72-2; R.Basden 2-0-14-0; K.Fubler 7-1-14-1; H.Durham 4-0-20-0; D.Leverock 3-0-22-1 Somerset second innings A.Steede c Lewis b Brangman 17 T.Gibbons c Manders b Brangman 25 D.Basden c C.Smith b Manders 39 And.Manders st wk Minors b Manders 31 R.Basden c Manders b Bascome 0 D.Leverock c Cann b Bascome 6 R.Trott c wk Minors b Manders 0 C.Hill c Blakeney b Manders 2 K.Fubler c Ray b Manders 3 H.Durham not out 7 K.Hurdle b Bascome 4 Extras (2-b, 3w) 4 Total 138 Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-50, 3-111, 4-114, 5-114, 6-114, 7-122, 8-126, 9-126 Bowling: H.Bascome 13.4-3-33-3; G.Brangman 14-5-36-2; L.Cann 2-0-6-0; D.Adams 5-0-20-0; Arn.Manders 12-3-30-5; E.Foggo 2-0-12-0.

St. George's second innings Arn.Manders lbw b R.Basden 9 J.Lewis c D.Basden b Hill 0 G.Blakeney not out 90 C.Smith not out 48 Extras (1-b, 6-lb, 4-nb) 11 Total (for two wickets) 158 Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-12 Bowling: C.Hill 7-0-33-1; R.Basden 5-2-27-1; K.Fubler 12-2-29-0; H.Durham 3.3-0-17-0; K.Hurdle 3-0-11-0; D.Leverock 9-2-34-0 Toss won by St. George's Umpires: Randy Butler, George Francis First day Lunch -- Somerset 110-4 Somerset's innings closed at 4.50 p.m.

Close of day -- St. George's 130-3 Second day St. George's declared at 11.58 a.m., 16 runs behind Lunch -- Somerset 76-2 Somerset's second innings ended on 138 at 3.51 p.m. with an overall lead of 154 St. George's won by eight wickets with 10.3 of the final 20 overs remaining.

Match finished at 7.27 p.m.

GOING . . . Somerset's Albert Steede gets an edge to a delivery from Herbie Bascome during the first innings with slip fielder Arnold Manders ready to pounce . . .

GOING . . . Manders moves to his left . . .

GONE . . . and takes the catch to dismiss Steede for 41.

DYNAMIC DEBUT -- St. George's colt Herbie Bascome is congratulated by a young fan after snapping up one of his seven wickets during Cup Match. Bascome returned match figures of seven for 99.

CELEBRATION -- St. George's skipper Clay Smith holds aloft the trophy after the East Enders achieved their first Cup Match victory on home soil since 1969.

TRAPPED! -- St. George's fielders celebrate as Treadwell Gibbons is trapped lbw for four off the bowling of Gary Brangman during the first innings.

TOP BAT -- Glen Blakeney will likely be named Cup Match's MVP this week after superb innings of 79 and 90 not out.

TOUGH GOING -- Somerset colt Kevin Hurdle struggled on his Cup Match debut, returning figures of two for 72 in 10 overs in the first innings.