Somerset ended a decade of receiving runners-up medals with a dominant performance to win the Royal London One-Day Cup, defeating Hampshire by six wickets at Lord’s.
As the final brought the curtain down on 56 years of domestic one-day finals at the Home of Cricket, with the competition’s concluding match moving to Trent Bridge next summer, Somerset triumphed to win their first trophy since 2005.
Reigning champions Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat, making 244 for 8. Captain Sam Northeast top-scored with 56 but had it not been for an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 64 between James Fuller, who made an unbeaten 55, and Mason Crane (28 not out), Hampshire’s total would have looked extremely light.
It didn’t matter either way as Somerset got off to a flyer in reply. Tom Banton (69) and Azhar Ali (45) put on 112 for the first wicket and although the pace of Fidel Edwards threatened to force Hampshire back into the game, the West Country outfit never really had to put their foot down in pursuit of the below-par total.
Veteran batsman James Hildreth, who hit the winning runs to secure their last trophy win – the Twenty20 Cup – in 2005, repeated the feat fourteen years later, ending on 69 not out as he guided his side to victory on a perfect day for cricket at Lord’s.