Three times the bridesmaid

The English cricket season came to a thrilling close this week. Sportsmen often quote the adage that 'nobody ever remembers who finishes second'. However, surely this season will live long in the memory, as Somerset have finished as 'bridesmaid' on three separate occasions this season, twice within a matter of days.

Knock-out competitions, by their very nature, often culminate in a thrilling finale fought out by two teams that have battled through adversity over several months to both be within touching distance of the prize.

However, the English (Cricket) County Championship went one better with three teams all with an excellent opportunity to win the title, the race for which started way back in early April. Entering the final round of matches Nottinghamshire, who have topped the table for most of the season, led Somerset by two points, with Yorkshire a further three points behind them.

To add to the intrigue, all three matches were played in the North of England with the lowest placed team of the three, Yorkshire, the only one to benefit from a home tie. On paper, at least, they also faced the easiest tie, against a lowly-placed Kent team struggling for form. Somerset were facing mid-table Durham while Notts had the toughest opponents, playing Lancashire at Old Trafford, their own Championship hopes having only been technically extinguished the week before.

All games were rain-affected although to differing degrees with Somerset best-placed at the end of the first day of four.

Day 2 saw more rain fall over Manchester, effectively washing out Notts hopes. Indeed, so much rain fell that Notts also lost most of the third day. On the fourth and final day they had two options. The first was to try to negotiate a contrived result with joke bowling, set Lancashire a target and hope to bowl them out.

Meanwhile, Somerset, having finished off Durham, acquired maximum batting points on a green wicket at Chester-le-Street and, starting the fourth day, were looking to polish off the Durham tail for the second time and leave themselves enough time for the win and their first ever County Championship, the only title to have eluded them in their 135-year history. Yorkshire were also well-placed having nine wickets in hand, leaving prospects of a win wide open.

However, that changed within the first 40 minutes of the final day as Yorkshire imploded, losing all their remaining wickets, seven of them to James Tredwell who took a hat-trick in the process. Kent managed to raise hopes among the home supporters as they took their turn to bat poorly, losing six wickets before reaching their target, leaving Yorkshire out of the running.

Meanwhile, Somerset were struggling to break down an obdurate Durham tail-end and left themselves a challenging total of 181 from 17 overs. However, as T20 finalists they fancied their chances and a flurry of early boundaries from captain Marcus Trescothick kept them in the hunt.

But, the loss of his wicket along with that of Craig Kieswetter left them to settle for a draw and the possibility of missing out on their 'Holy Grail'. All eyes turned to Old Trafford and Nottinghamshire's fortunes.

Now, needing maximum batting points, Notts were frustrated by another delayed start, chasing a total of 400 as quickly as possible, started well with Samit Patel providing the flair and perfect counterfoil to Australian Adam Voges's steady accumulation of runs.

However, with both returned to the 'hutch' Notts needed a further 10 runs with only the last wicket pair of Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson. With the title hanging on their performance, they made it, nurdling singles, meaning they now needed, with word of Somerset's draw filtering through, three Lancashire wickets in 18 overs to win the title.

It took less than five overs as Sidebottom and Andre Adams rattled through the top order.

Notts won the title, for the first time since 2005, pipping Somerset over six months and 16 games, not by virtue of gaining more points, but by the fact they won seven games to Somerset's six. Both teams finished level on 214 points.

This was some redemption for Notts who missed out in the final game of last season in two competitions.

However, Somerset has gone one better this season managing to miss out, in the cruelest of fashions, on all three major trophies. Having missed out to Notts, and earlier in the season to Hampshire in the T20, Somerset had the chance to resurrect their season in the Lord's climax of the Clydesdale Bank 40.

Somerset made a solid start with Trescothick hitting boundaries although the main impetus came from Compton and Hildreth.

However, with Imran Tahir changing ends, they capitulated to a disappointing 199 all out.

Ian Bell's well-timed innings of 107 in only 95 balls saw Warwickshire steadily eat into their target. Despite falling one run short of victory, Bell helped his team ease past Somerset's total for the loss of seven wickets and an over to spare, earning himself an England recall in the process.

Somerset now have to hope that they can follow Notts' positive approach to their disappointment by building on this relative success to spur them on next season. However, be warned of the adage, three times the bridesmaid ...