SOMERSET had to settle for second place in the County Championship after they watched their hopes being dashed at Lord’s the day after they beat Notts at the County Ground in their final match, writes Richard Walsh.

The Cidermen sat proudly at the top of the blue riband event- the only title they have never won after their three day drubbing of Notts while at headquarters Middlesex and Yorkshire were contriving a finish- much to the anger and disappointment of west country fans.

Going into the final day the game was going nowhere and it wasn’t until early afternoon when Yorkshire introduced their joke bowlers into the attack to set what was suspected to be a pre-arranged total did things start to move.

The problem for Somerset was that if either of the sides at Lord’s won then they would be deposed from top spot and that is exactly what happened as it was Middlesex who triumphed.

Somerset’s two senior statesmen captain Chris Rogers and Marcus Trescothick were both bitterly disappointed at the end of a day when they have had to watch Middlesex snatch the championship pennant away from Somerset, who had to settle for second place.

Reflecting on the season overall Rogers said: “We have played some fantastic cricket and to go up and thump Yorkshire at their place, nobody does that so that was a very special moment. But naturally we’re disappointed that it didn’t go our way but in the end we can say we did a lot of good things.

“I am very proud of the way that we have played and I think they guys can be happy with that. When Somerset ended in second place back in 2010 Trescothick was skipper so how did he feel this time around?

“It’s a pain in the backside to come second again and it feels just the same as it did last time. Its been such a difficult day, it was different the last time we did it because we were playing all day so this one has been very strange having to sit around and watch it all on television.

“We got so close and thought that we had a very good chance but it wasn’t to be.”