Match champions St. George's in to bat first after winning the toss appeared to be the right decision.

And had the challengers held their catches, they might have come closer to pulling off an upset, having had the holders 56-3 and then 128-6 by mid-afternoon on the first day.

A stand of 56 between captain Graham Fox and Lionel Cann shifted the balance of the match and when the east enders were finally out for 246 at 4.38 they had played themselves into a strong position.

"We won the toss and I don't regret going to field,'' said captain Dexter Basden on reflection.

"Believe it or not you have to really look at the six catches that were put down...even with half a chance you have to take them. That's the only way to win.'' Shannon Warner missed four chances that should have been taken, including three inside an hour off Glenn Smith.

"This was probably the most catches I've seen dropped in one innings,'' said St. George's opener Wendell Smith on the morning of the second day. He was also referring to the chances put down by his own team on the first day.

"Dropped catches cost both teams. We could have had Albert, their key batsman, and they missed Glenn Smith and who knows what might have happened.'' Smith sympathised with Warner, playing only his second Cup Match, as the ball seemed to follow him around the field, from the covers to long-on to slips.

"I think every cricketer experiences a day like that, when your confidence goes and you hope the ball doesn't come to you,'' said Smith.

"Someone told me once if you have never dropped a catch you have never played cricket. I just hope he bounced back from it.'' Somerset's failure to maintain some quick scoring by Steede and Jeff Richardson in the first hour of the second morning enabled St. George's to seize the upper hand again after Steede was third out on 172 and Richardson followed a half hour later to make it 214-4.

That quickly became 229-7 as Clevie Wade picked up a couple of quick wickets and Somerset had to eventually settle for a lead of just 17.

More importantly, much time had been taken in scoring the runs before Basden declared at lunch.

Former Somerset captain and now part time commentator, Randy Horton, criticised Basden's decision not to send in Roger Blades after Richardson departed.

"I didn't want to send him too early,'' said Basden. "If we go after the runs and lose him who else is down there to attack the ball. My strategy was to save Blades for the last 30 minutes of our batting.'' "Horton was made to eat his words after also criticising the selection of spinner Kevin Fubler who responded with four wickets for 54 on his debut in the first innings.

"The wicket played easy, more suited for spin bowlers,'' said the captain.

"My spinner Kevin Fubler was great, they said I shouldn't have taken him, especially commentator Randy Horton, but it shows there were all wrong because he took five wickets (1-37 in second innings). Can you imagine him with another year in and a bit more experience?'' Not surprisingly, St. George's captain Graham Fox made sure his team had reached a position of safety before declaring with 15 minutes plus the final 20 overs remaining. The target of 236 was always going to be beyond the challengers, especially after they lost Jeff Richardson with just 36 on the board and Steede when the score was 64.

"I figured we had a chance but Jeff and Albert were the key,'' said Basden.

"Those are the hardest hitting guys in the team.

"Once Jeff got out early, and we didn't have 100 on the board, it was pretty difficult and when Albert left that was it. I can hit the ball but what was the sense of throwing away my wicket. I tried to hit a six here and there but you can't please everybody.

"They have the cup and they were not going to throw out a challenge like I did last year. I say 200 runs, or 190...it would have been a good game then. But we were not going to just go out and lose the game stupidly.'' Said St. George's captain Graham Fox: "They talk about us not putting in a challenge, but we tried to play positive cricket.

They had spinners who took advantage of the wicket and bowled well but we had to hang around and occupy the wicket. If chances had been taken wickets could have fallen cheap and we could have lost the match. The catches we dropped were more vital.'' Steede admitted it was always a battle against time trying to chase the winning target. In the end they got in just three overs before the compulsory final 20 overs.

"If we had another 45 minutes it would have been a great challenge but it was always a difficult challenge with 15 minutes plus 20 overs,'' said Steede.

"I thought we played admirably considering they batted such a long time in the first innings.'' Steede, for his 89 in the first innings and 35 in the second, is likely to win the MVP award which has been won by a Somerset player -- Anthony Amory in 1989 -- just once since its inception in 1982.

Also expected to be considered is Dexter Smith of St. George's for his 34 in the first innings and 51 in the second, batting for much of the time with a forearm injury after being hit by a rising delivery from Rodney Fubler in the first hour of the match which forced him to retire for 39 minutes.

Other notable achievements were Jeff Richardson's 54 in the first innings and 16 in the second while Graham Fox rescued his team in the first innings with 49.

Lionel Cann scored 34 in the first innings and 39 not out in the second while in the bowling Kevin Fubler took four wickets in the first innings for Somerset and David Adams of St. George's had three in each innings for match figures of six for 125 from 35 overs, including 25 unchanged in the first innings.

CUP MATCH MVP? -- Albert Steede (right) was a sparkplug for Somerset.