Eugene “Buck” Woods and Calvin “Bummy” Symonds, the oldest surviving Somerset and St George’s Cup Match players, have hailed the champions’ record-breaking triumph over St George’s in the Annual Classic.

Somerset defeated the challengers by an innings and 90 runs at Somerset Cricket Club to eclipse the previous record for the largest victory in Cup Match of an innings and 66 runs achieved by St George’s in 1962.

“I wish to congratulate Somerset for their biggest win in Cup Match and thought Terryn Fray did a good job as captain, supported strongly by the people he had around him,” Woods, 92, told The Royal Gazette.

“I thought that he made decisions at the right time. You have to have a thinker on the team and I think he did an admirable job.”

Symonds, the oldest surviving St George’s Cup Match player, who led the East Enders to their innings victory in 1962, also hailed Somerset’s success.

“You have to congratulate Somerset for a job well done because they earned it. They played for it and got something going for themselves,” Symonds, 94, said.

Somerset posted 391 all out after electing to bat and received solid contributions throughout their batting order, with Malachi Jones (79 not out) and vice-captain Dominic Sabir (67) leading the charge at the crease.

“When Somerset went to bat they lost their captain in the first over but tactically they played extremely well,” said Woods, who made five appearances for Somerset in Cup Match in the 1950s.

“A lot of the players put their head down and they were able to sustain any attack that St George’s had. I actually thought that Malachi was going to make a hundred while Dominic Sabir was also pivotal in his batting to help Somerset rise to the score that they got.”

Spinners Derrick Brangman (eight for 72) and Dion Stovell (seven for 67) then claimed 15 of the 20 St George’s wickets between them as the challengers were dismissed for 113 in their first innings and 188 in their second after Somerset enforced the follow-on.

“The way Dion Stovell and Derrick Brangman bowled changed the whole complex of the game because they got wickets at a pivotal time and St George’s was unable to withstand that spin attack,” said Woods, who played professional cricket in England during stints with Penzance County and Devon County.

“That gave Somerset so much confidence that they were able to pull it off.”

Somerset still managed to pull off the landslide victory despite the loss of 4hr and 20min of play at the start of the opening day.

“Losing all that time I thought it might end up in a draw and then as the game went on I realised it was possible that if Somerset got on top of St George’s, we may have a win. But my expectations was not a 2 to 1,” Woods said.

Ironically, some 4hr and 25min of play were also lost as a result of rain during the 1962 Cup Match, in which St George’s recorded what up until this year had been the largest victory under the captaincy of Symonds.

There have been nine innings victories in Cup Match to date, with St George’s achieving the feat five times and Somerset four.

St George’s became the first to win by an innings in 1926 and repeated that feat in 1961, 1962, 1965 and 1967.

“The St George’s team that I led in the 1960s was very talented, disciplined and courageous,” Symonds said.

“We had four 2-to-1 victories and always batted first; win the toss, you go to bat first.

“In 1959 we lost the cup in St George’s and in 1960 we went to Somerset and won it back — and it started from there.”

Somerset’s first innings victory came in 1942 and was repeated in 1948, 2018 and 2026.

Woods grew up watching Somerset play Cup Match at the old Royal Naval Field in the 1940s and later had the pleasure to play alongside some of their players.

“I knew some of the players as a youngster. They had people like Austin “Toes” Simons, Nigel “Choppa” Hazel, Lloyd Simmons, Winton “Timmy” Edwards, Nathaniel Proctor and Wendell “Woodgate” Simmons,” said Woods, the first Willow Cuts player to play for Somerset in Cup Match.

“They had a very good team and I had the opportunity to play with Lloyd Simmons, who is Randy Horton’s uncle, and Nathaniel Proctor.

“Those matches were played at the Royal Naval Field and it was always a family atmosphere and a joyous occasion. They played on concrete with coconut matting, which was pretty true.”