Victorious Somerset captain Albert Steede was in a jubilant mood as he held the Cup Match trophy aloft at Wellington Oval last night, praising the “allround excellence” of his side and vigorously defending the decision to bat for more than 90 overs on the first day.

There had been some mutterings of discontent among St. George's management, as well as some commentators and spectators, who argued that by batting for so long, Somerset had killed the game as a spectacle.

But Steede made no apologies for his decision, claiming that he had had every right to bat for as long as he wanted, having been put in to bat, and insisted that in pure cricketing terms the decision was the right one.

“St. George's won the toss and elected to bowl on a wicket that everyone thought would encourage sideways movement,” he said.

“In the end it did not and batting first ended up being a blessing in disguise. Once we realised the wicket was so flat, our strategy was to bat St. George's out of the game, exhaust them in the field and then try to take as many wickets as possible in just over a day's play,” explained Steede.

“Declaring early was not an option. Remember, they put us in and the onus was on them to bowl us out if they wanted to win the cup.”

On the subject of the placid pitch, Steede agreed that the odds had been stacked far too heavily in favour of the batsmen. However, he flatly rejected the premise that the match had been dull as a result.

“We were all very surprised by the wicket. It had not been played on all season and it was very, very green. Still, it turned out to be too flat and in my opinion had been left with far too much grass on it, which meant it did not break up at all - even late on the second day,” he said.

“I do not think there would have been a result whoever won the toss. It was still an entertaining match though. Both teams batted remarkably well and there was some awesome strokeplay on display. Plenty of records were broken as well which was excellent for the players and the spectators.”

The Somerset skipper reserved most of his praise, however, for the two debutants in his side, Western Stars team- mates Jermaine Postlethwaite and Saleem Mukuddem. Both, he said, had demonstrated remarkable maturity in dealing with the immense pressure and expectation surrounding Bermuda's annual cricketing showpiece.

“The colts did extremely well. They are both very experienced cricketers already and coped very well in the circumstances. It is never easy walking out in front of a packed house in your first Cup Match but both did so with ease. Their class has shone through over the last two days and I am very pleased for them.”

South African Mukuddem, who broke the record for the highest Cup Match score as a colt with an untroubled, almost chanceless 106 not out, commented afterwards that the wicket was one of the flattest he had ever encountered in Bermuda and agreed that for both sides, bowling was a thankless task on such a featherbed.

“Once your were in, batting out there was incredibly easy. The wicket was rock hard and true, and provided you got in line, were patient and kept the ball on the ground, it was straightforward.

“Still, I felt pretty good out there and was pleased with a few of the shots I came up with. I'm glad and somewhat relieved that I reserved one of my better knocks for such a big game!”