We want to create our own legacy - Tom Abell

“Tom Banton is a phenomenal talent.” - Abell © Getty

Somerset, so often of late the nearly men of county cricket, have finally won one. Their triumph over Hampshire at Lord's in the Royal London One-Day Cup final was their first one-day title since 2001 and their first trophy of any kind for 14 years. But far from this being a culmination of Somerset's recent body of work, Tom Abell, their impressive 25 year-old captain, wants this title to be the start of a dominant run.

In the end, their six-wicket victory over last season's champions was relatively comfortable. Questions about whether Somerset could handle the pressure of a Lord's final, whether they could cope with the pressure of trying to put behind them a number of recent near-misses across all formats, were answered emphatically with a dominant display over Hampshire, the best side in the competition until today. From the first knockings with the ball, Somerset just didn't let Hampshire breath. It was a fine performance.

Although there was an unbeaten half-century from the experienced James Hildreth, perhaps the best county batsman of the last decade not to have played for England, and a useful contribution from Peter Trego with the bat, otherwise this was a victory built on players who are approaching, or are in, the prime of their careers. There is plenty to suggest that this will not be this group of players' last trophy.

Abell, for example, captained sharply and took the vital wicket of Hampshire captain Sam Northeast for 56 when the former Kent man looked as if he might be leading his team to a significant total after they had been reduced to 50-3 in the 13th over after winning the toss and choosing to bat. Jamie Overton, still only 25 and one of the quickest bowlers in the country, took three wickets in the middle overs and was voted player-of-the-match.

Opener Tom Banton, just 20 years of age, took 15 off Fidel Edwards' second over on route to 69 in Somerset's chase, laying down a marker which said there would be no wobbles today. Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory and Josh Davey, all in their mid-to-late 20s, were suffocating with the ball in the early stages and a major reason why Hampshire's batting never got out of second gear. George Bartlett, just 21, was there at the end with Hildreth to see his side home.

For Somerset, these players give hope that this title will be the start of something bigger, the beginning of a period of domination that the squad certainly has the character and talent for. Often the first hurdle is the hardest and now that is out of the way, they can look forward in a different manner. "We were absolutely desperate to win; I'm not going to lie," said Abell.

"I guess it does break the shackles a little bit and now hopefully people will be talking about us as winners as opposed to runners-up. This is a new team. We want to create our own legacy and that started today. We had a huge amount of faith and confidence in our team and in our squad in this competition and going into today was no different. We wanted to try and treat it as another game. The reality obviously is that this was a massive final for us and just delighted to come away with a win today."

The tone for Somerset's victory was set by Overton and Davey with the ball who restricted Hampshire to 43-2 after the first ten overs on what Abell considered a good pitch for batting. "It's always the case in one-day cricket if you can get wickets early you can make it really difficult on the opposition. They've been a really successful side in white ball cricket and got a lot of power up top, so it was important to take early wickets and slow them down through the middle.

"We were able to create a huge amount of pressure and full credit to our bowlers, they asked a lot of questions and didn't give the batters anything. I thought it was a great effort to keep them to 240 on that wicket."

Hampshire were, of course, without James Vince and Liam Dawson, both of whom were playing at the Ageas Bowl for England in their warm-up match against Australia. ICC regulations prevented them for playing for Hampshire in the final and their absence was certainly a factor in the day. Would Somerset have been able to exert such control with the ball if Vince had been opening? Would Dawson have been able to give Northeast more support? We will never know but it is a real shame that both were prevented from playing.

"We were going to need a good start, especially as we decided to play the extra bowler and so one of the lads in the top five or six was going to have to go on and people bat round them," Northeast said. "It just didn't happen. They came out and bowled really well and put us under pressure straight away. We wanted around 280 plus, that was the goal. We came up short and if it wasn't for James Fuller [who made 55 not out], we would have been well short of that."

In contrast to the difficulties Hampshire had with the bat, Banton helped get Somerset off to a flier in the second innings, proving why he is considered one of the brightest talents in the English game. Already, former England captain Michael Vaughan has compared his style of batting to Kevin Pietersen and a sweep shot for four off Mason Crane today was reminiscent of Pietersen against Shane Warne at Lord's on his Test debut in 2005.

"Tom Banton is a phenomenal talent," Abell said. "You've got to just let him play, let him be. He's started thinking a little bit more about his innings as well, so the last few weeks we've started seeing a far more mature version of Bants. He can take the games away from opposition. He's already been talked about with the likes of [Jos] Buttler and [Craig] Kieswetter at Somerset and quite rightly so. He's got that much ability and, on this stage, today, he performed once again."

Banton is part of Somerset's future, part of a squad which is not satisfied with this trophy. They want more. "At the start of the season we obviously set out to win every competition," Abell said. "This was the first one up for grabs and we've managed to do that. It's taken a lot of hard work. The team have been absolutely phenomenal right the way through the competition. Just so pleased we could get over the line today, it means a huge amount to the team and everyone associated with the club."