Expectations are high that tomorrow's C&G final at Lord's could provide a spectacular climax to the English domestic season.

Both Somerset and Leicestershire are in prime form and boast exciting strokemakers - none more so than Pakistan international Shahid Afridi.

He replaced Daniel Marsh as Leicestershire's overseas player when the Australian was injured mid-season and since then Afridi has flayed attacks all over the country.

In the previous two rounds of the competition, he smacked 67 off 44 balls against Worcestershire and 95 from 58 deliveries in the semi-final against Lancashire.

Leicestershire coach Jack Birkenshaw is delighted with his mid-season acquisition. "We're all very excited about what he could do in the final because if he comes off, it could be sensational," enthused Birkenshaw.

"Even I've been surprised at the impact he's had. What I'd like to see happening is that after 15 overs I'd like him to just nudge the ball around for ones and twos and if he did that you'd have the best one-day player in the world.

"If he could do that, there is no telling how good a cricketer he could be. You see glimpses of that happening, but if there's any banter directed towards him he wants to smack them out of the ground."

Labelled a "free spirit" when Birkenshaw first approached Pakistan about his availability three years ago only for international commitments to prevent any possible deal, his attacking nature is not only restricted to his flamboyant batting style.

"Everything he does is at speed - his bowling, batting, everything," explained Birkenshaw. "If he could just calm himself down he could be sensational.

"He experiments a bit too much with his bowling, but he could become a very fine leg-spin bowler. He has a fast bowling mentality when he's bowling and he doesn't like getting hit.

"He gets faster and faster and he even bounces the batsman at times; he's got to realise that spin bowlers do get smashed a bit at times and he'll have to come to terms with that.

"I've been surprised at some of the shots he's played and the distance he hits the ball - you don't want to be doing throw-downs to him because it's frightening and I gave that up a while ago."

But Birkinshaw is guarding against relying on his overseas player too much in the final -so much so, that he has budgeted on Afridi being out without scoring against Somerset to try and focus the rest of the team on the need for them to grab their chance and seal Leicestershire's first ever triumph in the various guises of this competition.

He said: "There's a danger of relying on him too much and that mustn't happen. He's got us to the final and just about won every match he's played in, but you can't expect him to go out there and get a half-century off 20 balls in every match he plays.

"We hope he does it, but there are a lot of players in our side who are capable of winning the match and we have to make sure they don't turn off."

Somerset are only too well aware of the dangers posed by Afridi - he has made runs against them in two National Leages matches this season but Somerset have won them both.

Captain Jamie Cox said: "Obviously we need to get him out or the game gets away from us.

"We don't want to spend too much time worrying about him; they've got a lot of other quality players.

"Spend too much time worrying about him and you may find a Trevor Ward or a Vince Wells or someone like that punishes us.

"Obviously we'll be hoping to get him out quite early, if he doesn't, we've seen him come off in the last couple of National League games which we've managed to win.

"And he's yet to face Caddick and Johnson, so he's got a totally different attack to contend with it, an international attack with good pace and bounce.

"I'm hoping that's going to make a hell of a difference in the way he plays, and the way that we can contain him."

Somerset reached this stage in 1999, then the NatWest Trophy, but Gloucestershire were on their amazing role of Lord's final triumphs, and Cox's men lost the showpiece match.

"We've learned a lot from that. It took us a long time to settle and we didn't really get back into the game," added Cox.

"Over 100 overs in a match a lot of things can happen, and if you manage to get most of the twists go your way, you should be okay."

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