Sports journalists are always told to avoid words like "tragedy" and "disaster". In the wider world, or the real world as it is sometimes called, such words are reserved for plague, pestilence and allied trades. Even so, it is hard to find suitable alternatives to describe the bowling performance of Leicestershire's Scott Boswell.

His name could have been borrowed from a jazz musician (Scott Boswell and his Swingers) but his repertoire in the two overs he bowled was confined to the score of Land of Hope and Glory. "Wider still yet wider" came to mind as the poor chap suffered one of those nerve-numbing moments that this game is all too likely to evoke.

His first over was pretty poor. There were a couple of wides and some searing shots. His second, and last, was unimaginably poor. As he struggled to bowl a legal second ball in the over, it seemed that it might never end. The Laws of Cricket are reasonably comprehensive, but do they accommodate a bowler who simply cannot bowl a legal delivery? In theory, it could have gone on until it got dark, but after eight wides and, therefore, 14 deliveries in total, it mercifully came to an end. So, too, did Boswell's involvement as a bowler in the match.

Unfortunately for Boswell, it was not to be the end of his involvement as a whole. While he contemplated his fate at third man, the ball was run down to within a few yards of him. He moved to his right, dived, but thudded into the turf rather than sliding across it and the ball evaded his outstretched hand, A sod was dislodged from the outfield which, had it been only slightly larger, could have concealed him entirely. He would have no doubt settled for that, while the words "outfield", "sod" and "dislodged" were no doubt running through his captain's mind, though not necessarily in that order.

Meanwhile, the Somerset innings evolved. Confident enough to bat first despite the warnings of history in this fixture, they were 107 for 1 in the 26th over. Shahid Afridi had been widely touted as a potential man-of-the–match for his explosive batting skills. Instead, it was his leg-breaks that very nearly destroyed the innings. Bowler, Blackwell and Cox were all bowled in the space of six overs while a mere 25 were added, and when Vince Wells had the dangerous Michael Burns well held by Darren Maddy on the mid-wicket boundary, Somerset were 176 for 5 with only 18 overs remaining.

But how those overs were utilised by Keith Parsons and Rob Turner. They began with the judicious accumulation of singles and ended with Parsons depositing the last two balls of the innings into the crowd in front of the tavern for a priceless dozen runs.

So much now depended on Afridi. At his best he might have had Leicestershire collecting the trophy, celebrating and still getting a way up the M1 before it was dark. He had scored all the 20 runs on the board in the fourth over, which had included three boundaries, when he swung once more, the ball rose skywards and descended into the gloves of wicket-keeper Turner.

Trevor Ward did his best to fill Afridi's boots, sprinkling his 54 with ten boundaries before Parsons bowled him, and Wells followed with 111 on the board. Where was that noted West Country upholder of susperstition, David Shepherd, when he was needed? With Ben Smith and Darren Maddy following, the fifth wicket fell in the 32nd over, but Leicestershire's position was 20 runs poorer than Somerset's. Before that deficit had been erased, another wicket had fallen, and then it was downhill with the wind behind and a brick in the front for Somerset. There was a brief flurry before the last man was out for two. It had to be Boswell who was out to complete a miserable day for him and his side.

During the Ashes series, the spirit of Botham in 1981 was invoked many a time. At Lord's, the ghost of the Botham, Garner, Richards era was laid as Somerset took their first title since the predecessor of this competition was won in 1983.

© CricInfo Ltd.