After the tightest finish imaginable to the Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, emotions were running high. In the Warwickshire camp, with the prospect of a Lord's final on June 22nd against Essex, there was jubilation. The home dressing room was an altogether more sombre place.

Warwickshire's Neil Smith, who played a vital role with bat and ball, might be coming up to his 35th birthday, but he had all the enthusiasm of a teenager as he reflected on an epic contest, won when Neil Carter swept the last ball for four.

"What a game, really exciting. It swung both ways throughout - but we just did it in the end," said Smith. "We got the early wickets, but then they got a stand together. Then it was the same story through our innings as well. They bowled well, and we kept losing wickets at the wrong time.

"But we bat right down. Neil opened on Sunday, and there he is batting number 11 here. But he proved he was up to it. We knew if we could get it down to 30 or so to win with five or six overs left we would be pretty close. In the end we were right, and Neil finished it off for us."

On the other side, Lancashire's cricket manager, Mike Watkinson, had to accept different emotions. "It was one of those days where you think you have a good fighting chance, but a wicket here or a partnership on the other side keeps making one team and then the other the favourite.

"You can't start saying we lost it off the last ball any more than we lost it off the first. There was no difference between the teams really. It was neck and neck all the way.

"They need three runs to win off the last ball. There is a very fine line in this game between success and failure. If he had bottom-edged it on to his boot we would have been jumping up and down. But he gets it down to fine leg for four, and for us it is the opposite emotion."

Watkinson would have liked his team to have had the opportunity to show their worth at Lord's. "It would have been nice to have gone one stage further - but it is not to be. You cannot knock the character and fighting spirit of this team, and today was no exception.

"There are some extremely disappointed people in that dressing room, but they will come back and play some good cricket in the games ahead," he added.

© CricInfo