Somerset go into the final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy against Leicestershire on Saturday buoyed by three successive wins in the Norwich Union National League.

Somerset will be at full strength for the final which means that the starting line-up for the match will include their two England stars Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick, as well as Steffan Jones and Peter Bowler who were both rested from the victory over Northants Steelbacks on Thursday evening.

Despite beating Leicestershire twice recently in the National League Somerset coach Kevin Shine is not under-estimating the opposition. He told CricInfo: "They are the form team in the white ball competition, and are a good aggressive side.

"Their danger man is Shahid Afridi; he can turn a game, as we have seen in both of our matches against them. However, we have Caddick, Johnson and Jones at Lord's, which will be one of the better attacks that he has faced.

"We have watched him play on video and have some ideas of how we will cope with him."

Shine added: "They are a good side and bat all the way down. Trevor Ward is a good batter, along with Ben Smith and Darren Maddy. Vince Wells, their skipper, is a good all-rounder, and they have got Jimmy Ormond who made his England debut last week."

For Somerset captain Jamie Cox this will be the second time he has led the team out to a Lord's final in three years. Last time in 1999 he was bitterly disappointed to lose to arch rivals Gloucestershire, and will be going all out to rectify the situation on Saturday.

He said: "I'm really looking forward to the final because it is an opportunity to play in a big match. We have hit a run of good form, and we are confident of beating them. We are going into the game expecting to win, and if we play like we know we can play then we will win."

Looking out across the County Ground, the 31-year-old Tasmanian, who has agreed to come back to Taunton next season continued: "I've played in four finals altogether and each time have been on the losing side so I'm due a win. If we win on Saturday it will be the biggest occasion in my cricketing career."

Shine concluded: "These are exciting days at the club and we have had some good results, but the test of the team is to maintain that form. We have always threatened and teased, but this year we are starting to deliver."

Certainly all of those fans from the south-west who make the long journey to Lord's will be hoping that Somerset can deliver on Saturday to end the 18-year trophy famine.

Team: Jamie Cox, Marcus Trescothick, Peter Bowler, Mike Burns, Keith Parsons, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Ian Blackwell, Richard Johnson, Andy Caddick, Steffan Jones. 12th man Jamie Grove.

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