Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick was left with a familiar feeling of disappointment after his side again fell short on Friends Life t20 finals day.
The Cidermen finished as runners-up in the Twenty20 tournament in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and were desperate to end their run of near misses in Cardiff. But this time they failed even to make the showpiece, losing to Hampshire by six wickets in the second semi-final with an over to spare.
"It's dreadful," said former England opener Trescothick. "There's so much time and effort that goes in, so much dedication and practice, blood, sweat and tears behind the scenes, and you keep putting yourself in the position to be shot down. At the moment we're not quite achieving what we believe we can do. We put a lot of work in behind the scenes and we've just not got it right (on the pitch)."
Somerset were sent in to bat first and made a below-par 125 for six, England one-day wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter shouldering the burden with 63 not out in 58 balls.
The rest of the batting order, including Trescothick (12), misfired and, despite a disciplined bowling performance, they could not make sufficient inroads into an experienced Hampshire line-up.
Despite another finals day defeat, Trescothick does not believe his side are far away from changing their luck.
"We'll continue to work hard and at some point we'll get it right," he added.
"We need a bit of time to think about what we've done but we're a club based on a lot of hard work. We're a small club and it's small things that we do, but we are good at what we do.
"We just need to get a little bit better."
