Chris Adams confident of Surrey success in CB40 final
Last updated on .From the section Cricket
Surrey's ability to handle pressure could be more important than their lack of big match experience in Saturday's CB40 Trophy final against Somerset.
Cricket manager Chris Adams is confident his young team will round off a "magnificent" season by overcoming their underdog status.
"We've got a good thing going, it's the beginning, it's the start, and we can't wait until Saturday," said Adams.
"I have a feeling the outcome is going to be a good one."
On Wednesday Surrey secured promotion from Division Two of the County Championship after winning their last four matches. It completed a remarkable turnaround for the county after winning only four of their first 12 fixtures.
They also finished top of their CB40 group with 10 wins out of 12 before hammering Sussex by 71 runs in the semi-final.
"The performance in the semi-final was sublime, they really impressed myself and many others out there," Adams told BBC London 94.9.
"We've had lots of goodwill messages from supporters and people who are neutral. We know there's no room for error in the final, but we do go in with a great deal of confidence.
"Most people have us down as underdogs, taking on a Somerset side which has played a consistently powerful form of one-day cricket over the last three years but I quite like that - the majority of our side are very young, they haven't experienced something like this before, and I see that as a positive. They're not tarnished by experiences that may not have gone so well."
Adams believes that whatever the result at Lord's, Surrey are at the start of a new era of success.
"I'm really pleased with the group and how it's developing, and it's just the beginning for this team, they'll be together for quite some time, and the thought of what they might achieve together is very exciting," he said.
"It's been a long time, too long, for this club with its great history and expectations to have been away from occasions like this. But that is also a natural cycle in history, there are always downsides, so it's good we appear to be climbing out of what has been a lean period for the club."
