In jubilation and despair, Essex and Somerset's emotions paint a familiar picture

NICK HOWSON AT LORD'S: While Essex can celebrate a third first-class trophy in four seasons, Somerset are left as runners-up again. Both sides know the feeling well

• Somerset v Essex - Day five talking points
• Essex win Bob Willis Trophy as Somerset are left frustrated again

If Tom Abell could hear the Essex celebrations while he was attempting to process Somerset's latest first-class failure, then his performance in ignoring the euphoria was as good as any produced by the Taunton club this season. Many of Abell's eloquent replies to questions from the assembled media were drowned out by the noise from the Essex dressing room at Lord's - a metaphor for how despite their best efforts the Cidermen have not yet fully found their voice in this form of the game.

The emotions emerging from the red-ball showcase are familiar for both sides. After all, the defacto title decider last season ended in similar circumstances after another rain-affected match. Essex have claimed the premier red-ball title available for a third time in four seasons. Somerset, off the back of six runners-up finishers in the County Championship, are left to consider another second place in the longer format. Neither club needs any introduction to the jubilation or despair that follows.

Abell only broke into the Somerset first team in 2014 and took over as skipper three years later, but has already been part of three second place finishes in the Championship. Only 26 and with a young homegrown team around him, it will be up to him and coach Jason Kerr to convince the squad they can go again come what may in 2021. To make their task all the more difficult, the season could start with a 12-point deduction which was deferred for this term.

"It adds fuel to the fire but the fire is burning pretty deep within everyone, to be honest," said the local boy. "Coming so close a number of times we certainly feel like it is within touching distance. We feel if we play the brand of cricket we've been playing we will come out on top. 

^{Sir Alastair Cook finished as the season's highest run-scorer, with 563 across six games}

"As tough as it is to take we've got to trust what we do. There are positive things to come out of this season. Some guys have really stepped up and shown how good they are. Over the course of a Championship season, the best team will often prevail. I thought it was a tight contest but ultimately we've just come up short."

He added: "Obviously the emotions of today are still raw. We're gutted. But equally, we've got to draw on the positives. The way the lads played has been fantastic and bodes well for us moving forward. We'll have some time off now and reflect. There is no shortage of ambition and desire to come back.

"Obviously we want to be winning competitions and we still feel like there is room for improvement. We can still develop as a side and that is exciting. We've been pipped by Essex the last couple of years and we want to change that. We want to win these games and competitions."

Normally, Essex captain Tom Westley would have the biggest challenge ahead of next term. This is a group of players with little left to achieve. Coupled with their red-ball dominance they won last season's T20 Blast to complete the first double of its type. They haven't lost a multi-day game for 18 months.

And yet, success only appears to galvanise them further. Sir Alastair Cook and Simon Harmer epitomise that insatiable appetite better than anyone. One is England's all-time run-scorer who finished with more runs than anyone this season, a display punctuated by a first innings century in this game. The other is the best spinner in the country who is the leading wicket-taker for a second consecutive campaign.

^{Essex's lifted their third red-ball trophy in four years}

As for the man that glues all of Essex's talented parts together, Anthony McGrath is very much the man in the middle. He has built on Chris Silverwood's success, uniting a dressing room of players young and old - described as friends on and off the field - and bowled over everyone in the process.

Westley agrees. "For me having been at Essex for a number of years now, not to take any credit away from previous coaches, I think Anthony McGrath has been integral to our success," he said. "When he was assistant coach with Silvers they were a fantastic pairing but he has been able to gather us as a side like I have never seen in previous years. I'd attribute a lot of the success to him. 

"The way that Tendo (former skipper Ryan ten Doeschate, who stepped down in January) took over the captaincy and the character he's shown, the morals, the way he leads from the front there was a culture shift for us as a club: backing our own and giving us that confidence that we can be the best team in the country. To create that that belief that we could be the best team, a lot of credit should go to those guys."

There is some irony that after a season the likes of which we will probably never seen again, that things are mostly as they were at the start of the campaign. Essex are on top. Somerset are left wondering. Some things never change.

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