Imran Tahir is confident spin can be a key factor in his Hampshire Hawks side lifting the Friends Provident Trophy on Saturday against Sussex Sharks.

The Hawks, who lifted the trophy in 2005 but were crushed in a one-sided final two years later, will take on the Sharks who are five-time winners of the flagship one-day tournament.

And the much-travelled spin king, who played a key hand in Hampshire reaching the final, is confident his side have the talent and know-how to lift the trophy at the end of his first Lords final.

How could you doubt him? Don't panic, Graeme Swann said on Sunday evening, don't be English and panic!

Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke may have batted like the ghosts of Gilchrist and Waugh (the gifted Mark, not his pragmatic twin) through the afternoon, but Australia still needed a mighty 209 more runs yesterday. No chance, not with Andrew Flintoff steaming in with a nearly new ball.

As Swann predicted, Flintoff duly boiled and steamed from the Pavilion End, banking on the lower order to give way before his dodgy knee. Without the spin bowler at the other end, that may have been a close-run thing. Swann claimed the most important wicket, deceiving Clarke with his second ball, and finished the job by knocking out Mitchell Johnson's middle stump. But for Flintoff's projection, he would be taking the plaudits today.

Swann is not one of life's natural second fiddlers. He likes the spotlight, literally when he sings as Dr Comfort with his band, the Lurid Revelations. Andrew Strauss described him as great company for 15 minutes. He is a funny man with a rich bank of tales honed for whoever the audience. Many are true. If Ed Smith was a good cricketer but a better writer, then Swann's true gift as an after-dinner speaker will also be realised after retirement.