AFTER the longest day of the season came almost as long a night of celebration.

But as Mike Yardy and his players painted Birmingham Sussex blue on Saturday night it was in the knowledge that in the space of a year they have transformed themselves from a team who had forgotten how to win limited overs matches to the best one-day team in the country.

Eight of the side concluded a miserable Twenty20 campaign in 2008, when Sussex only won twice in ten matches, were on the podium on Saturday as the Sharks celebrated a comprehensive 63 runs win over Somerset in the final.

During their long winter debates about how to take Sussex forward in the post-Chris Adams era, coach Mark Robinson and skipper Mike Yardy identified the players and formulated the plans they felt could help Sussex build on last season's unexpected Pro40 success.

The Sharks may have lacked teeth at Lord’s three weeks ago but it was still their second 50 over final in three years while they are on course to retain the 40-over title.

But this was the big one, not just in terms of completing a full set of domestic honours during Sussex’s golden era but also the massive rewards which could be theirs after qualifying for the Champions League when the world’s 12 best Twenty20 teams compete for a £3.6m pot of gold in India in October.

True, the vast majority of those riches will be shared out by the semi-finalists but merely taking part will be huge in terms of raising the profile of Sussex cricket. For that reason alone Saturday was the most important day in the club’s history after their first County Championship in 2003.

And what about the players themselves? Talent-spotters from the Indian Premier League franchises will be swarming around the Champions League.

The sky really is the limit for Yardy and his players but after Saturday they should fear no one in India, not even the megastar IPL teams.

They certainly proved worthy domestic champions, easing past Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the semi-final with far more comfort than the fact they had only two balls to spare might suggest.

After all of his bowlers had given Yardy control in the field to restrict the Steelbacks to 136-6, Murray Goodwin led Sussex to a seven-wicket win with a masterly 80 from 67 balls. The Sharks outplayed their opponents with an ominous assurance but it turned out that was just a warm-up.

Somerset, surprise but deserved winners over Kent in the other semi, were simply blown away as Sussex produced the best performance I have ever seen from them in seven years of Twenty20. It was pretty near faultless apart from the comical run-out involving Rory Hamilton-Brown and Luke Wright which cost Wright his wicket.

That only brought Dwayne Smith to the crease to produce a display of magnificent hitting that has not been bettered in seven finals days.

Smith actually played himself in, scoring ten runs off his first ten balls, before a calculated onslaught brought him his next 49 runs off just 16 deliveries.

There was not a lot Somerset captain Justin Langer could do apart from place his fielders in the crowd as Smith smashed seven fours and three sixes with Ben Phillips’' medium pace disappearing for 18 in the 12th over.

The shame for the 20,000 full house was that it came to an end but Chris Nash and Yasir Arafat ensured the momentum was maintained with 46 off 30 balls together and Somerset were left to chase 173 – the biggest winning target in finals day history.

Early wickets, and one in particular, were the key and James Kirtley came up with it.

Having seen Marcus Trescothick slice his previous delivery effortlessly over extra cover for six, Kirtley bravely persisted in taking pace off the ball and Trescothick skied the next to deep extra where Rory Hamilton-Brown took the game-defining catch.

When Yasir Arafat cleaned up Justin Langer two overs later it was time for good old Sussex by the Sea. Again.

Somerset’s last six wickets crumbled in 19 balls as Yardy and leg-spinner Will Beer had exerted a mid-innings stranglehold and shortly after 10pm, Yardy and his players were starting a long-night of champagne-soaked celebration.

Reaching the Champions League is a fantastic bonus. What Sussex really wanted was the trophy itself.

The trick now is to build a dynasty in one-day cricket as successful and lasting as that they enjoyed in the Championship.

If this squad stays together there is no reason why they should not.`