MATT Mason says victory for Worcestershire Rapids in tomorrow’s Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final at Somerset (11am) will help them shake off their perennial “underdog” tag.

The hosts will be made strong favourites after winning the South Group and also challenging strongly for honours in Specsavers County Championship Division One.

But assistant coach Mason has complete faith in Rapids to “mix it with the big boys” and points to their success already in toppling a quartet of Test ground-playing sides in Yorkshire, Durham, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire.

He said: “We have had the underdog tag in a lot of the competitions we have played in over the years.

“It would be good for us to beat a team like Somerset because we can shake that tag off as a lot of our lads won’t see ourselves as underdogs.

“I think our guys believe they can mix it with anybody on a given day. We can’t always hide behind the fact we are a young side or underdogs.

"We need to start shaking those tags off and actually start performing all the time and more consistently.

“That will come with experience — and experiencing days like this quarter-final.”

Mason says such occasions as a packed house at Taunton will be a “really good learning curve” for the County’s young squad.

He said: “With white-ball cricket, anything can happen on a given day. We have shown this year we can beat the big sides, like we did with Yorkshire and Durham.

“We can definitely mix it with the big lads. It is about making sure when we turn up on the day, we play our best cricket and give ourselves the best chance.

“Somerset are pretty strong at home but we have had success against them in the past. Our guys are young and enthusiastic and are really excited about this quarter-final.

“We are certainly not worried about going down there. If anything, we are looking forward to it.

“A few of the lads played in the T20 quarter-final last year but in terms of an event — 50-over competition, live on TV, a packed house at Taunton and a pretty hostile Somerset crowd — it will be great experience for them.

“If they can get through that, it will be a really good learning curve and they are really excited about it all.

“We’ve just got to go there in a positive frame of mind and really enjoy our cricket.

“As a young group of players, we play our best when we are like that and I think we can give Somerset a real scare.”