County Championship: Somerset beat Hampshire by nine wickets

Somerset moved past Sussex into fifth place in Division One

Somerset beat Hampshire by nine wickets to record their third County Championship win of the season.

Resuming on 41-2, Hampshire slipped to 69-5 with Peter Trego (3-49) dismissing Michael Carberry (28) and Liam Dawson.

Will Smith (37), Adam Wheater (49) and Gareth Berg (86) checked the away side's progress, but Craig Overton (4-57) returned to end the innings on 262.

Somerset were left needing 64 to win and Marcus Trescothick (35) and Tom Abell (21 not out) saw them home.

With their bowlers full of confidence after taking 12 Hampshire wickets on day two and aided by a helpful pitch, Somerset captain Trescothick's side were in no mood to relinquish their grip on the game.

After nightwatchman James Tomlinson had been removed, Trego had Carberry caught at gully and Dawson lbw, despite the latter claiming an inside-edge.

Wheater counter-attacked, but Overton forced a bottom-edge onto his stumps before having Smith caught at mid-off.

Berg offered impressive resistance, hitting a six and 13 fours, but the tail fell around him and although Sean Ervine bravely came out at number 11 despite a broken finger, Berg was eventually caught behind to give Overton his eighth wicket of the match.

Somerset then looked set for a 10-wicket win until spinner Danny Briggs trapped Trescothick lbw, but Johann Myburgh smashed Dawson for six to end the match.

Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick:

"I think this is our best win of the season. We outshone Hampshire in all respects.

"Our bowlers were outstanding, to bowl Hampshire out twice for a total of about 400 runs was magnificent.

"Craig Overton has been outstanding. He was brilliant against Durham and brilliant in this game. In many respects he was the difference between the teams' attacks and took eight wickets and got more out of the wicket than anyone else."

Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams:

"Our poor first-innings total undermined us. We showed good spirit today but we were so far behind it made no difference.

"We felt if we had got a bit closer to their first-innings total we might not have been asked to follow on.

"We have played disappointingly in the past and recovered, as we did in beating Sussex, and now we have to do it again when we play Middlesex in our next match."

Craig Overton has now taken 28 wickets at an average of 15.78 for Somerset this season