Somerset v Surrey: Steven Davies' century puts home side on top at Taunton

Steven Davies had not made a Championship hundred since his 117 for Surrey against Yorkshire in May 2016

Steven Davies hit his first Championship century for Somerset as they took maximum batting points on day two against Surrey at Taunton.

Davies struck a six and 17 fours in his 142 off 199 balls before giving a catch to cover off Sam Curran.

He put on 155 with skipper Tom Abell (96) and 110 with Dom Bess (55), the latter an eighth-wicket record stand for Somerset against Surrey.

They were eventually all out for 436, with Surrey reaching 69-1 at the close.

Davies moved to Somerset from The Oval at the end of last season, but had struggled to do justice to his batting talent with just a single fifty in a side which won only one of their eight previous games.

Abell was unlucky to miss out on a hundred when he was caught behind down the leg-side off Rikki Clarke (3-83), but Davies did not miss out as he and Bess beat the 106-run partnership shared by Johnny Lawrence and Harold Stephenson at The Oval in 1949.

The afternoon and evening sessions were interrupted by rain but Surrey made a solid start to their reply with an opening stand of 58 before Rory Burns was run out for 30 after a mix-up with partner Mark Stoneman, who was 34 not out at stumps.

Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke told BBC Radio London: "It's been a difficult day, the wicket is very good, but now it's for us to apply the pressure back onto Somerset and bat well.

"We felt that if it was going to do anything, it was going to do it on the first morning and we got four quick wickets, but then it was difficult to break the (Abell/Davies) partnership.

"It wasn't swinging a lot, it wasn't moving off the wicket, no real turn either, so it was (a case of) just toiling away and hoping to get the results by creating a bit of pressure with dots.

"We've got a very strong (batting) line-up and it's a case of building partnerships and making their seamers come back for as many spells as possible."