County Championship: Somerset batters take control against Warwickshire

Matt Renshaw has now scored 14 first-class hundreds

Matt Renshaw eased Somerset's batting worries with a fluent century on the opening day of their County Championship match with Warwickshire at Taunton.

The Australia Test player's superb 129, featuring 19 fours and two sixes, paved the way for an imposing score of 351-4.

Tom Lammonby contributed 56 to an opening stand of 137, while skipper Tom Abell made 70 as his side set about ending a run of seven-successive Championship defeats, stretching back to last summer.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby was the pick of the Warwickshire attack, taking 3-62, but it was a largely out-of-sorts bowling display by the visitors after winning the toss.

With a short boundary on the town side of the Cooper Associates County Ground - and a pitch showing only a tinge of green - Somerset appeared to have given their under-pressure batting unit every opportunity to find some form.

Renshaw and Lammonby played positively from the start, only Hannon-Dalby showing the necessary accuracy to contain them.

The two left-handers brought up a half-century stand in the 15th over and began to accelerate, Lammonby surviving a tough chance to gully on 28 off Craig Miles.

Renshaw looked an even-more complete player than in his first successful spell with Somerset and moved to fifty off 80 balls, with eight fours and a pulled six off Miles.

He took the score past 100 with a sweet cover-drive off Danny Briggs. The slow left-armer was introduced from the River End to try and stem the flow of runs, but there was nothing in the pitch for him and by lunch Somerset were 130-0.

Lammonby had reached his half-century off 76 balls, with a crisp on-driven four off Australian seamer Nathan McAndrew, who was proving expensive on his Warwickshire debut.

But Hannon-Dalby had given little away and the tall seamer made the breakthrough in the fifth over after lunch as Lammonby edged a defensive shot to Sam Hain at second slip.

Abell and Renshaw confidently built on what had gone before, the latter reaching a chanceless century off 158 balls.

The shot that brought up Renshaw's ton was among his best, a flowing back-foot forcing stroke through the off-side for a boundary off McAndrew.

Another maximum followed when Renshaw effortlessly lifted Briggs straight back over his head. Abell looked equally comfortable, with the ball rarely beating the bat.

The pair brought up the second century stand of the innings before tea - which was taken at 249-2 - when Renshaw edged a seaming Hannon-Dalby delivery through to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess.

Abell had moved to a composed 92-ball fifty. The final session saw him joined by Tom Banton, who helped take the total to 277 before Abell was caught behind down the leg side pushing forward to occasional off-spinner Rob Yates.

It was 282-3 when the second new ball was taken and Banton greeted it with a glorious straight-driven four off Hannon-Dalby, moving to 47 not out by the close.

James Hildreth was caught at point for 23, cutting a wide ball from Hannon-Dalby but the home side, who were without Peter Siddle because of a stomach strain, could still reflect on four hugely-welcome batting points.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.