County Championship: Tom Abell hits his second ton of the game as Somerset build a huge lead

Tom Abell's second hundred of the game was his fifth of the season for Somerset

Somerset go into the final day of their County Championship match with Northamptonshire at Taunton in a strong position, knowing victory will guarantee Division One survival.

With a lead of 401 and nine second-innings wickets in hand, the hosts can feel confident of at least a draw, which would put them 17 points clear of second-from-bottom Warwickshire.

Having bowled out already-safe Northants for 265 from an overnight 184-6 - Craig Overton finishing with 5-38 - Somerset built on a first innings lead of 124 to reach 277-1.

Unbeaten centuries from skipper Tom Abell, 112, his second of the match, and Tom Lammonby, 101, led the way, while Imam-ul-Haq contributed 52, to effectively bat Northamptonshire out of the game.

A Somerset win would open a 25-point gap on Warwickshire and lift them to sixth in Division One, ahead of next week's final round of fixtures.

Relive the third day's Championship action as it happened

They began the third day in perfect fashion when Josh Davey had Saif Zaib well caught low down at second slip by Overton off the first ball of the morning.

But Tom Taylor, unbeaten on 19 overnight, moved to an impressive fifty off 69 balls by cutting his 10th four off Kasey Aldridge.

Another Taylor boundary off Abell took Northamptonshire past the follow-on figure at 240-7 and Somerset's attack, lacking the injured Lewis Gregory, were looking frustrated when Lizaad Williams (23) helped add 63 for the fourth wicket.

That changed with a needless run-out. Taylor played Sajid Khan into the leg side with no intention of taking a single, but Williams charged down the pitch from the non-striker's end and was sent packing by Davey's throw to the bowler.

Aldridge had Ben Sanderson caught at mid-on and Overton wrapped up the innings when Jack White was caught behind, backing away towards square leg.

By lunch, Somerset had extended their lead to 136, after which Imam was first to his half-century, having hit four fours and a straight six off Rob Keogh - a shot which took the lead to 200.

The Pakistan Test opener then fell, allowing a ball from off-spinner Keogh to run up his pad onto a glove before being taken by wicketkeeper Ricardo Vasconcelos, running in front of the stumps.

By tea, Somerset had progressed to 118-1, with Lammonby on 54, and arch-rivals Gloucestershire were on the verge of doing them a huge favour by beating Warwickshire.

The final ball from Bristol was shown on the screens at Taunton to relieved applause from Somerset fans, as in front of them, Lammonby and Abell built a half-century stand.

Successive Abell boundaries off Keogh took the lead past 350, while another four in the off-spinner's following over took Somerset's captain past 1,000 first-class runs for the season.

A swept single off Keogh completed Abell's fifth hundred of the summer off 87 balls, but Lammonby lost nothing by comparison, curbing his natural attacking instincts to strike just eight boundaries in his patient 221-ball century.

By stumps their stand was worth 176, but Abell left the best until last, a swashbuckling six over extra cover off Josh Cobb in the final over.

Somerset skipper Tom Abell:

"Every hundred I score for Somerset is special because they don't come easily, so I am very proud of getting two in one game.

"But I am also buzzing for Tom Lammonby, who has taken on the tough task of opening this season and got a lot of starts without going on to the scores he deserved.

"It was pretty tense batting at times because we were hearing from different sources what was going on at Bristol. When the applause from our crowd broke out for Gloucestershire winning, it was a relief because that was a big result for us."

Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler:

"We are safe and what a feeling it is. We still want to finish in the top six, but if someone had been offered this position at the start of the year, we would have snapped their hand off.

"Credit to the players, the coaching staff and everyone involved at the club. We have some tired minds and bodies up there in the dressing room because the lads have played a lot of cricket and I can't fault any of them.

"I am buzzing that, structure permitting, we will be playing First Division cricket again next season. We have become a difficult side to beat and, if that happens, you are going to put yourself in a position to win games."

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.