County Championship: Somerset collapse but Hampshire decline follow-on

Keith Barker has now taken five or more wickets in an innings on 26 occasions

Keith Barker blew Somerset away with his first County Championship five-wicket haul of the season as Hampshire took control on day two at the Ageas Bowl.

Left arm seamer Barker had only taken 14 wickets in his opening eight red-ball appearances of 2023 but after a fine One-Day Cup campaign, roared back with 5-32 to see off Somerset for 137.

Andy Umeed scored 43, to follow up Jack Brooks' first five-wicket haul of the season, but the visitors' hopes of victory took a hefty blow.

Despite a 171-run lead, Hampshire batted again and reached 45 without loss in 23 watchful evening overs to extend their lead to 216.

After Sean Dickson had been brilliantly caught at third slip by James Vince off Barker in the third over, Tom Lammonby and Tom Abell bedded in for more than an hour either side of lunch.

The pair put on 51, but when Abell was lbw to Barker it sparked a collapse from 51-1 to 67-5, from which the visitors would not fully recover.

Barker has endured an underwhelming Championship campaign, due in part to missing matches after he fractured both his hands while batting in the early stages.

However, his 10 wickets in six One-Day Cup matches have warmed him up for the season's final month.

The former Warwickshire quick took a heavy-handed Lammonby's outside edge before pinning Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

Division One's leading run scorer, heading into the round, James Rew, prodded to short leg off Liam Dawson, Lewis Gregory played on to Mohammad Abbas, Ben Green edged Kyle Abbott behind and Neil Wagner was bowled.

Umeed - fresh from 613 One-Day Cup runs - had been in survival mode but once the eighth wicket fell he started to unleash.

The Scot reached 43 before he missed a big swing and was stumped, to give Dawson 3-61 and Barker then had the final word by having Shoaib Bashir lbw.

Somerset gave up a 171-run first-innings deficit but Vince opted not to enforce the follow-on.

Toby Albert and Fletcha Middleton heeded century-maker Dawson's advice to bat long to score runs. It made for a lifeless final 23 overs of the day - during which Wagner attempted a short-pitch onslaught on a pitch not suited to such a tactic.

Earlier, Brooks took his impressive Ageas Bowl wicket tally to 21 at an average of 16.85 in four matches with two morning dismissals, as Hampshire added 26 to their overnight score in being bowled out for 308.

Barker was caught off his inside edge before Dawson was pinned by Brooks to end his 115-run stay. Abbott swatted back-to-back boundaries to gather a second batting bonus point but chipped to cover.

The dismissal of Abbott meant Brooks finished with 5-56, his third five-wicket haul on the ground and first in four Championship appearances this season.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.