Davies ton keeps Bears' hopes alive against Somerset

Alex Davies is in his first season as captain of Warwickshire's red-ball side

Vitality County Championship, Division One, Edgbaston (day three)

Warwickshire 337 & 179-5: Davies 109*

Somerset 239: Aldridge 84, Rew 49; Barnard 5-54

Warwickshire (5pts) lead Somerset (3pts) by 277 runs with five wickets remaining

Match scorecard

Warwickshire captain Alex Davies scored his 11th first-class century but rain badly interfered with his side’s push for a first County Championship victory of the season in their match with Somerset.

Davies ended the day unbeaten on 109 out of his side’s 179 for five – 277 ahead overall with their first-innings lead of 98.

Warwickshire are in a strong position but the loss of 51 overs to the weather has seriously compacted the game and reduced the time available for them to try to force a win.

Davies faces an interesting dilemma on the final day – to judge a declaration which gives his side enough time to take 10 wickets but does not offer Somerset too great a chance of victory.

Still fresh – or, in Warwickshire’s case, raw – in the memory of these teams is their meeting at Taunton six weeks ago when Davies’ declaration left the home side a target of 410 and they chased it down to record a sensational five-wicket win.

Much to the home side’s frustration, play did not begin until 13:50 BST and even then rain returned after two overs to send the players off again until 15:00.

After Warwickshire resumed on 27-, Davies eased towards his century, while a succession of partners perished in the early 20s.

The skipper added 45 with Will Rhodes, 83 with Hamza Shaikh and 38 with Jake Bethell against a Somerset attack which applied itself well to keep a brake on the scoring and take as much time out of the game as possible.

Rhodes and Bethell were bowled by the impressive Josh Davey. Shaikh pressed the self-destruct button when he called Davies through for a single that did not exist and was beaten by Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s throw.

Davies survived a missed stumping off Jack Leach on 34 but reached an assured century from 148 balls before a bonus wicket arrived for Somerset from the unexpected hands of Andy Umeed.

When Jake Ball limped off injured five balls into an over, Umeed was called upon to complete the over.

Skipper Craig Overton saw enough merit in that one ball to keep the spinner on and the second delivery of Umeed’s first full over had Ed Barnard caught behind.

Somerset’s commendable persistence and wickets in the last session shunted the match further towards a draw.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters Network