Somerset build big lead over Bears but draw looms

Captain Craig Overton took four wickets as the visitors tried to force the follow-on

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Edgbaston (day three)

Somerset 498 & 116-3: Rew 45*; Rocchiccioli 1-12

Warwickshire 351: Davies 78, Hain 78, Latham 65; Overton 4-61

Somerset (6 pts) lead Warwickshire (3 pts) by 246 runs with eight wickets remaining

Match scorecard

Warwickshire and Somerset are heading for a draw at Edgbaston after the home side narrowly avoided the follow-on on the third day.

In reply to 498, Warwickshire were bowled out for 351, achieving the follow-on target of 349 with just two wickets to spare.

Alex Davies hit 78 (186 balls), Sam Hain 78 (170) and Tom Latham 65 (158) but, on a very good batting pitch, nobody else reached 30 against a Somerset attack which kept the pressure high, led by skipper Craig Overton with 4-61.

Somerset closed the third day on 116-3, 263 ahead overall, a commanding position but unlikely to be a winning one on a batter-friendly pitch which is not deteriorating.

Somerset's seamers opened up superbly after Warwickshire resumed on the third morning on 158-1.

Matt Henry bottled up his fellow Kiwi Latham with a sequence of maidens before, still to add to his overnight score, he drove at one that nipped away and edged to wicketkeeper James Rew.

Five overs and just six runs later, Davies perished when he edged Overton to slip where Tom Kohler-Cadmore took a fine catch low to his right.

Jacob Bethell, promoted to four, batted solidly until the stroke of lunch when he bottom-edged a pull at Overton to Rew. The wicketkeeper collected again shortly after the interval when Ed Barnard edged an injudicious drive at Overton and self-flagellated all the way back to the pavilion.

As Warwickshire wobbled to 235-5, Somerset had all the more reason to regret their recklessness with the bat on the second afternoon. The follow-on figure of 349 was within reach albeit, it transpired, only just.

Kai Smith and an increasingly expansive Hain added 66, Hain passing 50 from 133 balls and celebrating with two straight sixes in an over from Jack Leach. Smith supplied Rew's fifth catch with a leg-side tickle off Overton and when, in the final over before tea, Hain edged Leach to slip, Warwickshire were still 32 short of the follow-on target with three wickets left.

Corey Rocchiccioli responded aggressively with 28 from 31 balls but pulled Migael Pretorius to long leg with 10 still required. Tense moments followed for the home side until Ethan Bamber reverse-swept Leach for four to avert the follow-on and pretty much sentence the match to a draw.

Bamber and Che Simmons both soon fell playing the forward defensive, Simmons bowled by Archie Vaughan and Bamber lbw to Leach.

Somerset's second innings started with a couple of jolts when both openers fell in the first eight overs. Kohler-Cadmore lifted Bamber to mid off and Josh Davey's off-stump paid a high price for his decision to play back to Olly Hannon-Dalby.

Tom Lammonby and Rew added 83 before the former lifted Rocchiccioli to mid-wicket to squander the opportunity of reaching a third century in successive championship innings tomorrow.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay