SOUTHAMPTON (first day of four; Hampshire won toss): Somerset, with nine first-innings wickets in hand, are 269 runs behind Hampshire
TWO events conspired against Somerset yesterday in their quest for a first victory of the season. First, Richard Johnson injured himself in unusual circumstances and may not be able to bowl in the second innings. Then, having reduced Hampshire to 175 for eight, Somerset dropped Chris Tremlett before he had scored. He went on to make a maiden first-class fifty.
Johnson was trying to intercept a ball on the square-leg boundary when he trod on the ball and rope. After falling to the ground, he was transported away in one of the groundsman’s buggies before going for an X-ray on his ankle.
Tremlett, who gave a straightforward chance to short leg off Keith Dutch, later hit the off spinner for three sixes. His ninth-wicket partnership with Shaun Udal was worth just five when he was dropped and by the time they were parted, a crucial 80 had been added at exactly four an over. Udal celebrated his return to the captaincy with a 60-ball fifty, his second of the season.
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Somerset’s bowling on a slow pitch was a curious mix, at times excellent but at times poor. Andy Caddick exploited some occasional uneven bounce to cause problems, having Derek Kenway and Will Kendall taken in the slips and Michael Clarke caught behind, driving at a widish half-volley. Michael Brown held the innings together with a convincing 81 from 159 balls that included two pulled sixes off Simon Francis.
Once Brown went, Hampshire lost their way. Dutch got some turn, having Shane Watson expertly stumped on his championship debut. Of Rob Turner’s six victims, four were caught off Francis, who hit the deck hard and found a good one to remove John Crawley.