X-Rated as Notts remain Pointless

An extremely painful day for any Notts fan, as Somerset piled up an enormous score of 445 for two declared as the Notts attack without Andre Adams appeared toothless to stem the flow of runs.

Only three overs were lost during the day as the frequent predicted showers never materialised.

Somerset batted through the morning session without any alarms. Notts seamers were guilty of not letting the batsman play enough as Suppiah and Compton accumulated runs steadily. Patel was introduced and he was hit for sixes by both batsman as Somerset lunched on 178 for one. Suppiah reached his ton off 176 balls shortly before the interval.

The afternoon session was shortened by a heavy shower at 1430 and the players took an early tea at 1510.  Franks picked his 500^th first class victim when Suppiah edged him to slip where Hales caught the catch, Suppiah out for 124; the second wicket partnership with Compton had added 216 runs in 70 overs.

After tea Notts bowling and fielding got ragged with Patel being particularly poor his figures being x-rated (21.4-1-126-0) as Somerset gorged themselves. Franks dropped Hildreth at third man when he had 70, but the ball was hardly beating the bat on the featherbed surface. Hildreth got to his 100 off just 122 balls with 15 fours.  Compton whose first 100 took 241 balls raced to his double ton in a further 81 balls as he finished on 204 not out with 15 fours and three sixes. Gurney had a disappointing debut finishing wicketless with 25-5-89-0. Mullaney mysteriously did not bowl a single over, begging the question to why he was selected in the first place over a specialist batsman. The unbroken third wicket stand had raised 217 in just 35 overs.

Notts had failed to pick a single bowling point, as they now face the prospect of getting zero points from the match. Somerset with a lead of 283, had 12 overs at Hales and Edwards as Notts closed on 47 for nought. The first hour will be crucial tomorrow as Notts try to avoid humiliation. The weather forecast seems suggests a relatively dry day with a chance of a light shower at 1600, but on the evidence of today Notts will have a bat poorly to lose the game on such a benign surface.

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