Somerset title hopes dashed by Leicestershire

Somerset's hopes of winning the National League championship were dealt a severe blow when relegation-threatened Leicestershire defeated them by 62 runs in a day-night encounter at Taunton.

Victory would have put Somerset two points clear of Yorkshire at the top with two matches remaining for both sides.

But such is the congested nature of the table that Somerset are not yet safe from relegation after this reverse.

Leicestershire would almost certainly have been confined to the drop had they lost at the County Ground.

But they gave themselves renewed hope with an aggressive batting display, which took them to an imposing score of 267-6 in 45 overs after captain Vince Wells had won the toss.

"They came at us hard and we didn't throw enough back at them," was Somerset skipper Jamie Cox's assessment of his side's early bowling.

Cox claimed catches to remove pinch-hitter Anil Kumble and Trevor Ward within the first four overs, but Leicestershire then eased along at five an over.

Wells, Aftab Habib and Ben Smith all made it into the 40s without going on to make a major score.

Habib was probably annoyed as anyone at missing out after he cross-batted a wide full toss from Jason Kerr to Graham Rose at mid-on.

The real impetus to the innings, however, was provided by tall left-hander Jonathan Dakin, who struck three straight sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 68 from 49 balls.

It was his highest score in the competition and he received good support from Darren Maddy, with 29, and Darren Stevens, with 18 not out, in the closing stages.

Somerset's reply got a dreadful start as Mark Lathwell, Cox and Peter Bowler departed to leave them on 10-3 after three overs, with two wickets going to Scott Boswell and the other to Phil DeFreitas.

When Ian Blackwell was caught behind by Neil Burns off Boswell for 14, it looked all but over with the home side on 41-4.

Mike Burns and Keith Parsons responded valiantly to the situation and provided some superb batting for the capacity 6,000 crowd to enjoy.

Their stand of 136 in 24 overs gave Somerset genuine hope of victory, only for it to subside quickly once Parsons had holed out to Stevens at deep midwicket off Maddy for 69. The next five wickets fell for 30 runs as Maddy snapped up 4-16 in four overs.

Burns even missed out on a richly-deserved hundred when he was brilliantly caught by Neil Burns, the former Somerset wicketkeeper, off Dakin for 97.