Somerset thoughts turn to Trescothick

For the Division One leaders, it was a day of frustrating inactivity. Warwickshire had been put in to bat by Somerset on an overcast morning, one on which Peter Trego and Gemaal Hussain, making a rare first-team appearance, could gain some swing, but they faced only 10.4 overs. The likelihood is that the bowlers would have gained rather more than one wicket between them had play continued.

Ian Westwood was the batsman out, nicely taken at second slip by Jos Buttler off Trego, no sooner than he had reached double figures. For Somerset, Max Waller was given a rare Championship appearance - his first at Taunton since August 2009. Quite how much assistance there will be for his legspin, or indeed whether he can wrestle the ball off the medium pacers in these conditions, remains to be seen. He has been unfortunate not to have played more first team cricket, especially given that his bowling in T20, both in England and in the Caribbean, has been impressive and fruitful.

An abandonment for the day was made at 4.25 pm. Many a Somerset fan, member of the secretariat and journalist was keeping an eye on events at Coggeshall, where Marcus Trescothick was testing his damaged right ankle in their second XI match against Essex with a view to returning to the first team as soon as possible. It has been almost 13 weeks since the injury occurred but, after the first day's play was washed out by rain, he took the field, at first slip and with no ill effects. Always assuming there is no further rain, he will have at least one innings.

Back at the County Ground, Buttler, along with Craig Kieswetter, was in demand to talk about his inclusion in the provisional 30-man party for the World Twenty20. He says all the right things, albeit in the bland manner required by the ECB nowadays. "It is the pinnacle for me," he said, "although I can't take anything for granted until the squad is whittled down to 15 names." There can be little doubting, though, that this is what will occur.

For the time being, Buttler is focusing on Somerset's FLt20 quarter-final against Essex next Tuesday. "They are a strong side who play similar cricket on their home ground at Chelmsford to what we do here at Taunton. And it's funny to think of myself as one of the young players in our team when I didn't make my Somerset debut until after I was 18. The Overton twins and George Dockrell all played [at a younger age than] I did."

What with playing their quarter-final at home and having not suffered like most counties from disruption or poor attendances during the T20 group stages, Somerset's finances will be relatively healthy this year. They also stand to make a small profit from the Elton John concert here last month, although that too was rain-affected and the attendance was not as good as it had been on his previous visit. "We expect to make a figure in the tens of thousands," said Guy Lavender, the chief executive, "and that is without attracting corporate hospitality as it was held on a Sunday."