Hildreth gives Somerset the edge

The Taunton wickets are much loathed for not being conducive enough to results - no-one drew more matches than Somerset's 10 in 2014 - but the opening two matches of this season have seen a more even contest between bat and ball and, with 30 wickets falling in the opening three days of this match, a second consecutive positive result is possible.

Somerset are the favourites after setting Middlesex 402 to win but Middlesex have a sporting chance following a third afternoon where they chipped away at the hosts' second innings and took the final five wickets for 50. In the final analysis, James Hildreth's 86 was a vital innings as the middle order fell away. It was no bad thing for the match.

To win, Middlesex need to make their fourth-highest fourth-innings total but they can take some confidence from the 472 for 3 they made last season to beat Yorkshire at Lord's - their second-highest fourth-innings total - albeit the architect of that chase, Chris Rogers who made 241 not out, is no longer at the club.

They will hope Rogers' replacement, fellow Australian Adam Voges, can create something similar. Or indeed, Nick Gubbins and Sam Robson who played carefully to reach the close unscathed.

The danger for Middlesex is the fragile nature of their line-up. They lost 8 for 118 in the first innings and this wicket has offered assistance to the seamers throughout the match. Somerset will hope to probe that weakness and have in their attack two young Devonians showing the best form of their fledgling careers.

Jamie Overton, who turned 21 at the start of the month, is a big and genuinely quick bowler who appears to have calibrated his radar over the winter. A quick spell on the second evening whittled out the Middlesex lower order. But it appears his injury worries, having blighted his career since breaking into the Somerset first XI, are not yet behind him. He limped off after seven balls of the chase. More will be revealed later.

Lewis Gregory has his own injuries last season but, fit for the start of 2015, has been rewarded for his progress over the last 12 months with a call up to England's squad for the ODI against Ireland next week. He celebrated by taking two wickets in five balls, both lbw, to see off the Middlesex first innings in the fourth over of day three.

The swift end gave Somerset a 102-run first-innings lead, which was comfortably built on in a stand of 82 for the second wicket between Marcus Trescothick and Tom Cooper. The latter's ill-advised reverse sweep, to be bowled for 42, did not appear crucial at the time but it ended what turned out to be the highest stand of the innings.

Trescothick looked set for a second century in the match, having twice played the deftest of late cuts off Steven Finn to take boundaries fine of third man, and looked to have successfully covered a Rayner delivery on 76, only to lose his off stump. Again, the bounce Rayner generates created problems. The dismissal should encourage Somerset's Abdur Rehman on day four.

Thereafter only James Hildreth spent significant time at the crease. He passed fifty in 109 balls with five fours - a far more sedate effort than the first innings - but, as Finn returned from the River End, he pulled his first ball down the throat of deep midwicket to be ninth out. Overton then clubbed a six but Finn cleaned him up next ball.

There were three more wickets for James Harris, who continued his impressive form, bringing a beauty into the off stump of Tom Abell. Two other middle order wickets followed as Middlesex kept themselves in the match.