Hollioakes hold out as Surrey draw with Somerset

The Hollioake brothers frustrated Somerset's victory bid as Surrey held out for a draw on the final day at Taunton.

Skipper Adam led the way, batting for nearly two-and-a-half hours, facing 115 balls and hitting 12 fours in his 83 after his side had been set an unlikely target of 407 to win from a minimum of 83 overs.

Ben contributed an equally valuable 56, taking only 51 balls to reach his half-century, with 6 fours and 2 sixes.

And Alistair Brown showed good concentration to make 64 in more studied fashion as Surrey closed on 294-6.

Somerset had batted on for 35 minutes at the start of the day, extending their overnight 265-5 to 311-6 before Jamie Cox declared at the fall of Ian Blackwell's wicket for 67.

Richard Johnson then got to work with the new ball and soon added Ian Ward to his five first innings victims, trapping the opener lbw with a full-length delivery.

It was 24-2 when Gareth Batty drove loosely at a Johnson outswinger to give wicketkeeper Rob Turner his seventh catch of the match. And Surrey looked in some trouble when Mike Carberry was run-out soon after lunch to make the score 90-3

But Adam Hollioake and Brown put on 95 for the fourth wicket before Hollioake fell to Steffan Jones. And Brown and Ben Hollioake then added a further 73 to frustrate a Somerset attack lacking sufficient support for Johnson, who recorded match-figures of 9-152.

Turner ended the game with nine dismissals to equal a Somerset record he already had a share in. And the home side's 11 points were enough to take them back into second place in the Championship table, with just two matches left.

It was a special match for Taunton-based Ray Julian, given a guard of honour by the Somerset players as he took the field after tea for his last session as a first class umpire at the County Ground.