Five wickets for Blackwell as Somerset end the day on top at Taunton

Somerset ended the second day of their opening first class fixture of the season against Loughborough UCCE at Taunton in a commanding position.

By close of play the Cidermen had moved onto 160 without loss in their second innings, with Rob Turner unbeaten on 84 and Peter Bowler on 73, a lead of 228 over the visitors.

Earlier the students had declared at teatime on 345 for 8, after a good batting performance with Jimmy Adams top scoring on 107.

Ian Blackwell was the pick of the Somerset bowlers, coming on just before lunch he bowled until the close of the innings by which time he had the impressive figures of 27.4 overs,11 maidens, 5 wickets for 65 runs.

After play new skipper Mike Burns told me: "It's been a good day for us. It was good to see Ian Blackwell getting wickets in his first bowl here this season, and Simon Francis and Richard Johnson also bowled well for us on a very flat wicket. Rob Turner and Peter Bowler then batted well for us at the end."

Looking forward to tomorrow he said: " We will have to see what happens with the weather before deciding what to do tomorrow but I hope that we can put our bowlers under a bit of pressure later on."