Overton stars as Somerset take control

Craig Overton played the starring role as Somerset moved into a strong position on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One match with Sussex at the Cooper Associates Ground, Taunton.

Having extended their first-innings score to 338 all out, with Archie Vaughan last man out for 80 and Nathan McAndrew claiming 4 for 71, the hosts skittled their opponents for 152, Overton claiming 3 for 30 and three fine slip catches to help establish a lead of 186. Daniel Hughes top-scored with 38, while Migael Pretorius took 3 for 24.

Sussex were made to follow on and reached 127 for 4 by stumps, with openers Tom Haines and Daniel Hughes out for 50 and 40 respectively. They trailed by 59 runs.

The day began with Somerset adding just 21 runs to their overnight score for the loss of four wickets. Three of them fell to McAndrew, who began by having Overton brilliantly caught off an inside edge by wicketkeeper John Simpson for 28.

Pretorius edged through to Simpson off Ollie Robinson and it was 333 for 9 when Matt Henry skyed a catch to mid-off, Robinson this time the catcher, to give McAndrew his third wicket of the innings.

The fourth ended Vaughan's career-best knock as he went on the attack and perished to another catch at mid-off. The 19-year-old had faced 134 balls and hit 15 fours to bolster what looked a good total given the nature of the pitch.

Sussex made a decent enough start to their reply, Hughes and Haines taking the total to 37 in the tenth over before the latter pushed forward defensively to Overton and nicked a catch to wicketkeeper James Rew.

Haines had moved fluently to 24, with 4 fours. But his departure signalled a turning point as the next over saw Tom Clark fall lbw to Henry, who had switched to the River End, and at lunch the scoreboard read 68 for 2.

It was 75 for 3 when Tom Alsop edged Pretorius into the bucket hands of Overton at second slip and 80 for four in the following over, Josh Davey this time profiting from Overton's prowess as a slip fielder to send back James Coles for a duck.

With just 17 runs added, Simpson was bowled shouldering arms to Overton, who soon followed up with a similar delivery from around the wicket that brought the demise of Hughes, also playing no shot.

Overton claimed his third catch when Fynn Hudson-Prentice edged a back-foot defensive shot off Pretorius before Jack Leach weighed in with the wickets of McAndrew and Robinson, the first spooning a catch to cover and the other attempting to hit a second six, but only edging to Lewis Gregory at slip.

Pretorius ended the innings by bowling last man James Hayes and Sussex had been shot out in 46.2 overs. Expecting the pitch to become flatter as the match progressed, Gregory took the understandable decision to enforce the follow-on.

Tea was taken before the Sussex second innings began. Both Hughes and Haines played positively, raising a half-century stand off just 57 balls in warm late afternoon sunshine.

Overton's successful afternoon almost got better with the total on 82 as Haines, on 43, edged a forcing shot only for Tom Lammonby to spill a sharp chance above his head at second slip. The opener profited to reach an attractive fifty off 72 balls.

Hughes was equally impressive, bringing up the century stand with a swept four off Leach before falling in the same over, caught behind off bat and pad. Haines quickly followed, leg before to Pretorius and suddenly Sussex were 100 for two, still 86 behind.

Jack Carson, promoted in the order, fell to Henry with 11 runs added. And when Leach had Clark caught behind attempting an injudicious slog-sweep it was clearly Somerset's day.