George Bartlett century sets Somerset for return to top

George Bartlett made the most of being dropped first ball to score a career-best 137 as Somerset fought back against Surrey at Guildford.

Bartlett was put down by Rikki Clarke at slip off Matt Dunn and made Surrey pay as Somerset, who will return to the top of the first division if they win, were bowled out for 344. Surrey openers Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman negotiated two overs before stumps and will resume on 0 for 0.

It was Bartlett's second hundred of the season after he scored 133 against Nottinghamshire and was made in front of ECB Technical Director Andy Flower, the former England coach.

Somerset had struggled against the new ball and would have been 35 for 4 had Clarke clung onto the chance to remove Bartlett straight away.

Instead, he shared stands of 95 with Tom Banton and Steve Davies and 73 with Craig Overton before Morne Morkel, armed with the new ball, had him caught behind in the 84th over.

It was an outstanding effort by the 23-year-old, who was born a few miles from Guildford in Frimley, as Somerset once again showed the battling qualities which have already earned them three Championship wins this season.

Banton, who had come into the side after Azhar Ali pulled out with a throat infection, gave Bartlett excellent support and hit Ryan Patel - who took four wickets in five balls in this fixture last season - for three successive boundaries as the fourth-wicket partnership took shape.

But after lunch Banton went 24 balls without scoring and then edged Matt Dunn to gully for 44. Bartlett, however, found another reliable partner in ex-Surrey man Steven Davies who contributed 41 before Dunn, the pick of the Surrey attack, went around the wicket to hit off-stump with a ball which held its line.

Bartlett reached his third first-class century in the last over before tea by glancing Clarke off his hip for his 13th boundary. He also lofted Gareth Batty over long on for six and played fluently again after tea, straight-driving Morkel to the boundary to bring up his career-best. The South African, though, had his revenge in the next over when Bartlett feathered an edge as he pushed forward. He faced 213 balls and hit 19 fours.

Surrey wrapped up the rest of the innings quickly. Clarke returned to pick up Craig Overton, who played on for 40, and his brother Jamie, who made 20, in successive overs while Morkel had Tim Groenewald and Jack Brooks caught behind as the last four wickets fell for 24 in 5.3 overs. Morkel finished with 4 for 64.

It was a strong finish to the day for Surrey, who had dominated the first hour too, as they look for their first win of the season in defence of their title.

After winning the toss, Somerset had started solidly enough but, on 21, skipper Tom Abell edged Morkel low to second slip, where Dean Elgar took a good catch. Marcus Trescothick had struck a couple of boundaries with the confidence of old but on 18 he was caught behind trying to guide Clarke down to third man. Somerset lost their third wicket when Dunn trapped James Hildreth in front, but the major part of the day was dominated by Bartlett.