Somerset cruise to victory over Worcestershire

Inspirational captain Jamie Cox made a fluent half-century and held three catches as Somerset cruised home by 53 runs to replace Worcestershire at the top of the National League First Division.

Now the West Country team are on course for a first double in the new era of two-division cricket. With four matches to play, they can add the overall title to last year's promotion success.

Cox scored 57 and shared in a partnership of 74 with Michael Burns (51) to put Somerset on the way to a more-than-adequate total of 227 for nine on a slow pitch.

Equally important was the catch taken by Cox at cover point to complete a bad day for Graeme Hick on his unexpected re-appearance from England duty at Headingley.

Hick faced only eight balls before his dismissal by Steffan Jones, and though Vikram Solanki and David Leatherdale rallied the home side, slow left-armer Ian Blackwell rubber-stamped Somerset's win with a League-best return of four for 36.

The batting slump only compounded the problems that Hick had faced in the field. Young new-ball bowlers Chris Liptrot and Kabir Ali were persisently called for wides while conceding 36 runs in the first four overs.

Marcus Trescothick and Mark Lathwell made the most of the gifts to put on 68 before Lathwell and Peter Bowler appeared on a list of four batsmen who were run out during the innings.

Leatherdale was responsible for three of these mishaps and also bowled his medium-pace to remove Cox and Burns in successive overs as Somerset lost six wickets for 40 at the end.