Rain holds up play at Taunton

Somerset and Durham were frustrated by the rain as only one session of play was possible on the second day of the County Championship first division match at Taunton.

Torrential rain during and just after the lunch interval flooded the outfield and forced umpires Barry Dudleston and Bob White to abandon play just after 4pm.

Both sides are looking for a win to ease their relegation fears, but it will be difficult to fashion a psoitive result from here on.

Neither side has command of the game at the moment and more wet weather is forecast for the next two days.

Somerset could take the greater satisfaction from the 31.1 overs of play possible today. Jamie Cox's side took the last four Durham wickets for the addition of only 54 runs, as the visitors were bowled out for 378, and Somerset then reached 58-0 from just 14 overs before the rain arrived.

Veteran off-spinner Adrian Pierson claimed 3-12 from six overs during the morning to finish with a season's best return of 3-41.

The 37-year-old former Warwickshire and Leicestershire player had John Wood lbw for 28, bowled Andy Pratt for 38 and then had Nick Phillips caught at point by Ian Blackwell for nine.

The final wicket of the innings was snapped up by Steffan Jones, who induced a mistimed drive from Steve Harmison into the hands of Blackwell at mid-on.

It was some consolation for Jones who had gone wicketless in his previous 27 overs and who had seen two straightforward catches spilled by Peter Bowler, at slip, and Pierson, at square leg, in his first few overs of the day.

Somerset claimed their full three bowling bonus batting points, but Durham could only take four of the five batting points on offer as they slightly under-achieved on a perfect Taunton pitch.

In-form Simon Brown and Harmison produced some testing deliveries early on for Somerset openers Cox and Mark Lathwell to negotiate.

But Harmison then struggled for control and the Somerset pair cashed in on a diet of short, wide deliveries.

Harmison was despatched for 17 in one over, as Cox took successive boundaries to long-on and extra cover, before Lathwell repeated the feat with two fours square on the offside.

Lathwell was unbeaten on 25, with five fours, and Cox was on 22, with four boundaries, when the rain ended play prematurely