Cidermen have to settle for a draw at Derby after being frustrated by the weather

Somerset had to settle for a draw from their championship match against Derbyshire today, after the weather interrupted on several occasions during the last days play.

The morning session got underway on time, with the hosts resuming on 38 without loss.The opening pair took the score onto 80 before Michael DiVenuto was LBW to Andy Caddick for 36.One run later new batsman Chris Bossano was caught by Jamie Cox off Keith Dutch for no score.

Andy Gait and Steve Selwood brought up the hundred, but after he had scored 18 Selwood gave a catch to wicket-keeper Rob Turner off Nixon McLean, and by lunchtime Derby were 116 for 3.

Just after the interval Gait became another victim for Caddick when he was given out LBW after scoring 63, but with the score on 143 for 4 the players left the field because of the weather.

Shortly after play resumed, with the score on 150 Dominic Hewson was caught by Dutch off McLean, and four runs later Shahid Afridi was caught by Marcus Trescothick off Caddick, and as Derby slipped to 154 for 6 wickets Somerset had their sights firmly set on victory.

The players took an early tea by which time the score had moved onto 176 for 6, and following the break the players were on and of the field several times, during which the Derbyshire pair of Luke Sutton and Graeme Welch resisted.

However just after six o clock the game was called off as a draw by which time the hosts had moved onto 197 for 6, with former Somerset player Sutton unbeaten on 23.

Andy Caddick was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 44, but in the end the Cidermen had to settle for eleven points from the drawn game.

After the match Kevin Shine told me: "This has been a very frustrating day for us, and if we had got as full days play we would have pushed on and got the positive result we deserved from the match. With the type of cricket that we are playing we pushed hard for the result all through this match, which makes it all the more frustrating when you consider we have lost almost 150 overs to the bad weather."

"However we are playing well at the moment, and the boys are very confident, which makes it all the more disappointing that we didn't get the result today," he continued.

Looking forward to tomorrows match between the Somerset Sabres and Derby Scorpions tomorrow he told me: "We are looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and after the way that we have played in the championship match we are feeling very confident."

With the return of Ian Blackwell from injury the Sabres have named their strongest one day line up for the match against the Scorpions, and will be hoping that the weather is kinder on Sunday than it was today.

The full Sabres team is: Marcus Trescothick, Mike Burns, Jamie Cox, James Bryant, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner ,Keith Dutch, Nixon McLean, Richard Johnson and Andy Caddick.