Cidermen spend a long hot day in the field at Bath

Somerset paid the price for losing the toss in their top of the table championship match against Worcestershire at Bath yesterday where the visitors had amassed 422 for 5 by the close of play.

In the shadow of Bath Abbey the Recreation Ground looked a picture with the tents on the boundary edges and the trees surrounding the ground.

Out in the middle however on a benign batting pitch that had little for the bowlers the Somerset opening attack held the lid on Worcestershire scoring for just two maiden overs before the opening pair announced their intentions with a six off Nixon McLean.

From that point on Anurag Singh and Stephen Peters quickly established themselves, and Peters brought up the fifty with a beautifully executed off drive from the last ball of the fourteenth over.

Both batsmen were untroubled by the bowlers and timing the ball well and it was Singh who was scoring the quicker and who went to his fifty first when in the twenty second over he drove Mike Burns to the boundary.

Singh saw the Worcester hundred on the board, but shortly afterwards with his own score on 64 he survived a hard chance at slip off the bowling of McLean.

Peters went to his fifty in style with a massive six off McLean that fell just short of the croquet pitches, and by lunch the pair had taken Worcester onto 136 without loss.

The opening pair brought up the two hundred, until eventually Keith Dutch made the all important breakthrough for the Cidermen when one run later Singh played slightly forward to a ball that popped up and Jamie Cox gratefully pouched the catch. The opener had made 105 which came from 155 balls and included eighteen fours.

The appearance of Graeme Hick brought little comfort to the Somerset supporters as the former England man demonstrated just why he has been one of the most successful batsmen on the county circuit in recent years.

Peters continued to look untroubled and scored his runs freely moving to his century off McLean in the 57th over. At the other end Hick raced to his half century which included two sixes and six fours and saw the three hundred up.

However just after returning from the tea interval he hit a low drive off Ian Blackwell that Keith Parsons held onto at short mid wicket. Hick's third wicket partnership with Peters had yielded 117 runs of which the former England man had contributed 71.

There was more joy for the Somerset attack when new batsman Ben Smith went down the wicket to Blackwell and was stumped by Rob Turner for 2.Vickram Solanki threatened but with his score on 10 he dragged a ball from McLean onto his stumps.

Near the end of the day the return of Simon Francis at the Pavilion End brought the wicket that Somerset had been chasing since the start of play when he bowled Peters, but not before the former Essex player had scored a career bets of 165, which had come from 282 balls and contained four sixes and twenty fours.

It was a long hot day in the field for the Somerset players but they stuck to their task well, and in the morning will be hoping to bowl Worcestershire out and then enjoy their own run feast.

Afterwards coach Kevin Shine said: "It's been tough for the lads today but they were happy with the way that things went for us. It looks like a good Bath wicket with not much help for the bowlers. First thing tomorrow we will be looking to bowl them out as cheaply as we can and then settle down to the task in hand and put together our reply and we are hoping that conditions stay the same for when we bat."