Rain frustrates Durham

Heavy rain frustrated Durham's hopes of forcing the victory they need to ease First Division relegation fears.

Only 16 overs were possible on the third day at Taunton where Somerset resumed on 58-0 in reply to the visitors' 378.

The start was delayed until 4.45pm, by which time the game already looked doomed to a draw. But there were bonus points to play for and Durham moved close to a fifth one by removing both overnight batsmen.

Jamie Cox and Mark Lathwell suffered disappointments as they sought to build overdue scores.

Unbeaten on 22 overnight, Cox was looking to end a poor run by his standards, which had seen him pass 30 only once in eight Championship innings.

But the sequence continued as, having added only three to his score, the Somerset skipper was judged lbw pushing forward to John Wood.

Lathwell, who resumed on 25, was soon looking in the sort of form to achieve his first Championship half-century since 1998 after missing the whole of last season with a knee injury.

The former England player was untroubled progressing to 39, but then fell in almost identical fashion to Cox as his forward defensive shot was beaten by Paul Collingwood.

Rob Turner and Peter Bowler took the score to 92-2 before accepting the umpires' offer to go off for bad light.

There had been claps of thunder and another storm caused play to be abandoned for the day, putting much of the outfield under water.

Wood had taken 1-5 from his five overs, while Collingwood also had tidy figures of 1-7 from three overs.

A draw will suit Somerset more than Durham, who are desperately trying to make up ground on their opponents and fourth-from-bottom Kent in the battle to remain in the top flight.