SOMERSET'S Rob Turner was enjoying a frolic by the sea as he was hitting the Sussex attack for a quickfire 37 from 34 balls.

But after Jason Lewry sent his off-stump four yards closer to the sightscreen in the 11th over, with the score on 52, Somerset made particularly heavy weather of chasing a modest target on a largely blameless pitch.

By the halfway stage, Somerset had stumbled to 85 for five, and only a pragmatic innings from Graham Rose, who came in when the score was 113 for six in the 27th over, and some late blows from Andrew Caddick, enabled Somerset to squeeze home by two wickets with nine balls to spare. And even then it took an extraordinary short-pitched delivery from Michael Bevan that was deemed to be a wide for Somerset to limp home.

The Sussex innings was a strange and relatively shapeless affair after the home side had lost three wickets in the first 13 overs. Bevan, who scored his second consecutive AXA League fifty, batted for 31 overs, yet faced only 64 balls. Time and again he would push the first ball of an over for a single and then watch helplessly as five dot balls were then bowled.

Somerset's bowling was generally disciplined and their fielding committed, but there were plenty of singles to be had. And even allowing for an off-colour batting display, it is nevertheless curious when the one batsman capable of keeping the scoreboard ticking over receives only a third of the strike.

But at least Bevan's innings, which included only four boundaries, and some sensible support from Lewry in a ninth-wicket stand of 26, enabled Sussex to set some sort of target.