After seeing Division One strugglers end the day with nearly four hundred runs on the board after being put into bat, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me, "It's been a hard slog out there today for the boys. We need to try to get points on the board."

I asked him if the intention was always going to be to ask Northants to bat if Somerset won the toss. He told me "The conditions just before the captains tossed up became very overcast, in fact it looked like the end of the world, and that changed the decision and we put them in."

He went on "We've bowled and fielded better, but it hasn't been a bad display out there by the team. It's been a slog on an excellent wicket with pace but no swing. Now we have to work hard and get as many points on the board as we can before the 130 overs."

When he heard that the weather forecast was'nt looking all that good for the next few days the coach said,"If the game is called off because of the weather we will get five points which is what we need. However we didn't go into this game thinking that we only needed five points we went into this one to win it to make sure of the runner's up spot."

© SOMERSET