After a tense finish at the County Ground, Somerset had to settle for a draw from their championship match as the Warwickshire last wicket pair hung on to deprive the Cidermen of what would have been a thoroughly deserved victory.

Somerset got an early breakthrough this morning when Matt Bulbeck captured the wicket of Nick Knight with the third ball of the day.

Shortly afterwards Richard Johnson struck another blow when he disposed of Mark Wagh, who was caught by Mike Burns, to make Warwickshire 50 for 3.

Dominic Ostler and Ian Bell added 97 for the fourth wicket, but just before the lunch interval Ostler was bowled by Simon Francis and the visitors went into the break at 154 for 4.

Douggie Brown and Bell looked comfortable for a long period post lunch until Keith Dutch had Brown caught by wicket-keeper Rob Turner for 30 after the pair had added 65, and Warwickshire were 212 for 5.

All the while that Bell remained at the wicket Warwickshire seemed likely to hold on for a draw but Francis changed things when he tempted the young England hopeful to give a catch to Keith Dutch at slip after scoring 77.

Just before tea Johnson made further inroads when he had Graham Wagg caught by Keith Parsons for 9.

Warwickshire went into the interval 232 for 7, still 267 runs short of their target with 34 overs remaining to bat out for the draw whilst Somerset still needed to take three more wickets to earn that much needed victory.

After tea Somerset skipper Jamie Cox turned to his spinners to try to tempt out the batsmen, but it was Johnson returning with the new ball who got the next vital wicket. when he dismissed Neil Smith LBW for 17.

Going into the last hour, and with sixteen overs remaining the Warwickshire pair of Shane Bond and Ian Clifford had taken their side onto 264 for 8.

Once again it was Johnson who took another all important wicket when he accounted for Clifford who had batted for twenty four overs for his 4 runs.

Try as they may however Johnson and Francis could not remove the final pair of Neil Carter and Bond who held out for 12 overs to earn Warwickshire what had earlier in the day seemed an unlikely draw.

At the end of the day Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "What a fantastic game of cricket and we were in control of the game all the way through. We missed a couple of chances at the end and allowed them to bat out."

He continued: "Our batting and bowling was excellent throughout, and it's just a shame that we couldn't quite get that last wicket. However if we take this form into our last four matches it looks very positive for us."

Somerset all rounder Mike Burns, himself a former Warwickshire player told me: "Of course it is very disappointing, because we played some good cricket throughout, but we are very positive, and if we can carry on like this for the rest of the season we have every chance of staying up."

© SOMERSET