After rain had caused the loss of much of the afternoon at Bath, skipper Jamie Cox took everyone by surprise when he declared the Somerset innings closed just after teatime, 91 runs adrift of the Hampshire total of 252.

His decision however was more than proved right when he saw Richard Johnson take a wicket with his first ball, another wicket in his second over, and then Matt Bulbeck on a hat trick.

When the umpires offered the Hampshire batsmen the light they were only too happy to accept it and left the field with the score on 4 wickets for 3 runs, with play finally being called off at 6.15pm.

Earlier in the day the middle order Somerset batsmen applied themselves well to take their overnight score of 79 for 5 onto 161 for 9, thanks to valuable contributions from Ian Blackwell (43) Rob Turner (33) and Keith Dutch (24).

At the end of play Kevin Shine told me: "It was a good fighting effort from the batters this morning, and then a very intelligent declaration that caught everyone unawares, followed by some fantastic attacking bowling by `Johnno' and `Bully' backed up by some good catching."

The coach concluded: "If we get a full days play tomorrow, and with the pitch not getting any easier we could have a fantastic game of cricket on our hands."

© SOMERSET