SCARBOROUGH

(Day two of four, Yorkshire won toss)

Somerset 380 (I Blackwell 127 not out; M Hoggard 4-42)

Lunch

After the murk of the first day, we have glorious weather here today and the game continues to ebb and flow nicely like the tide in the nearby North Bay. Yorkshire worked their way back into the game with three wickets for 52 runs, leaving Somerset on 219 for six. But a half-century from Ian Blackwell has restored the visiting side’s hopes of pushing for the victory that would boost their hopes of winning a first county championship.

Blackwell, timing the ball sweetly, reached his fifty from 72 balls after Matthew Hoggard had Arul Suppiah caught behind, Tim Bresnan had James Hildreth caught at slip. Craig Kieswetter was then unluckily caught at cover after a full-blooded cut deflected off Richard Pyrah at silly point.

Tea

Ian Blackwell’s excellent century has put Somerset in a powerful position as they were dismissed for 380 just before tea. Rarely troubled as he timed the ball sweetly on this easy-paced pitch, he reached his third hundred of the season from 137 balls with his twelfth four, a chip over midwicket off Adil Rashid.

With the Somerset tail, Blackwell eked out 56 runs from the last three wickets to earn Somerset four out of five batting points as they push for their first county championship. For Yorkshire, Matthew Hoggard took two wickets in a fine spell with the second new ball to finish with four for 42.