JUSTIN LANGER, a West Countryman for a mere five weeks, has surpassed Bill Alley, Harold Gimblett, Arthur Wellard and everybody else whose life has been yolked to Somerset. He made the highest score in the club’s history yesterday, 342, which was also the seventh-largest innings in county cricket.

The first false shot Langer played was when he was caught at long-on, and that must be put down to tiredness. His was a relentless, remorseless innings, one paced only in the sense that his runs were scored with rapidity throughout. They came from 416 balls, with 43 fours and two sixes, and almost amounted to the highest score by an Australian batsman in England.

That remains the 345 scored by Charlie Macartney at Trent Bridge in 1921 but Langer will settle for a triple century, the highest score of his career.

All his characteristic shots were to the fore: drives through cover, pulls and that shot he squeezes past the fielder who never seems to be sufficiently backward of point.

“For the last seven or eight years I have had the target of a triple century written in my diary,” Langer said, “I have achieved what I wanted. My greatest challenge is mastering concentration and it is a matter of focusing and paying attention to the next ball if I’m going to bat for ten hours. I was pleased because this was a world-class attack.”

There was another very different statistic. Alastair Brown, who had two previous first-class wickets to his name, finished with three for 25, tidy figures indeed compared with the two leg spinners, Ian Salisbury and Anil Kumble. Somerset eventually declared on 688 for eight, their highest total against Surrey.

The visiting team’s obvious hope now is that this flat and dry pitch will take some spin, which has not proved the case thus far. Peter Trego and Charl Willoughby removed the Surrey openers, but Mark Ramprakash, driving delightfully and reaching a halfcentury with nine fours, looks, dare one say, in almost Langer-like touch.

• India Under-19 defeated their England counterparts by nine wickets in the second one-day international in Cardiff yesterday to win the three-match series. England, batting first, were bowled out for 164 in 44.5 overs as Yo Mahesh, the India fast bowler, became the first overseas player to take a hat-trick against England Under-19. Only Adam Luth, with 36, provided any resistance.