Davies ton against former side puts Somerset on top

A maiden Somerset century from Steven Davies against his former club put the hosts in a good position at the end of a rain-affected second day against Surrey at Taunton.

On a day when 33.1 overs were lost because of the weather, overnight batsmen Davies and Tom Abell extended their scores to 142 and 96 respectively as the home side ran up 436 in their first innings. Dom Bess contributed a career-best 55. By the close, Surrey had replied with 69 for 1, with Mark Stoneman unbeaten on 34, and trailed by 367 in a match that could have a significant impact on the fight to retain Division One status.

Somerset began the day on 234 for 4 and Abell, who began on 88, square drove Stuart Meaker to the boundary to move into the 90s. The home skipper looked to be heading towards his first century of the season, when he was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes off Rikki Clarke.

Abell's partnership with Davies added 155 for the fifth wicket to take Somerset onto 251. Davies, who set out on 68, was lucky to survive a chance down the leg side to Foakes when he also edged Clarke. Meaker then struck twice from the River End when he had Jim Allenby caught by Foakes for 9 and two balls later accounted for Craig Overton, leg-before to a delivery that straightened.

Bess quickly got into his stride and his first two shots found the boundary. The 20-year-old was the perfect foil for Davies, who apart from his one lapse, batted fluently. The wicketkeeper went to his first century for Somerset when he drove Tom Curran to the midwicket boundary, his runs coming off 147 deliveries and containing 11 fours and one six.

By the time lunch was taken Somerset had moved on to 357 for 7, Davies unbeaten on 128 and Bess on 41. Immediately after the break Bess came out and hit three successive boundaries off Clarke's first over to go his maiden fifty for Somerset, which came off 66 balls and contained 10 fours.

Shortly afterwards Gareth Batty accounted for Bess, bowled by a quicker delivery after adding 110 with Davies, a new highest eighth-wicket partnership for Somerset against Surrey.

Davies had taken his own total onto 142 when he drove Sam Curran straight to Jason Roy at short cover leaving Somerset needing 12 more runs to reach maximum batting points. Last man Tim Groenewald wasted no time in setting about the task and his first shot found the boundary at midwicket off Sam Curran. However, then the rain started to fall and the players left the field for an early tea, with Somerset on 394.

When they returned an hour and 40 minutes later Leach took the crucial single off Sam Curran to see up the 400, but Somerset weren't done yet as the last pair added 48 together before Groenewald was caught by Scott Borthwick off his own bowling for 31 off 23 balls.

With a possible 32 overs remaining in the day, Surrey had moved onto 58 when a mid-pitch mix-up with Stoneman led to Rory Burns being run out by Tim Rouse for 30.