COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Old Trafford
Lancashire 286 and 191-6 drew with Somerset 343 (Lancs 9pts, Somerset 10pts)

Paul Horton followed his first innings 69 with 68 in the second at Old Trafford

Paul Horton hit his second half century of the match as Lancashire's rain-hit home game with Somerset culminated in an inevitable Old Trafford draw.

Somerset were bowled out for 343 to earn a 57-run first-innings lead.

And there was a brief tremor of concern when Horton's opening partner Tom Smith went for a third-ball duck.

But Horton (68) and Mal Loye (39) put on 106 for the second wicket as Lancashire ended on 191-6 before the two teams finally shook hands.

After a first day lost entirely to rain, Horton had also top scored with 69 out of Lancashire's first innings 286 on Sunday. And his first two fifties in four-day cricket this season are a timely return to the kind of form that saw him become Lancashire's leading County Championship run scorer last summer.

Left-arm spinner Gary Keedy claimed the last three Somerset wickets to fall in their first innings in the morning session to finish with an impressive 4-86 from 25.5 overs.

A positive result for Somerset, the only side with any chance of forcing a win, only appeared the briefest of possibilities when Smith fended the fourth ball of the innings from David Stiff straight to gully.

But Horton and Loye, playing his first Championship match since last September because of knee and calf problems, took the game into calmer waters.

Loye made a painstaking 39 off 139 balls, but it was Horton's day.

Lancashire's player of the year in 2007 amassed 966 Championship runs last summer. And, although his one-day form has been impressive (with two match-winning centuries on the way to the Friends Provident Trophy semi-finals), he had struggled with just 54 runs from six Championship innings.

But he has more than trebled that in the space of one match, hitting 14 boundaries in his 68 before slashing Charl Willoughby to Arul Suppiah at point.

Lancashire coach Peter Moores told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It was a shame that it didn't go the distance, because I think it would have been a good game.

"It was always likely to be a draw because the pitch was too good to bowl a side out in the time that was left.

"It was disappointing to collapse the way we did because we missed out on batting points and the chance to put them under pressure."

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