COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Taunton:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO: Lancashire 344, Somerset 266-3 (Somerset 5pts, Lancs 4pts)
9-12 September 2009

Marcus Trescothick has now hit 1,745 County Championship runs this season

Somerset's hopes of still being in contention for the County Championship title are now in the realms of fantasy.

But they might still play a part in who goes down from Division One after dominating day two against relegation-threatened Lancashire at Taunton.

Despite Paul Horton's career-best 173, Lancs lost their last five wickets for just 47 in being bowled out for 344.

Marcus Trescothick then hit 102, backed by Arul Suppiah's 95 as Somerset ended the day handily placed on 266-3.

Trescothick, already the country's leading run scorer took his Championship tally for the season to 1,745, hitting his eighth century of the summer.

He shared an opening stand of 193 with Suppiah - their eighth century stand of the season.

Earlier, Charl Willoughby took three of the five Lancashire wickets to fall, finishing with 5-109.

Willoughby's efforts took him past 50 first-class wickets for the season, a feat the South African left-arm seamer has achieved in all of his four years as a Somerset player.

It was the home side's day from the moment Kyle Hogg was caught at first slip off Willoughby without adding to his overnight 69.

Willoughby then trapped Lancs skipper Glen Chapple for a duck. And Saj Mahmood was dropped in the slips before being caught at cover.

Horton's magnificent effort finally ended, caught behind looking to hook Willoughby, having faced 287 balls. And Somerset wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter picked up his sixth catch of the innings to dismiss Oliver Newby for 13.

Trescothick needed a few moments of fortune himself, surviving some close appeals, but also produced some thumping trademark shots.

His half-century included 48 in boundaries, nine fours and two sixes off Gary Keedy, one of which sailed into the stand named after him.

He fell to the fourth ball after tea, bowled by Mahmood off an inside edge.

Suppiah, already past 1,000 runs in his best-ever season, lost nothing by comparison and had hit 16 fours and a six in his 178-ball innings when he lost his off-stump to Chapple.

James Hildreth fell cheaply to Mahmood, who bowled well after tea. But Zander de Bruyn was 36 not out when shadows across the pitch ended play five overs early.

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