COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Edgbaston:
Somerset 268 & 183 beat Warwickshire 140 & 130 by 181 runs
Warwicks 3pts, Somerset 21pts
Match scorecard

Kartik added six wickets to the 5-30 he took in the Warwickshire first innings

Somerset spinner Murali Kartik took six wickets to finish with 11 in the match as Warwickshire were beaten inside three days at Edgbaston.

Resuming on 151-8, Somerset moved to 183 all out, Ben Phillips making 55.

Needing 312 to win, the Bears folded for just 130 with Kartik picking up 6-42 and only Varun Chopra (46) offering any meaningful resistance.

Kartik ended with a match haul of 11-72 as Somerset won their third straight Championship match by 181 runs.

Somerset's three-day win came despite a lengthy afternoon downpour with Kartik, who picked up 6-61 in Warwickshire's defeat at Taunton in May, again tormenting the Bears.

The day began with Warwickshire leg-spinner Imran Tahir taking the final two Somerset wickets to finish with figures of 6-58, but only after Phillips had completed his half-century with a six on to the roof of the Eric Hollies Stand.

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Set the highest score of the match for victory, Warwickshire were in need of a good start but lost an opener with less than 10 on the board for the 12th time in 16 Championship innings when Darren Maddy edged Charl Willoughby (2-20) to slip.

Chopra and Ian Westwood (22) set about the rebuilding operation with a second-wicket stand of 57 but when Westwood was removed by a good catch by wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter off Phillips, it sparked a collapse that saw the Bears lose five wickets for 31 runs.

Kartik claimed three wickets in four overs and was only halted by a rain delay that kept the players in the pavilion for nearly three hours.

On the resumption, the Indian ran through the tail to put Somerset third in Division One and send Warwickshire to their third home defeat of the season.

BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's Clive Eakin:
"Normally having an international-class spinner in your side taking lots of wickets makes a county a formidable outfit.

"But even though Imran Tahir is now the first division's top wicket taker, by some distance with 37, the Bears are heading for a return to the bottom of the table.

"It's not hard to see why, but it is tricky coming up with a solution.

"The batting form is desperate. Four games without a single batting point, and no first-innings score above 150 in those games.

"In fairness there have been mitigating circumstances in this match. The pitch has offered variation in bounce and turn for Somerset's own world-class spinner Murali Kartik.

"One positive was Varun Chopra's performance, and although he missed out on a half-century again, he looked good until falling to an unplayable grubber."

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