Bowler, Burns and Blackwell tighten Somerset's grip on match against Glamorgan

Somerset tightened their grip on the county championship match against Glamorgan at Taunton and by the end of the second day's play they had a first innings lead of 194 with four wickets remaining.

Resuming on 161 for 1 captain Mike Burns, who was 33 not out overnight, set out his stall early on and took 10 runs off an over from Alex Wharf to bring up his own half century and his sides 200.

He quickly passed his partner Peter Bowler, who had resumed on 51 not out, and on the stroke of noon played an imperious cover drive and seemed to be heading towards a well deserved century.

However with the total on 249 he was somewhat surprisingly bowled leg stump by Adrian Dale for 82, after putting on 128 for the second wicket with Bowler. During his innings Burns faced 119 balls and scored 13 x 4's.

Jamie Cox announced his arrival at the crease with a trademark cover drive, and appeared to be in cracking form displaying an array of attacking shots.

Meanwhile, Bowler had been going along steadily and was batting like a man destined to reach his century. However Dale had other ideas and just a few minutes before lunch with the total on 290, Bowler gave a straightforward catch to Wharf at mid on. The veteran opener had been at the wicket over 4 ¾ hours to compile his 92 and faced 227 balls and hit ten boundaries.

Shortly after lunch Bryant and Cox brought up the 300 but within half an hour of returning from the interval the players left the field because of rain.

The rain caused the loss of eleven overs and kept the players off the field for forty minutes, but shortly after they returned Cox was disappointingly trapped LBW by Wharf after scoring an impressive 29 runs.

Cox's dismissal signalled the arrival of Ian Blackwell who was making his first championship appearance of the season at Taunton. The situation was ideal for the all rounder who was quickly into his stride and took runs almost at will from Robert Croft, who he hit for 16 runs from one over.

Along with Bryant the left hander brought up the fifty partnership from six overs, and looked to be going well until with his score on 42 he played a ball from David Harrison onto his stumps. `Blackie' had faced just 27 balls and scored seven four's.

Bryant became Dales third victim when he was out LBW to bring Aaron Laraman to the wicket and by teatime Rob Turner (12 not out) and Laraman (0 not out) had taken the Cidermen onto 394 for 6, before the rain started to fall again to prevent any further play.

After play was abandoned for the day just before six o'clock, Somerset coach Kevin Shine said: "It has been very frustrating that we have been denied 43 overs play today, and we will have to try and gauge how many more overs of play might be possible before we decide what we are going to do. We have got two days of play left and we will be pushing hard to get a victory."

He continued: "The skipper batted well today and it's nice to see Mike back in the runs again and Peter Bowler got a good 90 odd. The wicket looks like it could have quickened up a little which suits us with Nixon McLean, Richard Johnson and Simon Francis all in good form, so tomorrow we will be hoping that we can get a days play and push hard for a victory."

Paceman Johnson is suffering from a slight groin strain, and whilst he will bowl for Somerset in the Glamorgan second innings he will not be fit enough to be available for selection for the first Test match against Zimbabwe that gets underway next Thursday