Trescothick falls short

Marcus Trescothick

Marcus Trescothick missed out with the bat for Somerset on the day he made himself unavailable for England this winter.

The opener, who has still not fully recovered from a stress-related illness, made 18 off 49 balls before he edged a drive after Justin Langer had won the toss on a rain-hit day in their LV County Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire at the County Ground.

His decision was undermined when Somerset slipped from 140 for one to 180 for five at the close with Ant Botha taking 3-36 from 12 overs.

Showers overnight and shortly before the scheduled start prevented play until just after 3pm but despite the overcast conditions, Somerset elected to bat.

Langer's decision was probably based on the fact that the pitch is the same one used for the Glamorgan game which ended on Monday.

Derbyshire are playing on it again because the game was due to have been staged at Chesterfield but was switched to Derby after rain left the Queen's Park ground saturated.

The inclusion of leg spinner Michael Munday for former Derbyshire pace bowler Steffan Jones suggested Somerset think the used pitch, on which 232 overs were bowled, will become increasingly difficult to bat on.

It was not easy at the start as the Derbyshire seamers made the ball move around and there was plenty of playing and missing.

Trescothick got a single off the first ball but was outscored by Neil Edwards who rode his luck early on to make 49 out of 66 at tea.

He reached his 50, which included 10 fours, off 66 balls and the opening stand was worth 78 when Trescothick was caught behind to give Tom Lungley his 40th championship wicket of the season.

Langer pulled Lungley for six before Derbyshire brought on the spinners who immediately got some turn and bounce.

The Somerset skipper had an escape when he skied a drive at Botha but substitute fielder Boyd Rankin put down a difficult swirling chance as he ran back from mid-on.

But it did not prove costly because two balls later he sliced another drive and this time Graham Wagg at point took the catch to remove the former Australia Test batsman for 22.

Edwards had faced 121 balls and hit 16 fours when he tried to cut a ball from Botha that bounced on him and was caught behind for 94.

James Hildreth skied a pull and Derbyshire claimed another big wicket in the last over of the day when Cameron White was caught behind off pad and bat.