Somerset battle to set up tight finish

Nottinghamshire 261 and 112 for 3 (Patel 18, Voges 10*) need 149 more runs to beat Somerset 138 and 383 (Trescothick 98, de Bruyn 54, Kieswetter 52, Fletcher 3-71)
Scorecard

There could be an exciting finish on the final day at Trent Bridge with Nottinghamshire and Somerset neck and neck, and a result assured unless the weather unexpectedly intervenes. The home county, set 261 to win, finished the day on 112 for 3 and two fine batsmen, Samit Patel and Adam Voges, occupation.

Nottinghamshire were required to equal their first-innings total to win the match. Shafayat and Alex Hales put them on their way very well with an opening partnership of 51. Hales was the more aggressive, playing a couple of superb cover drives with all the time in the world. At 27 he was dropped low at first slip by Justin Langer off David Stiff, but he only added one more run when he unwisely tried to pull a ball outside his off stump and sent up a huge catch, which Langer himself claimed.

Stiff in fact looked much better bowling from the pavilion end than he had in the first innings from the Radcliffe Road end, and produced some testing deliveries, although he never eliminated wild balls. He also removed Bilal Shafayat for 32, fencing at a ball moving away outside off stump to be caught by the keeper, while Charl Willoughby returned to trap Mark Wagh lbw for 14. It was a mistake to give him the final over back at Radcliffe Road, as he again found his Sat-Nav in error and produced four leg-side wides. But he may have a big part to play in tomorrow's much anticipated climax.

Somerset began the day at 137 for 3 in their second innings, 14 runs ahead and, it seemed, very reliant on their overnight pair of Marcus Trescothick and Langer if they were to set Nottinghamshire a challenging target. Langer did not last long; after a fluent start he tried too late to withdraw his bat from a delivery from Ealham just outside his off stump and was caught at the wicket for 35. This appeared to be a major blow to the visitors.

Runs came slowly, as Zander de Bruyn showed little of the form of his first innings, but nevertheless hung in and fought hard for his team. There followed about an hour of virtually strokeless play, punctuated by an occasional thumping four from Trescothick. It was not a dominant innings and he made little effort to keep the board ticking over with ones and twos, but he looked like recording a century until, on 98, he reached for a ball from Luke Fletcher uncharacteristically wide of the off stump and swatted it into the hands of point. This was the only piece of luck Fletcher enjoyed before the lunch interval, although he had several frustrating near misses. De Bruyn at the break was still there, with a scratchy but valuable 25 off 70 balls.

The batsmen were more positive after the break, especially Craig Kieswetter, who went after the bowling. He overtook de Bruyn in the thirties, and went on to reach his half-century off 53 balls - celebrating with an extravagant swipe against Ealham and giving the keeper a catch off the bottom edge. His innings was perhaps the one that gave Somerset hope that they still had a chance in this match, but de Bruyn's anchor role did a lot to make it possible. The South African reached his second 50 of the match off 111 balls, still out of touch, before he finally yielded, driving at a ball from Fletcher that removed his off stump for 54.

Somerset at this stage were 304 for 7, 181 ahead. More runs were needed if they were to have more than an outside chance of victory. Peter Trego will still wonder how he came to shoulder arms to a ball from Fletcher that came back only slightly to bowl him comprehensively for 23, but Ben Phillips was the man for the task. He began his assault with a step down the pitch and a big six over midwicket off Ryan Sidebottom, and found good support from Stiff, who made 21 before being stumped.

Somerset may yet consider their jolly stand of 48 for the ninth wicket the turning point of the match; certainly it gave the home team a challenging target. It would have been greater still had Shafayat on the fine-leg boundary not taken a brilliant running and diving catch to remove Phillips, last man out, for 39, with the total 383. The most successful bowlers were Fletcher and Ealham, with three wickets each, but those lower-order runs may yet be the difference.