Leicestershire 95 for 3 trail Somerset 461 for 9 dec (van der Merwe 76, Davey 75*, de Lange 75) by 366 runs
Josh Davey's career best 75 not out helped Somerset dominate the second day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Leicestershire at Taunton.
The Group Two leaders began by extending their first-innings score from a precarious 242 for 7 to 461 for 9 declared, Davey sharing century stands with Roelof van der Merwe, who scored 76, and Marchant de Lange, who reached 75.
Then Somerset's seamers got to work, reducing Leicestershire to 60 for 3 in reply. They closed a final session curtailed by rain on 95 for 3, with skipper Colin Ackermann unbeaten on 21.
The day began under cloudy skies at the Cooper Associates County Ground, with van der Merwe on 18 and Davey 4. The former proved the aggressor, taking successive boundaries off Ben Mike as the total advanced to 272 for 7 before the second new ball was taken.
It made little difference as van der Merwe moved confidently to fifty off 70 balls, with six fours and a six. He and Davey looked untroubled in extending their eighth-wicket partnership to 102.
Ed Barnes eventually had van der Merwe caught at long-on to end an innings that had transformed Somerset's prospects. But if Leicestershire thought their troubles were over, de Lange was about to prove them wrong. On no fewer than six occasions, the powerful South African swung from the hip to clear the ropes over mid-wicket. And all the time Davey was patiently accumulating to reach his first Championship half-century for Somerset off 144 balls.
It was 408 for 8 for lunch, by which time de Lange had reached a 38-ball fifty and the hosts were looking to bat only once in the game.
They had progressed to 446 when de Lange was caught at long-on off Callum Parkinson. It remained for Davey to go past his previous best first-class score of 71, made for Middlesex on debut against Oxford University back in 2010. At the declaration, the Scotland one-day and T20 international, often an unsung hero of Somerset's team, had faced 169 balls and hit 11 fours.
All the momentum was with the home side and they maintained it before tea, claiming the wickets of Lewis Hill, Rishi Patel and Marcus Harris to leave their opponents 60 for 3.
Skipper Craig Overton dropped Hill on 14 at third slip off Jack Brooks, but responded by pinning the opener lbw with the first ball of the following over.
Brooks and Davey claimed a wicket apiece before Ackermann dug in, receiving solid support from Josh Inglis in an unbroken stand of 35.
The action looked set to continue beyond 7pm to make up for overs lost on day one. But heavy rain set in and the umpires called play off shortly before 6pm.
Josh Davey
Roelof van der Merwe
Marchant de Lange
Leicestershire
Somerset
Somerset vs Leics
County Championship
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