Yorkshire fight back at Somerset before rain

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (day two)

Yorkshire 162: Gregory 6-43 & 13-0

Somerset 274: Thomas 136; White 4-41

Yorkshire (3 pts) trail Somerset (4 pts) by 99 runs

Match scorecard

Yorkshire staged a spirited fightback on day two of the County Championship match against Somerset at Taunton.

Seamer Jack White played a starring role, returning figures of 4-41 from 16 overs as Somerset were bowled out for 274, losing their last seven wickets for just 73 runs in 28 overs.

In-form Tom Abell registered 50 and Will Smeed an unbeaten 36, but the morning session belonged to the visitors, who bowled and fielded with intensity to restrict their opponents to a first-innings lead of 112.

Yorkshire openers Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean then negotiated 4.3 overs before rain moved in, causing 62.3 overs to be lost in the day. Yorkshire will resume their second innings on 13 without loss, trailing by 99, their chances of saving the game materially enhanced by the elements.

Charged with the task of restoring lost pride after having been outplayed on the first day, resurgent Yorkshire enjoyed the best possible start, claiming two wickets in three overs without conceding a run to partially redress the balance. The visitors' most incisive bowler this season, White removed Josh Thomas and teenager Thomas Rew in the space of three deliveries from the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion end as Somerset slipped to 201-5.

Unable to add to his overnight 136, Thomas deflected an inside edge to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, while Rew, making only his second first-class appearance, steered a defensive edge to Bean at third slip without troubling the scorers.

Having adopted a supporting role in a lucrative stand of 166 for the fourth wicket, Abell now took centre stage, going to a carefully-crafted 50 from 140 balls with a six and a quartet of fours.

But his resistance was cut short by the deserving George Hill, who lured him half forward and induced a nick to Joe Root at first slip with the score 223-6 in the 62nd. Introduced at the river end, Logan van Beek then got in on the act, nipping one back off the seam to bowl Craig Overton and accelerate the Somerset decline.