Live: Somerset v Yorkshire Men, Rothesay CC, Day Four

The seconds are off for the day down the road at Taunton Vale, but things do look brighter here.

The covers are coming off now.

It continues to rain here at Taunton, and pretty hard as well.

We certainly won’t be resuming immediately after lunch, which was due to finish at 1pm.

We’re off again, with Adam Lyth on 18 and Dom Bess 2.

Looks much darker now than it did when rain interrupted us for the first time this morning. But lunch will be taken early.

George Hill lbw Jack Leach, 4.

Pushing forwards and Hill is gone. Question mark over whether it may have been going down leg. Borderline.

Dom Bess is in now alongside Adam Lyth, 17.

Yorkshire 56-5 from 16 overs, and we have 78 remaining in the day.

So we’ve lost four from the allotted 96.

Jack Leach is on now.

Good news. The rain has passed through.

We will lose a couple of overs from the allotted 96.

The sun is shining, but the rain has just hit us hard.

The suspicion is that, this time, it won’t last for long. Having said that, we’ve said that kind of thing before!

Adam Lyth has 16, George Hill 4.

A declaration and an innings forfeit in the second-team game down the road at Taunton Vale, and Somerset are chasing 447 in a minimum of 79 overs to beat Yorkshire.

Matthew Revis caught behind James Rew bowled Ben Green, 9.

Revis is undone playing loosely outside off-stump.

Somerset have an opening here, as long as we get a full day’s play.

George Hill in now alongside Adam Lyth, 16.

Adam Lyth has 16 and Matthew Revis 7.

Yorkshire are going to have to play really well here to get a bonus point for reaching 250.

Revis has just worked Ben Green’s seam wide of mid-on for four.

We have played through a bit of rain in the last 20 minutes or so, but it’s blown through.

Jonny Bairstow caught Tom Kohler-Cadmore bowled Josh Davey, 2.

Caught at first slip, and Somerset are on the charge.

Matthew Revis in now alongside Adam Lyth, who has 14.

Jonny Bairstow has just had some treatment for a left-arm injury from Ed Owen, Yorkshire’s physio.

Not sure how he did it, but he’s continuing.

Yorkshire 39-3 after eight overs.

James Wharton bowled Josh Davey, 1.

Wharton attempts to leave alone and has the top of off-stump clipped.

Yorkshire in some early strife as Jonny Bairstow strides to the crease.

Mayank Agarwal caught Tom Abell bowled Lewis Gregory, 0.

Oh no.

Agarwal has fallen first ball caught at third slip.

James Wharton in now.

Fin Bean caught behind James Rew bowled Lewis Gregory, 10.

Pushing forwards, lovely delivery.

Mayank Agarwal in now on debut alongside Adam Lyth, who has 11.

Underway here at Taunton, where we have 96 overs scheduled for day four.

Yorkshire are 424 runs in arrears.

The target today will be something like 350. That would be a good return for three batting points.

Adam Lyth 4, Fin Bean 7.

Bean is facing the seam of Josh Davey.

Hampshire were charged with a breach of the ECB Pitch Regulations on June 3, following an investigation by the Cricket Regulator.

This investigation was launched after the match officials rated the pitch for the Hampshire v Sussex Rothesay County Championship match on May 23-25 as “below average”.

That’s good news for Yorkshire, with Hampshire dropping below them in the Division One table. That could change later today given their return clash with Sussex at Hove sees the hosts at 37-1 chasing 241 more to win.

Matt Milnes is bowling to a mitt at present on one of the practice pitches, and Yorkshire are hopeful he will be fit for Sussex next week after suffering a groin injury in the final Metro Bank One-Day Cup game against Hampshire recently.

From the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, where the sun is shining ahead of a 10.30am start on day four.

Weather wise, it may be a similar pattern to yesterday in that we get started but are disrupted later on by the rain. Fingers crossed not.

The likelihood is that, with Yorkshire 17-0 after two overs of their first innings in reply to 441-6 declared, this match finishes in a draw. But it’s not completely certain just yet.

There’s the prospect of a contrivance, especially given Somerset are in desperate need of a win to try and maintain pace with title-chasing pair Surrey and Nottinghamshire. They are realistically going to have win their last three games and hope for the best.

If that was to be the case, any agreement would have to be significantly weighted in Yorkshire’s favour given they would probably have to declare their first innings without bonus points. Is that worth the risk given a draw would be a satisfactory outcome in the bid to secure their Division One future?

Last night, Jonny Bairstow said no discussions had taken place on that front. If that remains the case, we will just be watching a pursuit of bonus points.

Yorkshire have one bowling point under their belts already, and they need to get to 250 today for a a batting point.

It could be quite entertaining if, say, we get around 50 overs of play in the day.

All ifs, buts and maybes. We will get a better idea if the sun continues to shine.

Our match report, including a few of Bairstow’s thoughts, is available via the embedded X post above.

Enjoy the day.