Somerset v Yorkshire: Yorkshire subjected to further torture at Taunton

Set 362 to win off a minimum of 68 overs after the captains had agreed to contrive a finish, the home side went into overdrive after tea through James Hildreth's exhilarating 68-ball century and Zander de Bruyn (93), reaching their target with 5.2 overs to spare.

In the corresponding game last season Somerset won after being set 476 at a similar asking rate of just over five runs an over. With that in mind, Rudolph might have been forgiven for not giving them a squeak in this contest.

Instead, Yorkshire suffered their first Championship defeat of the season in a game they had controlled for long periods but their the captain had no regrets.

"I spoke to Andrew Gale the previous evening and we agreed that we wanted to play aggressive cricket this season," said Rudolph. "The way the competition is set up this season we were risking three points and I have no regrets.

"Somerset played unbelievably well after tea and losing Tino Best with injury was a bit of a captain's nightmare. Last year did enter my calculations a bit, but we didn't have Adil Rashid and David Wainwright then so I didn't let it affect my thoughts too much.

"There is always a winner and a loser and the important thing is that we were defeated trying to be positive."

For more than an hour at the start of the day a sparse crowd had to pay the price for their later entertainment as Rudolph and Anthony McGrath were fed runs by the bowling partnership of Hildreth and Nick Compton, neither of whom is ever likely to be admitted to the spinners' union.

The only problem the batsmen had with their mixture of juicy full-tosses and enticing long-hops was scoring slowly enough to meet the demands of the agreed target.

McGrath, unbeaten on 38 at the outset, could have helped himself to a meaningless century. Instead, he drove at Hildreth, having added 45 to his score, and gave a catch to Compton at slip.

Rudolph had progressed to 66 when a swing at Compton saw him caught at point by Zander de Bruyn. That was at 273-4 and Yorkshire were to add a further 60 before the declaration brought a merciful release for players and spectators alike.

The real business of the day could begin as Somerset set about their target. Marcus Trescothick was beaten by the first ball of the innings from Steven Patterson, but then cover drove him for two fours in the opening over.

By lunch the home side had reached 21-0 and the afternoon session saw them progress to 37 before Patterson sent Arul Suppiah's off stump spinning out of the ground with a good length delivery.

Rudolph opted to open the attack with Oliver Hannon-Dalby in tandem with Patterson and kept Best back until the 19th over. It may have been because of an injury doubt about the West Indies paceman, who hobbled off the field clutching a quad muscle after sending down only two overs.

Rashid was introduced for the 23rd over in place of Best and it was a straight six by Compton off the leg-spinner which brought up the 100.

Trescothick had reined himself back to reach a half-century off 77 balls, with five fours, but still looked a major threat. That was until he connected sweetly with a lofted drive off Rashid, but failed to put enough into the shot to clear long-on where Wainwright took a simple catch.

Somerset were 116-2 in the 27th over. Compton emerged from a sketchy start to get to fifty off 60 balls, driving the ball powerfully whenever it was in the slot, and together with de Bruyn took the total to 165.

But Rashid was turning some deliveries sharply and when Compton drove once too often at a flighted ball an outside edge saw him caught at point by Adam Lyth.

Unfortunately for Yorkshire that brought in the remaining batsman most likely to win the game for the home side. Hildreth has been in tremendous form in recent weeks and was soon reverse sweeping with terrific timing among other more orthodox attacking shots.

The more textbook approach of de Bruyn took him to a half-century off 74 balls, while Hildreth blitzed his way to fifty off just 35.

When the mandatory 16 overs in the final hour began Somerset required 104 and looked strong favourites, especially when Hildreth took two boundaries and de Bruyn one off the first of them from Patterson.

Rudolph spread his field far and wide, but the number of misfields increased under pressure and the result was never again in doubt. By the time de Bruyn departed to a catch at long-off only 48 were needed off 11 overs.

Hildreth reached a magnificent hundred, which featured 10 fours and a six, while Jos Buttler's 17-ball innings of 31 put the icing on Somerset's cake.

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DISPLAY OF THE DAY

James Hildreth

Blasted an unbeaten century and his 149-run stand for the fourth wicket with Zander de Bruyn formed the basis of Somerset's successful run chase.

Hildreth posted his century from just 68 balls and amassed 10 fours and a six.

Somerset v Yorkshire

Taunton: Somerset (21pts) beat Yorkshire (6pts) by 6 wkts.

Overnight: Somerset 377, Yorkshire 405 and 154-2.

Yorkshire First Innings

A Lyth c Phillips b de Bruyn 142

J J Sayers c Kartik b Phillips 50

A McGrath c Trego b Phillips 73

J A Rudolph c de Bruyn b Phillips 11

G S Ballance c Buttler b Phillips 4

S A Patterson c Kartik b Thomas 25

J M Bairstow c Compton b Kartik 17

A U Rashid b Thomas 1

D J Wainwright c Phillips b Kartik 39

T L Best lbw b Kartik 15

O J Hannon-Dalby not out 2

Extras b9 lb5 w2 nb10 26

Total (131.5 overs) 405

Fall: 1-115 2-251 3-280 4-286 5-297

6-339 7-343 8-343 9-359.

Bowling: Willoughby 29 8 95 0; Phillips 36 13 76 4; Thomas 18 6 60 2; Trego 7 0 40 0; Kartik 35.5 8 106 3; Compton 1 0 2 0; Suppiah 3 1 3 0; de Bruyn 2 1 9 1.

Somerset First Innings

M E Trescothick lbw b Hannon-Dalby 39

A V Suppiah c Rudolph b Wainwright 99

N R D Compton c Bairstow b Patterson 5

Z de Bruyn b A U Rashid 47

J C Hildreth c McGrath b A U Rashid 31

J C Buttler c Lyth b Wainwright 52

P D Trego lbw b Hannon-Dalby 22

B J Phillips lbw b A U Rashid 16

A C Thomas c Bairstow b A U Rashid 14

M Kartik not out 15

C M Willoughby b Wainwright 10

Extras b4 lb16 w7 27

Total (104.4 overs) 377

Fall: 1-51 2-60 3-160 4-204 5-285 6-296 7-324 8-350 9-360.

Bowling: Best 19 2 95 0; Patterson 22 7 54 1; Hannon-Dalby 20 3 50 2; McGrath 9 2 25 0; Wainwright 15.4 3 48 3; A U Rashid 19 0 85 4.

Yorkshire Second Innings

A Lyth lbw b Kartik 93

J J Sayers lbw b Thomas 12

A McGrath c Compton b Hildreth 83

J A Rudolph c de Bruyn b Compton 66

G S Ballance not out 31

J M Bairstow not out 29

Extras b8 w1 nb10 19

Total 4 wkts dec (74 overs) 333

Fall: 1-39 2-154 3-269 4-273

Bowling: Willoughby 10 1 35 0, Phillips 6 1 14 0, Thomas 8 1 20 1, Kartik 18 2 48 1, de Bruyn 6 0 29 0, Compton 13 0 84 1, Hildreth 13 0 95 1.

Somerset Second Innings

M E Trescothick c Wainwright b A U Rashid 53

A V Suppiah b Patterson 16

N R D Compton c Lyth b A U Rashid 65

Z de Bruyn c McGrath b Wainwright 93

J C Hildreth not out 102

J C Buttler not out 31

Extras b1 lb3 4

Total 4 wkts (65.4 overs) 364

Fall: 1-37 2-116 3-165 4-314.

Total Bonus Pts: Somerset 5 Yorkshire 6

Bowling: Patterson 19 2 96 1, Hannon-Dalby 12 2 47 0, Best 2 0 16 0, Wainwright 12 1 78 1, A U Rashid 20.4 0 123 2.

Umpires: N L Bainton and M A Gough.

Top Bonus Pts

P W D L Bat Bwl Pts

Notts 5 4 0 1 17 15 96

Yorkshire 6 3 2 1 17 18 89

Lancs 5 3 2 0 14 15 83

Durham 5 2 2 1 12 9 59