A lot will be expected of the Somerset batsmen when they resume their innings in the morning

The first target for the not out batsmen Mike Burns (51) and Keith Parsons (13)will be 458 to avoid the follow on, but knowing that they will be without the services of paceman Simon Francis for the Surrey second innings they will be hoping for a lot more.

Early on this morning Mark Ramprakash brought up his double century, before he was out to Steffan Jones after giving an impressive demonstration of his batting talents, that had spread over four sessions of play.

Ricky Clarke and Ed Giddins then took the Surrey score onto 608 for 6 until just before lunchtime, skipper Adam Hollioake called it a day to post a massive challenge to the Somerset batsmen. At the declaration Clarke had made an unbeaten 153, his maiden century in the championship.

During the morning Somerset had lost the services of paceman Simon Francis, who damaged a finger fielding a shot from Ricky Clarke off his own bowling. An x-ray of his injury has revealed that he has broken his finger and will be out for three weeks.

In reply the Cidermen's openers Piran Holloway and Matthew Wood made a superb start and put on 202 for the first wicket, with the Devon youngster scoring the second championship century of his career, before being bowled by Jimmy Ormond for 106.

The opening partnership was a new Somerset record against Surrey at the County Ground beating the previous record of 184 that was set in 1925 by Jack MacBryan (109) and Tom Young (71).

The diminutive Cornishman Holloway also demonstrated an array of attacking shots to announce his arrival back on the first class scene this season, before he too became another victim of Ormond's when with the score on 271 he was caught at slip by Hollioake for 77.

By the close of play the ever dependable pairing of Mike Burns and Keith Parsons had taken Somerset onto 304 for 3 wickets, but there is still a lot of hard work needed from them on Friday.

After the game Kevin Shine told me: "I'm very pleased with the way that things went for us today.We made a great fightback. Going in on a good wicket chasing a big total I've seen it all go downhill, but we batted very professionally."

He continued: "Piran Holloway and Matthew Wood set us off really well, and Woody's century was excellent. He seems to bat better everytime that he goes to the wicket."

Regarding Simon Francis he told me: "He is incredibly unlucky to get an injury. Even this morning he was still beating Mark Ramprakash and was showing his real potential. He is the real thing, and then this happens, we don't need that kind of luck."

© SOMERSET