The Somerset players left Taunton earlier this afternoon to drive to Scarborough where they play Yorkshire in the county championship tomorrow.

After their drawn game against Surrey over the weekend there was a mood of confidence in the camp before they set off.

Coach Kevin Shine told me: "The county championship table is wide open, apart from Surrey who seem to be running away with it at the top.At present there are only ten points between ourselves and Hampshire who are in third place, and they have a game in hand, so we will be looking to consolidate our position when we play Yorkshire."

The coach continued: "We picked up decent points against Surrey over the weekend on a good wicket at Taunton. To win you have to play exciting cricket, and with our resources we have to plan carefully. Scarborough can be a funny wicket, and it will be very interesting to see what they do with it."

He went on: "Last time they left a lot of grass on the wicket, so we will wait and see what they do this time. We have got a well balanced attack with Graham Rose, Steffan Jones and Matt Bulbeck, and Ian Blackwell and Keith Dutch."

The coach concluded: "We are going up there with confidence and will perform as professionals."

Jamie Cox , who will miss the championship match, but is expected to play in the NUL game on Sunday told me: "In short we need points to move ourselves up and away from the congestion in the table and into a better position."

Matt Wood, who scored a hundred in each of his innings against Surrey at Taunton told me: "We need a good result up there, and I hope that my run of good form continues."

Somerset bring veteran all rounder Graham Rose into replace the injured Simon Francis, and take the highly rated eighteen year old batsman Arul Suppiah as twelfth man.

The full squad is: Matt Wood, Piran Holloway, Mike Burns, Peter Bowler, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Graham Rose, Matt Bulbeck, Steffan Jones and twelfth man Arul Suppiah.

© SOMERSET