Somerset 317-6 (96 overs)
Half-centuries from Tom Lammonby and Archie Vaughan guided Somerset into a healthy position on the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One match with Sussex at the Cooper Associates Ground, Taunton.
Lammonby hit 60 and 19-year-old Vaughan a career-best 70 not out as a shuffled Somerset batting line-up posted 317-6 in warm sunshine after losing the toss.
James Rew contributed 46 and Tom Abell 42 on a wicket offering just enough assistance to seam and spin to keep the Sussex bowlers interested throughout the day.
There were two wickets each for Ollie Robinson and Jack Carson as the visiting attack kept a tight rein on the scoring rate for most of the three sessions.
With the pitch an inviting shade of green, it was no surprise when Sussex skipper John Simpson elected to field first, despite cloudless skies and a short boundary on the town side of the ground.
There was a surprise for home supporters when Josh Davey and skipper Lewis Gregory, both more used to operating in the lower order, marched out as a new opening partnership, keen to help their side overcome some poor starts in Championship cricket.
They had taken the score to 21 in the sixth over when Gregory edged a defensive push off Nathan McAndrew to Tom Clark at second slip and departed for 15. But the experiment could be deemed a success as Davey settled in to play with patience and sound technique.
He and Lammonby put together a half-century stand off 109 balls and it wasn’t until the 26th over that Sussex struck again.
Davey, on 28, was judged to have feathered a back-foot defensive shot off Ollie Robinson to wicketkeeper Simpson, who took a good low catch.
Davey was replaced by Rew with the score 79-2. By lunch, it had moved on to 99-2 and Somerset could feel pleased with their morning’s work.
Rew continued his impressive recent form as he and fellow left-hander Lammonby negotiated the opening overs of the afternoon session with few alarms.
Rew had progressed to 46 when attempting to drive a full ball from off-spinner Carson, who was finding some turn, and edging to Tom Haines at slip to make it 149-3.
A single off the same bowler took Lammonby to an impressive 120-ball fifty, including five fours, but he too perished unexpectedly with the score on 176, caught behind nicking a back-foot defensive shot off Carson.
Abell was dropped at slip on 13 off the left-arm spin of James Coles but Sussex continued to make inroads as Tom Banton fell for six, caught at slip off Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
It was another contentious decision as the ball appeared to flick Simpson’s gloves as he stood up to the stumps on its way to the catcher Tom Alsop, but umpire Mike Burns also detected an edge, much to Banton’s obvious astonishment.
The tea score was 193-5, with Abell having battled his way to 16 without looking in great touch. He had been joined by Vaughan, also looking to rediscover his best form after a difficult spell opening the innings in previous games this season.
Both players blossomed at the start of the final session, accelerating the scoring rate and bringing up a 50-stand off 63 balls. A Vaughan boundary to third man off Clark yielded Somerset their first batting bonus point at 250 for five.
Vaughan had been positive from his first delivery, which he crunched through the off-side for four off Hudson-Prentice.
Soon he had overtaken Abell, who fell in the third over with the second new ball, fending a ball from Robinson to Clark at second slip, just when he was starting to flow.
Vaughan moved to a fluent fifty off 79 balls with his ninth four, clipped off his toes to the short boundary off McAndrew.
He then went past his previous best score of 68, made against Lancashire last season, as Craig Overton helped see Somerset to the close.
Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “Archie Vaughan played brilliantly. He has had a tough time at the top of the batting order and we have to look after our young players so we made the changes today and they worked well.
“Lewis Gregory is unable to bowl in this match because of a niggle but he has been in great form with the bat and we still wanted him in the side.
“We also wanted to play four seamers and the best way of getting Josh Davey to fit into the team was to let him open with Lewis.
“He did a great job today. We have long had an intention to move James Rew up the order and, after his few days away training in the England environment, it seemed the right time to do it.
“It looks a really good cricket wicket. The ball has gone past the bat on numerous occasions today but if the bowlers miss their line and length, there are opportunities to score. History suggests it will get easier to bat on as the match progresses.”
Sussex bowling coach James Kirtley said: “We thought the pitch looked a bit moist and that there would be more in it for the bowlers than proved the case.
“We set ourselves a really high bar bowling in the first innings against Worcestershire last week, being relentless at targeting the top of off stump.
“We haven’t been as good today and a couple of sharp chances went down which made the day that bit longer for us.
“It wasn’t us at our best but hopefully the pitch will get easier when we come to bat.”
