SOMERSET were forced to settle for a draw on an entertaining final day of their LV County Championship Division One match at Merchant Taylors' School, after a Middlesex declaration on day four almost forced a result.

The home side declared on 132-6 midway through the final day in an effort to force a result - after rain had wiped out nearly 144 overs in the match – setting Somerset 219 to win from 40 overs.

Marcus Trescothick (50) registered his second half-century of the match to set Somerset up for a late assault on the target.

But with 107 needed from the final 15 overs, a flurry of wickets forced the visitors to settle for a share of the spoils, as they closed on 147-7.

Afterwards, captain Marcus Trescothick admitted the win was a just out of their reach – but was pleased with the fight shown by his side after finding themselves ‘behind the eight ball’.

He said: “We had a crack at it and the rain probably helped us a little bit in the game as we were behind the eight ball I guess.

“We did have a dart at it just to see if we could get anywhere near it and set it up towards the end - but it was just a bit too tricky really and we couldn’t hit enough deliveries to get the score down quick enough, so it fizzled out in the end unfortunately, but it was a good game.”