SOMERSET'S hopes of reviving the fortunes of their championship campaign took a severe battering when they were heavily defeated by Derbyshire at the County Ground.

Chasing 471 for victory, they crashed to 127 for nine, which, with Keith Parsons missing injured, meant they were all out, to give the mid-table Midlands county victory by 344 runs.

The arrival of former Somerset batsman Jimmy Cook in the role of short-term batting coach cannot have come a moment too soon as the home batsmen lost their wickets to Graeme Wagg, only playing the second championship match for his new county after serving an ECB-imposed, 15-month ban for using cocaine, which expired in January this year.

Since then, the left arm seamer has been absent from the side through an injured shoulder, but there was no sign of that at Taunton on Monday where, in a spell of 12 overs from the River End, he took wickets with uncomfortable regularity to end with career best figures of six for 38. At the other end his captain, Graeme Welch, ended with three for 24.

At the start of the game the visitors won the toss and, batting first, scored 396, the highlight of which was a maiden century for Marcus North, and a last-wicket partnership of 78 between Ian Hunter (48) and former Somerset favourite Steffan Jones, who remained unbeaten on 34.

For the hosts, there were three wickets each for the returning Simon Francis, Andy Caddick and Charl Willoughby.

In reply, Somerset at one stage had been reduced to 149 for six, before Pete Trego (135) and Francis (36) added 143 for the seventh wicket, before eventually being all out for 340. During the innings, Parsons retired hurt after being hit on the hand by a rising ball from Hunter.

Batting for a second time, Derbyshire made 415 for seven, Steve Stubbings top scoring with 124 when Welch declared.

Chasing a daunting target of 471 to win at a rate of 5.36, initially the hosts were in the hunt, but once Matt Wood was out caught by wicket-keeper Pipe with the total on 46 the rot set in and wickets started to tumble.

Only Justin Langer, whose first five scoring shots were boundaries, offered any real resistance, but on 30 he was well caught low down at second slip by fellow Australian Michael Di Venuto off Welch with the score on 56. Defeat almost looked inevitable as the Somerset batsmen showed little application against Wagg, who time after time found the edge in addition to the occasions when he was rewarded.

This result leaves Somerset towards the bottom of the table and, with only seven matches remaining, they will need to start wining very soon if they are to keep their promotion aspirations alive.

At the end of the game, coach Andy Hurry said: "Graham Wagg bowled very well and got the ball to reverse, but I do feel it is about the way we apply ourselves mentally when we are batting.I feel that perhaps we were defeated before we went out there and it is something that I am looking at and asking a few questions about myself and also about the team. Jimmy Cook is here not only to look at the technical side but also the mental side of the game."