Then followed a rained-off game and two losses that threatened to send them out of the quarter-finals, but they recovered to beat Gloucestershire by 95 runs in a match where Somerset set a Twenty20 Cup record with their team score of 228 for 5.

A stunning triple century from only 255 deliveries from Graeme Smith won them the match against Leicestershire, and they followed up with a win in Northampton to go through to the Semi-Finals of the Twenty20 Cup at the Oval.

Two days later, they travelled up to Chester-le-Street, where a batting collapse led to a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Durham, and they also lost to Derbyshire in the Championship, the first team to do so in three years.

Essex's youngsters, Alastair Cook, who looked to be headed for an England call-up before long, and Ravinder Bopara, aged 20 and 19 respectively, made merry with the bat.

The ball swung greatly, and there was seam movement, and Charl Willoughby of Leicestershire made the most of them first, taking 6 for 16 as Somerset were dismissed for 94 - though it could have been much worse, as they were 58 for 9 before Ian Blackwell and Simon Francis attacked and added 36 for the last wicket.

England fast bowler Steve Harmison continued his return to form, removing both Somerset openers, but conceded many runs in the process, and it was England ODI all-rounder Paul Collingwood who was the star, taking the wickets of the Somerset top-scorers James Hildreth (caught by Gareth Breese for 70) and Ian Blackwell (bowled for 48) in addition to the three last lower-order wickets.

Durham were set a tricky target of 243, but the Jamaican-born all-rounder Gareth Breese saw off the challenge of Caddick, who took yet another six-for - this time for 98 - to end with match figures of 12 for 104.

However, he was the only bowler to dig in, and Michael Hussey (51), Dale Benkenstein (51) and the aforementioned Breese with 79 not out saw Durham reach the target to preserve their unbeaten run in the Championship.

Winning the toss and batting, Scottish Saltires' bowlers Asim Butt, Majid Haq and Paul Hoffmann (who bowled 9 overs for 14 runs) tied the visitors down to 145 for 5 before Blackwell came on.

Somerset won the toss, batted, and fell to 88 for 5 against Sussex's tight bowling before Ian Blackwell smashed 10 sixes and 10 fours as he made 134 not out off only 71 balls.

In reply Matt Prior made 77, but Sussex looked like a defeated side after 4 wickets from Keith Parsons sent them to 201 for 7, but Johannes van der Wath smashed 73 off 43 balls to sneak the victory, sharing an 82-run ninth-wicket stand with Jason Lewry.

Paul Hoffmann snared the important wicket of James Hildreth for 49, the lower order rolled over meekly to Arafat (who got 3-33), and with Jon Francis injured, the Sabres managed to lose the match by 15 runs as they were all out for 218.

In reply, Glamorgan got to 126 for 2 before part-timers Keith Parsons and Hildreth got the better of them and took wickets at a leisure - however, Alex Wharf hung in there with Michael Powell and carried the Dragons to 183 for 8 after the 20 overs were up.

Along with Keith Parsons making 57 off 28, they made a dent in the theory that spinners are useful in Twenty20 cricket, as experienced off-spinner Robert Croft was dispatched for 50 runs in four overs.

The visitors' reply never really got going, Ian Blackwell taking four Glamorgan Dragons wickets for 26 runs as the Welshmen crumbled to 123 all out, Sourav Ganguly top-scoring with 35.

(Cricinfo scorecard) Somerset (2pts) beat Northamptonshire (0pts) by five wickets At Northampton, Andy Caddick served up an unusually economical spell, taking two for 12 in three overs despite two wides.

That helped tie the hosts Northamptonshire Steelbacks down to 95 for 6 in 12 overs in the rain-shortened game, and with Graeme Smith and Keith Parsons at the crease and the score 55 for 1, things looked bright for Somerset Sabres.

Gloucestershire Gladiators, who were second in the Midland/Wales/West group before this game at Taunton, had to go for expansive strokes, and were all out in sixteen overs, Gareth Andrew taking four for 22 while Craig Spearman top scored with 35 off 17 balls.

Despite three run-outs, Somerset made it through on the penultimate ball, as Matthew Wood recorded 58 and Blackwell a 16-ball 31 to lay the foundation before Keith Parsons set the pace late on with an unbeaten 38.

Ian Blackwell played an unusually cautious knock of 8 off 62 balls, but he was eventually lbw to Michael Lewis, and Somerset subsided for 174 to lose by 207 runs.

Carl Gazzard and Malaysian Arul Suppiah gave Somerset a chance of chasing the big total with their 125-run second-wicket stand, but Jonathan Moss took four for 60 with his off breaks and Andy Gray three for 47 with medium-pace.

Somerset weren't too keen on a big target either, making 61 in 32 third-day overs, as the match looked to peter into one of the most drab draws of the Championship season.

Then, Charl Langeveldt took the wickets of Craig White and Lumb, and Deon Kruis edged Andy Caddick behind for a duck to leave Yorkshire 377 for 7 overnight.

He made 35 fours and one six in a nine-hour cameo which yielded a total of 297 - before he was caught by Tim Bresnan 14 short of Somerset's highest innings for the season.

Paul Jaques, Ismail Dawood and Michael Wood all made half-centuries, but in the end Yorkshire Phoenix needed 23 to win off the last over, number 11 Deon Kruis facing Blackwell.

The Worcestershire bowlers shared out the wickets, and Somerset were in real trouble at 57 for 5, but Suppiah stayed calm and the lower order made good contributions.

Having won the toss, they struggled to hit out initially, Gavin Hamilton recording 22 off 51 balls and 18-year-old Robert Woodman bowling two maiden overs.

Hafeez wrapped up the tail, taking three for 23, but credit also went to Samiullah Khan, who earlier dismissed Somerset opener Matthew Wood and number four James Hildreth.

Gareth Andrew was the only Somerset bowler to take more than one wicket, ending with four for 134, but Derbyshire made 707 for 7 - a county record [1] - declaring when Luke Sutton fell for 53, leaving Graeme Welch stranded on 99 not out.

Derbyshire batsmen Ben France and Hassan Adnan started to build towards the target of 301 to win with an 81-run partnership for the second wicket, but both of them were stumped off Blackwell, and he also had three men caught off his bowling to end with five for 26.