Somerset started day 2 in a positive frame of mind after the loss vs Bedfordshire on Day 1. At 6 and 5 Day 1 winners Richard ‘Dickie’ Fay and Sam Edwards went out and shared the spoils with their opposite numbers. Dickie, facing good junior Christopher Morrow fought with all his usual tenacity and doggedness but eventually went down in straight sets with a score that didn’t reflect the matches’ quality. Debutant Sam Edwards carried on where he left yesterday beating Gloucestershire number 5 Simon Filiatrault 6-2 6-2.

Somerset middle order of James Pankhurst and Craig Phillips started their matches brightly – both taking tight first sets on the tie break. James pushed on in the second taking it 6-4 after some high quality tennis. Phillips soldiered on bravely in the second set, nursing a twisted ankle from 3-2 in the first, but had to stop whilst at 2-2 in the second. The team commended his effort in carrying on that long and taking the set but it wasn’t to be.

At the top of the order Toby Mitchell returned at number 2 after recovering from a leg injury and put in a great performance that showed all his international playing experience beating Gloucs 2 Alistair Morgan 6-1 6-0. Captain Deem squared up against experienced Glous 1 Ben Knapp and after showing some attacking prowess, simply made far two many errors in going down 6-1 6-4.

Once again Somerset were locked at 3-3 after the singles and felt good about the chances in the doubles. Mitchell and Hudson showed us a glimpse of what a good pair they could be in the future with a 7-5 6-3 win at third pair doubles. Pankhurst and Stock showed a lot of spirit at second pair coming back from a set down to take it to a third set championship tiebreak, but eventually fell short losing the tiebreaker 10-3.  Deem and Edwards started slowly against Gloucs first pair Knapp and Pugh losing it 6-2 but found their way into the second having a break point at 4-4 before eventually going down 7-5 after a strong effort.

After walking away from Day 2 feeling like the team played well, the maths on Day 3 was simple. Whoever wins out of Durham and Somerset goes down to the group 6 basement.

To find full results of Day 2 in Group 5b Click Here

Squad: Richard Gabb (Street), James Deem (Wellington), Toby Mitchell (Burnham – On – Sea), Craig Phillips (Brean), James Pankhurst (Yeovil), Sam Edwards (Wells), Richard Fay (Cheddar), Anthony Hudson (Wells), Alex Hudson (Wells), Richard Stock (Taunton).