11.10am Despite more overnight rain, play is scheduled to start here at 11.30am, which almost seems a shame given the off-field shenanigans currently convulsing Lancashire.
In case you've missed it, a brief summary of events so far: on Tuesday, manager Mike Watkinson announced that the cricket committee had decided not to offer Dominic Cork a new contract. Cork promptly expressed his surprise and disappointment at the decision, and his determination to "come back and haunt Lancashire", and yesterday the county's captain, Stuart Law, poured further fuel on the fire by revealing n a typically entertaining press conference that he had not been consulted.
The pick of numerous juicy quotes was his reference to "the people drinking gin and tonics" up in the committee room, but that could land Law in a spot of bother. Lancashire's cricket committee now consists of Watkinson, Clive Lloyd, Paul Allott - who was recently co-opted back on to the committee because of the serious illness, and now death, of Colin Walker - and Jack Simmons, who are chaired by Geoff Ogden. They will all presumably be furious, especially Simmons, who has never come across as the gin-and-tonic type.
Heaven knows what will happen next, but there will surely be plenty of knowing grins in Chelmsford and Derby this morning, from those people who following their first-hand experience of Law and Cork were always convinced that having them in the same dressing room, as captain and senior pro, was a combustible combination likely to land Lancashire in trouble.
1pm At last some play, and it was worth the wait, writes Lawrence Booth at Taunton. Justin Langer added three more frantic fours to the 55 he made on Tuesday before top-edging a pull off Jade Dernbach and watching with what was presumably a mixture of horror and disbelief as Usman Afzaal ran in from the square-leg fence to take a superb tumbling catch. Those of you who can remember Afzaal's fielding on the New Zealand tour of 2001-02 will know what I mean. After that, though, it was all Somerset, which won't surprise followers of Surrey's depressing efforts this summer.
As they coasted from 110 without loss to 229 for one at lunch, the spoils were shared between Marcus Trescothick, who is six runs short of a third hundred of the season, and - on 45 - the South African allrounder Zander de Bruyn, who can look both elegant (one glorious back-foot cover drive off Chris Jordan looked like Mike Atherton) and curiously pragmatic (his shovels through the leg-side off the spinners are more Paul Collingwood). But the overall effect was convincing enough.
Trescothick reached his half-century in the second over of the day with an extra-cover drive for four off Dernbach, then went quiet before replaying the stroke twice in two balls off Jordan 20 overs later. In the meantime he was dropped by Saqlain Mushtaq off his own bowling on 56 - a sharp but catchable low chance - shortly after pulling Matt Nicholson imperiously for four. Watching him score runs is enough to make an England fan wistful.
Whether Somerset can now get anything out of this game other than bonus points depends on a) the weather, which has an unreliable feel to it today, and b) the resilience of Surrey's batting, which has had an unreliable feel to it all season. I favour the weather as the more likely obstacle.
1.55pm There was just enough time for Marcus Trescothick to reach his hundred and Zander de Bruyn his fifty before the rain returned, writes Lawrence Booth at Taunton. Trescothick eased the second ball of the session from Pedro Collins past mid-on for four to move to 98, then watched as De Bruyn skipped down the track to Usman Afzaal in the next over to hammer him down the ground and bring up his half-century from 101 balls.
Two deliveries later, Trescothick dabbed Afzaal to fine leg for a single and celebrated his third ton of the summer, from just 148 balls. Then, with Somerset cruising on 248 for one, the weather closed in. I saw Jon Batty at breakfast this morning and told him it would rain at 2pm. But this isn't the time to be smug - I'd love to see Trescothick cut loose now that he's got his century out of the way.
4.40pm Tea at Taunton, writes Lawrence Booth, and it's been quite a mini-session. In the 18 overs made possible by the weather, Somerset added 123 runs for the loss of Marcus Trescothick, who blunderbussed his way to 158 off 186 balls before top-edging a hefty sweep off Saqlain Mushtaq, and, right at the end, James Hildreth. Zander de Bruyn moved to a century of his own, but it was the batting of Trescothick that will linger longest in the mind's eye.
When the players came out at 3.30pm following a post-lunch shower, Trescothick had 101, De Bruyn 55 and Somerset were already healthily placed on 248 for one off 55.5 overs. Then Surrey fell to pieces - or rather they were taken to pieces. De Bruyn cut, pulled and swept four boundaries in the first three overs after the break before Trescothick hit the first four balls of a Pedro Collins over for four, six (over midwicket), four and six (over long-on). The next delivery, a no-ball, was scooped just over short midwicket's head, which meant Somerset had scored 24 runs off the first four deliveries of the hapless Collins' over, and it needed two bouncers to prevent further damage.
Matt Nicholson duly missed a tough chance at slip when Trescothick edged Saqlain on 131, but a late-cut for four off the same bowler, followed by a slog to the boundary off Nicholson and, next ball, an extra-cover drive brought up his 150. The third fifty had taken just 31 deliveries, and Trescothick celebrated by carting the next one straight back over Nicholson's head for six. When De Bruyn cut Jade Dernbach for four to move to 96, the pair had added 100 runs in the 45 minutes since the resumption. Magnificent stuff!
Trescothick fell in the next over, but De Bruyn eased to his third hundred of the summer in the one after that with a quick single off Dernbach, despite Mark Ramprakash throwing down the stumps from midwicket and briefly causing umpire George Sharp to think about a run-out verdict.
Hildreth departed soon after for 10, trying to hit Saqlain into Taunton town centre, but it was about all Surrey had to get excited about in a passage of play that pretty well summed up their season. It has also given Somerset the chance to secure maximum bonus points from this match at the very least: at tea they are 371 for three as the rain begins to fall yet again.
