1.30pm: Rob Key must have gone to lunch a slightly relieved captain, writes Mike Averis at Taunton. His decision to insert Somerset had come close to backfiring before three wickets in 24 balls retrieved the situation.
At 109 without loss Somerset looked to have benefited again from a captain who looked at the brown tinge in the Taunton wicket and then made the wrong call. Key's embarrassment was saved by a couple of gifts from Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer, who both made rapid half-centuries before giving their wickets away, and a limp shot from James Hildreth
Langer had got Somerset off to a flying start with a mixtures of edges and solid attacking strokes. He was on 14 in the second over before Trescothick got off the mark and Martin Saggers was pulled from the attack after conceding 20 in two overs. Yasir Arafat departed after his first four had gone for 22.
As Trescothick began to catch his captain, Somerset flew past 50 in 45 balls and rattled along to 100 off 84 even on a slow outfield. Robbie Joseph lasted only three overs and James Tredwell's spin was introduced after 11 overs, only to see Trescothick twice put him into the crowd.
The mayhem came to an end with Saggers' return. Trescothick had just lofted Tredwell straight for his 11th boundary and then celebrated his fifty, off 68 balls, when he drove at a ball which went across him. Justin Kemp, the solitary slip, dived low to his left to take a two-handed catch.
An over later Langer also went to 50 - with an edge between slip and keeper - before gloving the next ball to Geraint Jones, while attempting to pull a leg-side bouncer from Joseph.
His 50 had taken 56 delivers, but at 113 for two, Key went from defence to attack, setting six slips and a gulley, with no one on the leg side, for the remainder of Saggers' over. Hildreth survived, but not for long. He hung his bat out to the 10th ball faced and became Jones' second victim with Somerset 136 for three at lunch.
4pm If Key was breaking even at lunch, the gambler in him won't have enjoyed the afternoon session when Peter Trego and Zander de Bruyn were clattering along at close to six an over to reclaim the advantage for Somerset, writes Mike Averis. Trego, once briefly a Kent player - he played only one game in 2003 - set about Tredwell, much as Trescothick had done before lunch, launching the spinner for two sixes, one of which cleared the hospitality boxes and landed in the car park.
The 27-year-old became the third Somerset player of the day to pass fifty and like Tescothick and Langer before, he went soon afterwards. Trego had just straight-driven his third six, off Matthew Walker, when he danced down the wicket again, but got the ball only as far as mid-wicket where Tredwell gained some measure of revenge.
With Trego gone - for 65 off 70 balls - Ian Blackwell took on the role of aggressor while de Bruyn appeared to be pacing himself towards a third championship century on the trot. There was one rush of blood when he put Tredwell (who else?) over long on and 10 elegant fours, but the South Africa looked rock solid until Saggers, bowling around the wicket, conjured up a little extra bounce.
De Bruyn, on 81, attempted to drop his hands, got the faintest of touches and Jones again took the catch. The innings had lasted 128 balls and Somerset were on 314 for five - the score at tea - with Blackwell warming to the task on 29.
