No slouch with the bat, Josh Davey plays an exquisite straight drive

Somerset were rescued by their lower order after choosing to bat against Warwickshire on the opening day of their County Championship game at Edgbaston. Captain Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory added 56 for the seventh wicket and post their dismissals, with the total still below 100, Neil Wagner (55*) and Josh Davey (28*) combined for an unbroken 84.

After the first session fell prey to rain, Somerset crashed to 37/6 against a disciplined seam-attack led by veteran seamer Chris Rushworth, who took 4/33. Abell found able support from Gregory, whose handy 39 included eight fours before Rushworth claimed his wicket. The former Durham seamer recorded his 655th first-class scalp when Abell edged to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess.

Wagner and Davey batted freely to post a fifty stand in 69 balls. Wagner reached an ebullient 47-ball fifty with a boundary through covers off Will Rhodes as the pair went to stumps unscathed. Somerset’s best ninth-wicket stand against Warwickshire – 180 by Steven Davies and Jamie Overton at Edgbaston in 2020 – could be bettered on the morrow.