Lancashire's Kyle Hogg feasts on wickets to starve Somerset

Lancashire hope that greater depth of bowling reserves will help sustain a more convincing Cchampionship challenge this season, so they will take great satisfaction from this gloomy Mancunian day. With Sajid Mahmood unable to bowl after straining a calf when batting on Tuesday, Kyle Hogg and Simon Kerrigan – who were only playing because of injuries to Tom Smith and Gary Keedy – combined to keep Somerset on the back foot. After playing in 13 of 16 championship matches last season, Hogg has had to wait for his chance this year, having been edged out by James Anderson's availability for the first two matches and more controversially by the Jamaican veteran Daren Powell, who has joined on a Kolpak. Sajid's injury meant that Hogg shared the new ball with Glen Chapple, and after bowling Arul Suppiah late on the first day he picked up where he left off when the morning drizzle relented after lunch, claiming a second wicket in three balls when Nick Compton followed an outswinger and was given caught behind. That left Somerset on 14 for two, so Marcus Trescothick had no hesitation in accepting the offer to go off for bad light five overs later. There was no more play until after tea, and the frustration continued for Lancashire even when the grey clouds lifted ever so slightly, as Trescothick and Zander de Bruyn batted sensibly in tricky conditions to put on 101 for the third wicket. But Hogg, whose opening spell had lasted 16 overs stretched over 20 hours, then switched to the Stretford End and claimed the prize wicket of Trescothick, caught behind off the glove. His 107-ball half-century had included seven fours and an uppercut six, but his long wait to add a championship century at Old Trafford to the 117 he scored in a Test against Pakistan in 2001 continues. The young left-arm spinner Kerrigan then struck the boot of a sweeping De Bruyn with his second ball, leaving the game well-balanced.