? Sussex 245, Somerset 36-1
? Somerset trail by 209 runs with nine wickets remaining
Alfonso Thomas has exploded on to the County Championship scene after weeks of injury frustration and is threatening to bowl the pre-season favourites Somerset into the thick of the title race when it matters most.
Having missed his club's opening nine four-day fixtures this season, first through involvement in the Indian Premier League and then because of a torn hamstring, the 34-year-old South African was unleashed like a coiled spring on Durham's batsman in the last championship fixture at Taunton and claimed match figures of seven for 135.
Thomas, whose enthusiasm for playing cricket is boundless, carried on the good work with four wickets at Worcester and bettered that against Sussex on Tuesday, bowling with high energy and no little skill from the River End to take six for 60 ? his best figures in England ? as the visitors were restricted to 245 all out after winning the toss on a baking Taunton day.
Again the experienced all-rounder shouted "It's great to be back" with every over, sending back Luke Wells, Ed Joyce, Ben Brown, Ollie Raynor, Monty Panesar and Wayne Parnell, three of them to catches by Jos Buttler, standing in for Craig Kieswetter, absent on England Lions duty.
It will be Happy Days for Somerset if "The Fonz" continues to extract such life from the Taunton pitches as three of their remaining four championship fixtures are on home soil. They have won both games since his return and have a good platform in this one.
Batting required application on a day of swing and turn. That suited Murray Goodwin, a model of obduracy who scored 344 not out at Taunton in 2009, but even he surrendered his wicket with an uncharacteristic heave at Murali Kartik, offering a simple catch to deep mid-wicket, having made 55.
Joyce had earlier fashioned a skilful half-century only to fall in the final over before lunch. Sussex could feel grateful that Thomas passed the outside edge of the bat on numerous occasions. Their bowlers could take heart from the fact that the ball moved in the air and gathered pace off the pitch for most of the day, while Kartik got it to turn appreciably.
Their first job was to remove Marcus Trescothick, who went into the game having scored more than 1,000 runs in his previous 10 championship innings. That was achieved by Rayner in his first over with a perfectly pitched off-break that the former England left-hander edged to slip.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/02/alfonso-thomas-somerset-sussex
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