'We should have won' say skipper Burns as Cidermen go down in Bristol

There was no hiding the feeling of disappointment that there was in the Somerset camp after they lost their opening championship match of the season at Bristol by just eight runs.

As expected the result of the match was in the balance right up until the final wicket fell at 4.30pm, but in the end after putting up a brave fight the Cidermen fell tantalizingly short of their target and were beaten by their old rivals Gloucestershire.

Resuming on their overnight score of 99 for 2, Peter Bowler brought up his own fifty in the 47th over, before falling L.B.W. to Mike Smith.

James Bryant joined Jamie Cox, and brought up the 150, and by lunch had taken Somerset to 181 for 3.

Shortly afterwards at 203 for 3 the visitors seemed well in control of the situation, and heading towards victory, but then they lost Cox when he was L.B.W. to Mark Alleyne for 67, and two balls later in the same over Ian Blackwell was caught by Jack Russell and from this point the momentum seemed to have swung towards Gloucestershire.

With the score on 229 the same combination accounted for James Bryant after he had scored 31. Aaron Laraman moved Somerset nearer to their target with a hard hit 23, that included a six and a four off successive balls from Roger Sillence, but the former Middlesex all rounder fell when the Cidermen were still 21 runs short of their target.

Richard Johnson played carefully and was still at the wicket after an hour by which time had scored 11, but all to no avail because he had run out of partners and Somerset had lost a game they so dearly wanted to win.

After the match Kevin Shine told me: "Of course we are all very disappointed, because despite how well we might have played over the four days we have not won a match, and these are the games that we need to win. However we have performed well enough out there to know that if we carry on like that then we will win matches."

He continued: "This is a massive blow to us and of course to a group of guys who have worked very hard for four days they are bitterly disappointed. They were all very hurt afterwards, but now what we have to do is to get straight back up and be positive and put the same amount of effort into our next match."

"We know that we are a good side and during the four days we have played some good cricket without a huge amount of luck. We know that we are a good enough side to make a real impression in Division Two," he said.

Skipper Mike Burns said: "It was one of those days when wickets fell for us when we didn't want them too but really from 203 for 3 we should have won. However we can take lots of positives from the game, we batted and fielded well and we didn't enjoy the best of luck but in the end today nobody got the big hundred that would have seen us home."

" However the game is in the past now and we have to be positive and look forward to our next game against Durham at Taunton on Wednesday," he concluded.