SOMERSET director of cricket Matt Maynard admitted his side had failed to recover from a poor first innings batting performance, after Warwickshire cruised to a seven-wicket victory before lunch, on day four of their LV County Championship clash at Edgbaston.

The hosts took just 28.3 overs to complete a comfortable win this morning (Tuesday) – and Maynard said Somerset’s first innings batting woes was ‘an area that we need to put right.’

“Our first innings batting let us down and we were behind the eight ball,” said Maynard.

“In the second innings we didn’t establish the partnerships.

“It is noticeable that the intensity that Yorkshire and Warwickshire have in the field is right up there and they are the two top sides that we have played against this year - they created good pressure with the ball.

“I thought that we bowled fantastically and Craig Overton has had a wonderful match with both bat and ball.

“In the first innings we went from 88-2 to 88-4 and he pulled us out of that situation.

“Our first innings is an area that we need to put right before we play Worcestershire in our next LV County Championship game.

“When we have done well in our first innings it has put us in strong positions in the game and we have capitalized because our bowling unit is doing well.

“However when we are chasing games and we don’t get the par score for the wicket, we find ourselves under the pump and under pressure - we haven’t been able to control games.

“This is not a position we want to be in and that’s what we have got to address in our last five games.”