AN excellent collective effort from Somerset's seam attack dismantled Warwickshire's vaunted batting line-up to leave their side well-placed for their first Specsavers County Championship Division One victory of the season.

In reply to 295, the home side scraped past the follow-on figure only with their last pair together before being bowled out for 152.

A lead of 143 was a significant advantage on a pitch which has offered bowlers more assistance than anybody envisaged, albeit not as much as the low scoring suggests.

As wickets continued to tumble, Somerset were then 178 all out second time round, setting a victory target of 322. Warwickshire reached the close on four without loss from two overs but Somerset would be devastated not to win from this position.

Warwickshire, also still pursuing their first win of the season, have a few concerns. They went into this round of matches with the most batting points in Division One only to assist Somerset's bowlers with some careless shots. Meanwhile, the Bears have a major injury worry with captain Ian Bell heading for a scan on his injured hamstring.

Bell's team will have to bat extremely well, far better than first time round, to salvage this match.

After Warwickshire resumed overnight on 27 for two, the tone of accident-prone batting was set when Jonathan Trott pulled a long hop from Lewis Gregory straight to mid-wicket. In the ensuing clatter, only Varun Chopra (56) and Chris Woakes (22) lasted more than 35 minutes.

Somerset's five seamers all shared the wickets with most of the damage done by Jamie Overton (three for 24) and Lewis Gregory (three for 50). The move to keep Overton back until the 34th over worked a treat as he mowed down the lower order with three wickets in 11 balls.

Armed with a meaty lead, Somerset were no doubt not too unhappy to find batting still less than straightforward when they went back in.

First innings centurion Tom Abell edged Keith Barker, Woakes removed Marcus Trescothick, caught at mid-on, and James Hildreth, bowled middle-stump, and Boyd Rankin ousted Chris Rogers and Jim Allenby with lifters and Gregory with a full-length ball on his toe.

But Peter Trego, scorer of 94 in the first innings, batted assertively again for 51 and his 145 runs, in the context of this match, appear decisive.