After winning the toss and electing to field first, Mitchell Claydon made the breakthrough to bring the opening partnership to an end in the 26th over, just before Somerset reached the hundred mark, when Suppiah was caught in the slips by Michael Di Venuto on 52, having scored his half century from 65 deliveries.
Marcus Trescothick went on to score his fifty after lunch, from 105 deliveries, including eight boundaries, with Somerset 131-1.
The opener passed the hundred mark in the same over Nick Compton reached his fifty and it was the latter who became Claydon’s second victim when he was bowled outright for 54.
His replacement Chris Jones reluctantly left the field with Somerset 261-3 after he was caught behind off Claydon having added 13 to the score.
The home side lost James Hildreth (11) to Graham Onions thanks to a catch from a fully out-stretched Dale Benkenstein .
Craig Kieswetter (15) became Ian Blackwell’s first victim of the innings when he tapped the ball to Di Venuto in the slips reducing Somerset to 322-5.
The spinner went on to claim the wicket of Trescothick who was eventually dismissed for 163 after he was caught behind by Mustard.
Claydon bowled Peter Trego for 22 with the second delivery with the new ball and Somerset fell to 360-7.
Some good fortune allowed Alfonso Thomas and Murali Kartik to build a partnership of 49 in the final session before play ended with Somerset 409-7 having claimed maximum batting points.
At the close of play Durhamccc.co.uk caught up with Mitchell Claydon, “I think we were expecting more from the pitch, the last couple of times we’ve been here the pitch has looked like it did today but this time there was more grass but Marcus Trescothick played unbelievably, there was a bit of uneven bounce and as the day went on, the sun came out and it got went really flat.
“In my third spell it didn’t seem to be doing much and then a couple just took off and hit a length and then it died off again. You can only keep trying different things and today was my day and hopefully tomorrow we can run through them quickly.
“The five-fer has eluded me a bit, it’s something I just want to get past. I’m bowling well enough, I just haven’t had a lot of luck, I’ve been 12th man a lot and got a game here and there in the Championship so hopefully I can do well and get a good bag full of wickets. You do have to wait for your chance and when you get it, take wickets and make a statement.
“If we get a full three more days of cricket in, and get them out early and bat for two days, the way our lads score quickly you never know on a last day wicket, we’ve got Blackie and our four seamers, anything can happen.
“I think from the position that we were in we’d have taken where we are at tonight. If we can get them out for 420-430 tomorrow we think that with the way we’ve been batting, especially with the short boundary at one side and the fast outfield, we can post a good score.”
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