County Championship - day four (close)

Somerset 506 drew with Hampshire 231 & 432-4

HAMPSHIRE captain James Vince made a double century as the visitors safely saw out a draw on the final day of the County Championship match in Taunton.

The England man batted more than eight and a half hours for his unbeaten 201, with Hashim Amla earlier dismissed for 107, as Somerset picked up just two wickets on the final day on a placid pitch.

Resuming on 178-2, the hosts needed early wickets but instead watched Amla bring up his 52nd First Class century in the sunshine.

The South African fell to an uncharacteristically loose shot, flashing at a short and wide Gregory delivery and edging through to Steve Davies as his 233-run stand with Vince finally came to an end.

Somerset picked up another wicket shortly afterwards when Tim Alsop (12) edged Tim Groenewald to James Hildreth at first slip, but that was the last success for the Somerset attack.

Vince, needing a big score with England's Test squad announced tomorrow, brought up his century and moved seamlessly towards a double while Rilee Rossouw made the most of valuable time in the middle at the other end.

Somerset's attack toiled away, with the part-time spin of both Eddie Byrom and George Bartlett getting an airing in First Class cricket for the first time, but the sides shook hands at 4.50pm.

Gregory (2-60) and Groenewald (2-61) were the only bowlers to claim victims in Hampshire's second innings, with Somerset claiming 13 points from the draw.

The day was somewhat overshadowed from a Somerset point of view by the broken thumb sustained by Jack Leach while batting in the nets prior to play.

The 26-year-old made his Test debut in March and was hopeful of retaining his place for the upcoming series against Pakistan, but now faces at least a month on the sidelines.

Head coach Jason Kerr said: "I've probably taken it harder than he has - I was slinging some down at Jack in the nets and one bounced more than usual and hit him on the thumb.

"It's a clean break. He's staying optimistic and I know he will be diligent in his rehabilitiation. Jack has overcome a lot of challenges in his relatively short career so far and this is a short-term issue. There's a lot of Test cricket still to play this summer and a huge winter ahead.

"They say it normally takes about six weeks to recover but we'll have to wait and see."

Asked if Dom Bess would be a suitable replacement in the England side, Kerr said: "It's always a fascinating question regarding whether someone is 'ready'.

"Dom is certainly ready mentally and, skill-wise, he is getting there. He would admit he's bowled on a lot of pitches which are conducive to spin, so the challenge for him is to bowl well on pitches, like today's, which are less helpful, and I thought he bowled really well today. If he gets an opportunity I'm sure he's take it with both hands."

On the match itself, Kerr said: "I have mixed emotions. It's frustrating but I thought the way we went about it was brilliant - we bowled really well and that was backed up in the field.

"The opposition are allowed to play well and they did that today - I was particularly impressed with James Vince.

"We were expecting the pitch to deteriorate today but it didn't, and sometimes it goes like that.

"If you'd have offered me this start [second place, seven points off top spot with a game in hand] I would have bitten your hand off.

"We are getting better game by game and I think we're going in the right direction."