Brian Rose admitted that Somerset were caught on a damp pitch as they crashed to 126 all out on the opening day of the LV County Championship match with Hampshire at Taunton.

At one point the home side were 23-6, with left-arm seamer James Tomlinson having taken all the wickets for just 12 runs in 4.2.ovrs.

Craig Kieswetter (32) and Ben Phllips (39) gave the total some respectability, but it was soon put in perspective as, in drying conditions, Hampshire ran up 194-3 in reply, Kevin Pietersen making exactly 100.

Director of cricket Rose told somersetcountycc.co.uk: "The weather over the last couple of weeks made it impossible to prepare a dry pitch.

"We even contemplated using the one-day wicket from the weekend, but as it was dry yesterday we opted to go with the pitch we had planned.

"It was clearly still a bit damp at the start and losing the toss meant we had to bat first on it. What happens when you are 11-3 is that the batsmen coming in try to pull the game back instead of attempting to consolidate."

Tomlinson set the tone in his second over, which saw him strike three times, with his second, third and fifth deliveries.

Neil Edwards was bowled for five, then Justin Langer fell for a first ball duck, loosely cutting a wide ball to backward point. James Hildreth was snapped up at short-leg and Somerset had plunged to 11-3.

Worse was to follow as Marcus Trescothick was caught in the slips for 11, Zander de Bruyn suffered a similar fate and Peter Trego was lbw first ball.

Tomlinson was swinging the ball in and getting some seam movement. But he was aided by some poor shot selection from the Somerset batsmen.

Ian Blackwell (17) helped Kieswetter take the score to 55 before becoming a first Championship victim for 18-year-old seamer Hamza Riazuddin on his Hampshire debut.

Phillips and Kieswetter added 50 for the eighth wicket before Tomlinson struck again, removing the latter's off-stump with a ball that held its line.

Michael Munday fell to David Griffiths before Phillips was last man out, having hit 7 fours before being caught at slip to complete Tomlinson's inspired performance.

The wickets continued to tumble as Hampshire openers Michael Brown and Jimmy Adams fell to Charl Willoughby and Phillips respectively. But Pietersen then came in to produce the first really authoritative batting of the match.

Making a rare Championship appearance, the England batsman showed his quality by playing himself in and then producing a range of shots all around the wicket to reach his half-century off 58 balls, with 9 fours.

From then on Pietersen was in total command until he fell surprisingly the ball after reaching his hundred, caught behind trying to force Peter Trego off the back foot.

In all Pietersen faced 158 deliveries and hit 14 fours. It was just the form England would have wanted from him ahead of the Test series against New Zealand.

John Crawley leant excellent support in a third-wicket stand of 190 and ended the day unbeaten on 78.

Somerset coach Andy Hurry admitted: "We weren't very good at times today and will need to do better tomorrow. If we apply ourselves we can still get back into the game."

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