JAMES Hildreth bemoaned a ‘disappointing’ third day of Somerset’s LVCC clash with Sussex, after Matt Machan’s unbeaten hundred put the visitors in charge of the match at Taunton.

Sussex closed day three on 311-2, leading by 245 runs, with Machan 137 not out and Chris Nash unbeaten on 76 – and Hildreth said Somerset had failed to capitalise on a strong position, having finished day two trailing by just 28 runs and with six wickets in hand.

In the end, the hosts could only muster a lead of 66, thanks mainly to Hildreth’s 82 and an entertaining half-century from Craig Overton.

“No we were not happy with that,” Hildreth said.

“I had a chat with the team before the start of this morning and basically said we could get ourselves into a very good position by the end of today, because from where we were yesterday we should have capitalized and shouldn’t be in the position we are in now.

“There are no huge demons in the pitch and if you applied yourself early on and gave yourself a chance there are definitely runs to be had - it’s just getting used to the conditions.

“The odd ball bounces a little bit and there was a little bit of spin, it’s a little bit tennis bally, but apart from that if you apply yourself there are runs to be had on it.

“Certainly turning up today I thought we should have got more runs than we did.

“We were disappointed as a team to get what we did, but then we did have a lead so there is always hope that you can roll a team with not a huge amount of time in the game and maybe force a result that way, but sitting here now it’s been quite a disappointing day.

“It’s kind of dependent on how Sussex are going in terms of setting up a game.

“The ball is in their court now - we will come at them hard in the morning and see what happens but we will have to see how they go.”

Sussex closed day three on 311-2, leading by 245 runs, with Machan 137 not out and Chris Nash 76 not out.