Somerset 379 (Banton 84, Abbas 3-59) and 238 for 4 drew with Nottinghamshire 509 (Haynes 157, Slater 124, Kishan 77, James 66, Leach 6-121)

Somerset's Tom Kohler-Cadmore defied Nottinghamshire with a match-saving final day century as the Rothesay County Championship Division One match at the Cooper Associates Ground, Taunton, ended in a draw.

The visitors had realistic hopes of victory when reducing their opponents to 28 for three, still needing 102 to avoid an innings defeat. But Kohler-Cadmore hit an unbeaten 147, off 196 balls, with 11 fours and six sixes, sharing stands of 96 with James Rew and 114 with Tom Abell, to see Somerset to 238 for four by the time the players shook hands at 4.50pm.

Left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White bowled 29 overs unchanged from the River End either side of lunch and finished with four for 104 from 33, but no other Notts bowler could make a significant impression with the Kookaburra ball on a pitch offering only occasional turn and no assistance for the seamers. Somerset took 11 points from the game and Notts 12.

The home side set out at four for one, having lost nightwatchman Matt Henry to the only over bowled the previous evening. Soon it was 18 for two as Sean Dickson was rapped on the back pad by a ball from Patterson-White that turned and departed lbw for six.

Worse was to follow for Somerset when Tom Lammonby, on seven, pulled a short ball from Patterson-White and picked out the only fielder on the leg side, Farhan Ahmed at deep square, who pouched a comfortable catch.

Kohler-Cadmore went on the counter-attack, launching three big sixes back over the head of off-spinner Ahmed, each sending the ball further than the one before and the last pitching on top of the Marcus Trescothick stand.

But the most impressive aspect of the former Yorkshire player's innings was the respect he showed the other bowlers having spread the field, content to pick up ones and twos as he and Rew laid the first foundations for avoiding defeat.

Left-hander Rew was equally intelligent in his shot selection, nullifying the effect of Patterson-White, who displayed the same control of line and length that his Somerset counterpart Jack Leach had shown on day three.

By lunch the scoreboard read 112 for three and the Notts lead was down to 18 runs. Patterson-White had bowled throughout the morning, sending down 15 overs for 46 runs and two wickets. Somerset could feel some relief, but there was still work to be done, especially when Rew fell for 43 early in the afternoon session, top-edging a sweep off Patterson-White to Joe Clarke at short fine leg.

The reassuring figure of Abell took his place and batted through the rest of the session with Kohler-Cadmore, who blasted his fourth six over wide long-on off Patterson-White and then clipped a four through the leg side off Ahmed to reach a fine hundred off 138 balls.

It was Kohler-Cadmore's third Championship century since joining the Cider county for the start of the 2023 season, two of them coming in the last two matches. Cloudless skies did not aid the Notts bowlers and by tea, with the Somerset total advanced to 197 for four, the draw looked inevitable.

The final session saw Kohler-Cadmore strike another straight six, this time onto the roof of the Lord Ian Botham Stand off Patterson-White, before moving past his previous best Somerset score of 130, made against Northamptonshire at Taunton in 2023.

By then the outcome was all but settled. Abell had contributed just 21 when his stand with Kohler-Cadmore reached the century mark, but it was a typically solid knock that extinguished any lingering notions of a Notts victory.

When Notts wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan entered the attack to bowl what proved the last over of the game it was a tame end to an often compelling contest.