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England batsman Ian Bell will have a century in his sights when he returns to the crease at Taunton after sending a message to new team director Andy Flower.

On the day Flower was announced as the full-time successor to Peter Moores at Lord's, Bell was making his case for international selection as Warwickshire flourished in LV County Championship Division One against Somerset.

With Flower due to formulate his Ashes plans later this week, Bell's innings could not have come at a more opportune time.

Bell struck 13 fours in his unbeaten 84 in a match interrupted by bad light and combined with Jim Troughton to dig the Bears out of trouble.

Warwickshire were faltering at 66 for three, losing Darren Maddy and Jonathan Trott to successive balls from Ben Phillips, before Bell and Troughton steered them to 189 without further loss at the close.

Dominic Cork found form for new county Hampshire as Worcestershire were skittled for a paltry 132 at the Rose Bowl, with 14 wickets falling on a day that saw the morning session lost because of overnight rain.

Cork claimed a return of four wickets for 10 runs from his eight overs to mop up the Worcestershire tail.

Wickets fell at regular intervals for the visitors. Opener Daryl Mitchell was the top scorer with 31 runs while only three other Worcestershire batsmen reached double figures.

Kabir Ali picked up two early wickets as Hampshire were reduced to 10 for three in reply before recovering to 76 for four at the close thanks mainly to Jimmy Adams, who was unbeaten on 33.

South African Andrew Hall finished the day on 95 not out as Northamptonshire reached 297 for six by stumps at Grace Road against Leicestershire in Division Two.

Hall struck 11 boundaries as he kept the visitors in control against a Leicester bowling attack which was forced to work hard for its wickets.

Hall formed an impressive 163-run stand for the sixth wicket with David Willey, who made a half-century on debut, and will look to extend Northants' lead along with fellow South African Johan van der Wath (11 not out) when play resumes tomorrow.

Kadeer Ali helped put Gloucestershire in charge as three half-centuries guided the visitors to 321 for eight against Surrey at the Brit Oval.

Opener Kadeer was joined by Hamish Marshall (76) and Alex Gidman (69) as Gloucestershire made the most of choosing to bat first.

The visitors recovered from losing opener Craig Spearman for a duck to Andre Nel as Kadeer made 90 before falling lbw to James Benning. Nel and Jade Dernbach claimed three wickets each for Surrey.

Daniel Redfern (50), Garry Park (41), James Pipe (39) and Greg Smith (36) all made useful contributions as Derbyshire reached 306 for seven against Essex at Chelmsford.

Chris Wright and Ryan ten Doeschate took two wickets each for the home side.

Sporting Life / Eurosport