Craig Kieswetter's second century of the one-day season maintains Somerset's unbeaten start

Somerset maintained their unbeaten start to the Clydesdale Bank 40 thanks to Craig Kieswetter’s second century of the one-day season.

Having bowled out Gloucestershire off the final ball of their allotted 40 overs, last season’s runners-up eased to a comfortable eight-wicket win, with six overs to spare.

It was another competent performance from Somerset who, having won the toss, bowled and batted with great purpose on a wicket that was significantly less helpful than the Championship track had been during the week.

Former Gloucestershire seamer Steve Kirby picked up the early wicket of Ian Cockbain, but was over shadowed, thereafter, by Devon-born youngsters Lewis Gregory and Adam Dibble.

Gregory, 18, who took his first Championship wicket against Worcestershire on Wednesday, bowled with pace and accuracy, on his way to career best figures of 4-27.

Dibble, two years his senior, bowled with equal menace and weighed in with 3-52 from 10 overs. For Gloucestershire, it was a mixed bag.

Captain Alex Gidman and New Zealander Kane Williamson added 117 for the second wicket with the former passing 50 from 66 balls.

However, having looked in decent shape at 135-1, in the 26th over, the visitors lost their last nine wickets for just 78.

There was even a wicket for Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis, who has been far from convincing since arriving in Taunton as an early season replacement for Murali Kartik.

In reply, openers Marcus Trescothick and Kieswetter made short shrift of the Gloucestershire attack.

Together, they passed 50 inside seven overs, with Kieswetter adding to his century against Nottinghamshire and unbeaten 95 against Glamorgan, with an equally impressive unbeaten 108.

Trescothick, struck six fours in reaching his 50, from as many balls, but departed, two balls later, trapped leg before by Richard Dawson.

Still, Kieswetter, who looks an odds-on bet to win a place in England’s one-day squad this summer, continued where his skipper left off.

Despite being dropped on 39 and 85, he passed 100 from 101 balls, and with Nick Compton, duly took Somerset to a fourth successive victory of the campaign.

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Mark Webber leads second practice Malaysian Grand Prix

Mark Webber saw his practice advantage dramatically slashed in the second session for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, but still emerged as top dog.

Webber finished a staggering 1.6secs clear of Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren after the first 90-minute run at the Sepang circuit, with every other rival over two seconds off the pace of the Red Bull.

The obvious conclusion was that for the majority of the field the first session was about set up and understanding the tyres in light of the heat and humidity Pirelli had yet to experience on their return to Formula One.

Come the conclusion to the second run, with the track temperature peaking at a scorching 47C and with an air temperature of 32C, Webber again topped the timesheet, but only by 0.005secs.

Webber is naturally keen to put the disappointment of the season-opening race in Australia 12 days ago behind him when he found himself in the shadow of team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Whilst practice generally only offers a guideline as to the weekend to come, it is fair to assume Red Bull and McLaren will likely be fighting over the podium places come Sunday.

Reigning champion Vettel, after his dominant display at Melbourne’s Albert Park, finished fourth, 0.214secs behind Webber.

Sandwiched in between the duo were McLaren pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, the latter 0.134secs adrift of Webber.

As for the rest of the field, they were staring at a yawning gap of over a second to Webber, with Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher in fifth and Felipe Massa in his Ferrari sixth, the former team-mates at the Maranello marque separated by just a thousandth of a second.

A further gap of 0.4secs followed to Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg, with fellow German Nick Heidfeld a respectable eighth in light of what unfolded for Renault in the earlier session.

After an investigation by the team, after Heidfeld and team-mate Vitaly Petrov both suffered failures that saw them lose their front-right and front-left tyres respectively, the cause was found to be an issue with the suspension uprights.

Both cars were delayed before they took to the track for the second session as the team exercised every precaution, and thankfully both emerged unscathed.

Petrov, following his third place in Australia, finished in 13th and 2.3secs off Webber.
In between the Renault duo were Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in ninth and the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari in 10th.

The Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello were 11th and 12th, the former after a crash into an advertising hoarding for one of the team’s former sponsors.

The rookie Venezuelan strangely lost control of his car on the entry road to the pit lane, but after minor repairs was able to return to the track.

Paul di Resta, who claimed a point on his rookie debut Down Under, again frustratingly for the Scot sat out the first session in favour of reserve Nico Hulkenberg.

But Di Resta at least finished the second session quicker than both Hulkenberg and team-mate Adrian Sutil, although 2.7secs off Webber.

After a suspension failure in first practice that pitched Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio into the gravel at high speed, the Belgian was unable to take part later on as the team failed to complete their repairs in time.

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Masters 2011: Tee-off times for first and second rounds

0740 Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, honorary starters

0745 Jonathan Byrd, Ross Fisher (Eng), Sean O'Hair

0756 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Alex Cejka (Ger), David Chung

0807 Jerry Kelly, Camilo Villegas (Col), Jeff Overton

0818 Ben Crenshaw, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Na

0829 Mark O'Meara, Anders Hansen (Den), Heath Slocum

0840 Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott (Aus), Nick Watney

0851 Vijay Singh (Fij), Tim Clark (SA), Aaron Baddeley (Aus)

0902 Carl Pettersson (Swe), Gregory Havret (Fr), Ryan Palmer

0913 Martin Laird (Sco), Mark Wilson, Bo Van Pelt

0924 Rory McIlroy (NI), Rickie Fowler, Jason Day (Aus)

0935 Mike Weir (Can), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Retief Goosen (SA)

0957 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Padraig Harrington (Ire), Bill Haas

1008 Larry Mize, Rory Sabbatini (SA), Jin Jeong (Kor)

1019 Lee Westwood (Eng), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Matt Kuchar

1030 Ernie Els (SA), Hunter Mahan, Francesco Molinari (It)

1041 Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell (NI), Robert Allenby (Aus)

1052 Arjun Atwal (Ind), Sergio García (Sp), Robert Karlsson (Swe)

1103 Charl Schwartzel (SA), Stuart Appleby (Aus), Charley Hoffman

1114 Ian Woosnam (Wal), D A Points, Ben Crane

1125 Craig Stadler, Kevin Streelman, Nathan Smith

1136 Peter Hanson (Swe), Kim Kyung-tae (Kor), Ryan Moore

1147 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Ian Poulter (Eng), David Toms

1209 Trevor Immelman (SA), Lucas Glover, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

1220 Zach Johnson, YE Yang (Kor), Miguel Angel Jiménez (Sp)

1231 Davis Love III, José María Olazábal (Sp), Lion Kim (Kor)

1242 Tom Watson, Ricky Barnes, Jason Bohn

1253 Fred Couples, Luke Donald (Eng), Steve Stricker

1304 Anthony Kim, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Steve Marino

1315 Paul Casey (Eng), Bubba Watson, Edoardo Molinari (It)

1326 Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn)

1337 K J Choi (Kor), Justin Rose (Eng), Lodewicus Oosthuizen (SA)

1348 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Phil Mickelson, Peter Uihlein (x)

1359 Jhonattan Vegas, Gary Woodland, Alvaro Quiros (Sp)

0745 Charl Schwartzel (SA), Stuart Appleby (Aus), Charley Hoffman

0756 Ian Woosnam (Wal), D A Points, Ben Crane

0807 Craig Stadler, Kevin Streelman, Nathan Smith

0818 Peter Hanson (Swe), Kim Kyung-tae (Kor), Ryan Moore

0829 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Ian Poulter (Eng), David Toms

0840 Trevor Immelman (SA), Lucas Glover, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

0851 Zach Johnson, YE Yang (Kor), Miguel Angel Jiménez (Sp)

0902 Davis Love III, José María Olazábal (Sp), Lion Kim (Kor)

0913 Tom Watson, Ricky Barnes, Jason Bohn

0924 Fred Couples, Luke Donald (Eng), Steve Stricker

0935 Anthony Kim, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Steve Marino

0957 Paul Casey (Eng), Bubba Watson, Edoardo Molinari (It)

1008 Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn)

1019 K J Choi (Kor), Justin Rose (Eng), Lodewicus Oosthuizen (SA)

1030 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Phil Mickelson, Peter Uihlein (x)

1041 Jhonattan Vegas, Gary Woodland, Alvaro Quiros (Sp)

1052 Jonathan Byrd, Ross Fisher (Eng), Sean O'Hair

1103 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Alex Cejka (Ger), David Chung

1114 Jerry Kelly, Camilo Villegas (Col), Jeff Overton

1125 Ben Crenshaw, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Na

1136 Mark O'Meara, Anders Hansen (Den), Heath Slocum

1147 Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott (Aus), Nick Watney

1209 Vijay Singh (Fij), Tim Clark (SA), Aaron Baddeley (Aus)

1220 Gregory Havret (Fr), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Ryan Palmer

1231 Mark Wilson, Martin Laird (Sco), Bo Van Pelt

1242 Ro,ry McIlroy (NI), Rickie Fowler, Jason Day (Aus)

1253 Mike Weir (Can), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Retief Goosen (SA)

1304 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Bill Haas

1315 Rory Sabbatini (SA), Larry Mize, Jin Jeong (Kor)

1326 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Lee Westwood (Eng), Matt Kuchar

1337 Ernie Els (SA), Hunter Mahan, Francesco Molinari (It)

1348 Graeme McDowell (NI), Tiger Woods, Robert Allenby (Aus)

1359 Arjun Atwal (Ind), Sergio García (Sp), Robert Karlsson (Swe)

US unless stated, all times local, (x) denotes amateur

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Dani Pedrosa to undergo second op on collarbone

HONDA rider Dani Pedrosa is to have a second operation on his collarbone.

He is suffering from numbness and ­weakness in his arm and will have surgery after Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Pedrosa should return for the Portuguese GP on May 1.

The Spanish rider will have the titanium plate and screws fitted in an October operation removed.

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Returning Jo Pavey delighted with second place finish in Great Ireland run

Jo Pavey was thrilled with her second-place finish on her first competitive race since becoming a mother at the SPAR Great Ireland Run today.

Pavey, who gave birth to son Jacob last September, had planned to make her international comeback at next month's BUPA Great Manchester Run, but stepped in as a replacement when European cross country champion Hayley Yelling-Higham withdrew due to illness.

The 36-year-old may have not matched the strength of Scot Freya Murray, who powered away in the final 2.5 kilometres of the 10 kilometres race to win by 15 seconds, but she was delighted with her display on her return to racing.

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