Yorkshire were forced to settle for their second LV= County Championship draw against Somerset inside a month today.

But captain Andrew Gale admitted he was happy with an 11-point haul from their trip to Taunton, including maximum bonus points, after Somerset avoided the follow-on before lunch on day four in reply to a first-innings 450-5 declared.

The hosts began today on 232-6, and whether or not they could reach the follow-on target of 301 was going to be key to the match’s outcome, having had the first day washed out without a ball bowled.

They managed to do it with eight wickets down thanks in the main to James Hildreth’s 115 off 174 balls – his first century of the season.

Contributions of 32 and 14 from lower-order colleagues Craig Meschede and George Dockrell were also key as the contest went the same way as it had done at Headingley at the start of May.

Moin Ashraf took his first three wickets of the season as Somerset were bowled out for 310 before the hosts enjoyed their best spell of the match by reducing Yorkshire to 21-3 in their second innings just after lunch.

Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance shared 70 inside 26 overs for the fourth wicket, with Lyth finishing on 57 not out in 104-4 declared.

“It was always going to be difficult to force a result at Taunton but to take 11 points away gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” said Gale.

“I thought we probably had a bad 45 minutes when we lost three quick wickets after lunch but other than that I thought we bowled well in the morning. We took four wickets in the session on a fairly tame pitch. Throughout the three days, that was the only period that we lost.

“There’s no hidden formula in how we’re playing, we’re just doing the basics well. If we continue to do that, we’ll be well placed come the end of the season.”

Hildreth and Meschede shared 100 for the seventh wicket and Hildreth and Dockrell added 26 for the eighth to advance the score from 272-7 after Steve Patterson got Meschede.

When Ashraf yorked Hildreth with three runs still needed to reach 301, there was still a flicker of hope for Yorkshire, but a Dockrell boundary ensured his side a draw.

Gale, Joe Sayers and Phil Jaques then all fell cheaply in Yorkshire’s second innings.