THE weather emphatically had the final say at Edgbaston where the fourth day of the Specsavers County Championship match between Warwickshire and Somerset went the same way as the third - a total washout.

The draw left both sides still waiting for their first win of the season but was particularly frustrating for Somerset.

The visitors were well-placed to push for victory, having set the home side a target of 322 on a dry pitch offering some indifferent bounce and which was reported by the umpires to ECB liaison officer Tony Pigott.

Pigott's report will now be considered by an ECB disciplinary commission.

"It was not the type of pitch we wanted," admitted Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown. "There was cracks but was it dangerous? No.

"We all know here that Gary Barwell is the best groundsman in the country by a mile. He was preparing this pitch 14/16 days ahead, as always, and when he started it was in snow and ice. Then the weather flipped on its head and suddenly it was very hot, so the drying process was accelerated by the weather.

"When the cricket liaison officer said the pitch had been reported we were incredibly surprised."

While Warwickshire await the commission's findings, they will also wait to see whether captain Ian Bell's injured hamstring will heal in time for him to play against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Sunday.

Somerset, meanwhile, were left deeply frustrated. With Warwickshire on four without loss in pursuit of their target at the end of the second day, the visitors fancied their chances, only for heavy cloud and mist to take up residence over Birmingham for 48 hours.

"It was very disappointing," said captain Chris Rogers. "On a wicket that was getting harder to bat on, we felt 320 was definitely a winning total.

"There were a few concerns about the pitch. The groundsman didn't quite get it the way he wanted to, though I think they had a similar-looking wicket for their first game that didn't play anywhere near as badly.

"I have played on some excellent wickets here so this was different, but fortunately there were no real incidents."