SOMERSET captain Chris Rogers says his side have gone from relegation candidates to title challengers in the space of one game after this week's memorable win over Surrey at the Cooper Associates County Ground.

The Australian batsman - who scored 28 in Somerset's second innings - described the result as 'so important' and praised the composure of final wicket pair, Jack Leach and Tim Groenewald.

He said: “I haven’t played in too many games like that before and in a 350 game career I will have played in less than half a dozen that have been as close and that.

"It could have gone either way, but the fact that it went our way means that we can sit back and feel very proud.

"It was knife edge stuff and the character shown by the guys was first class.”

“The composure shown by both Tim Groenewald and Jack Leach was superb and when we got close I felt that it was almost inevitable that we would win. They were fantastic and deserve all the credit they get.

“We had a poor day two and even on day one I thought we were off the mark with dropped catches and we didn’t bowl as well as we could have.

"We should have bowled them out for 170. You can say all you like as captain when you’re 160 behind but at the end of the day it’s up to the 11 guys who go out there to actually believe.

“We got on a bit of a roll and bowled well and I thought that Craig Overton’s bowling was outstanding and that led the way.

"Then Leachy did a fantastic job again. On the third morning Jamie just changed the game and gave us a glimmer of hope and we took it. He even got a few runs too which made it a fantastic game for him.

“We have gone from being in the relegation battle to being challengers. We’ve played some good sides and held our own so that win is so important to us and gives us that chance to push for the top.”

“I am just so proud of the guys because they fought so hard.

"We had a little luck and Surrey played well throughout the game, but we deserved to be up there as winners.”