Marcus Trescothick and Jamie Cox warmed up nicely for Saturday's Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy showdown with a magnificent opening partnership to sink Northamptonshire in the Norwich Union League at Wantage Road.

The pair piled on 155 in only 24 overs, making a nonsense of the home side's modest 214 all out, and although Trescothick fell moments before rain halted proceedings the Sabres were 70 runs in front on the Duckworth/Lewis calculation.

The England left-hander stroked 11 boundaries in his entertaining 72 from 65 balls, while Cox was unbeaten on 76 when the heavens opened. The result condemns Northamptonshire to relegation into Division Two for next season, while Somerset have strengthened their own chances of avoiding the drop.

Keith Dutch also had an afternoon to remember. He snapped up three wickets in the last over of the innings – including top-scorer Russell Warren for 93 – and finished with an excellent 6-40 return.

Only Warren and Graeme Swann (41) threatened to wrest the initiative from the visitors after acting skipper Mike Hussey had won the toss. They posted 60 in 12 overs for the fourth wicket, coming together at the dismissal of David Sales who managed only 11 on his first competitive appearance of the season.

Northants' total never looked sufficient to stretch Somerset's strong batting line-up, and with Trescothick and Cox blasting 16 boundaries in the first 100 runs of their stand the result was never in doubt. The only minor blemish was when Trescothick skied a catch off Jason Brown with the skies darkening rapidly.

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