| LV= County Championship Division One, Cloud County Floor, Chelmsford (day two) |
| Essex 447-9 dec: Rossington 104, Critchley 99, Harmer 62, Yadav 51; Dawson 3-165 |
| Hampshire 10-0 |
| Essex 3pts, Hampshire 2pts |
| Match scorecard |
Matt Critchley fell one run wanting his third County Championship century of the season earlier than title contenders Essex declared on a hefty 447 in opposition to Hampshire.
Critchley had been strolling in the direction of three figures and 1,000 runs for the season however stuttered on 99 earlier than he slapped to brief additional cowl.
Simon Harmer and Umesh Yadav, the latter in electrifying type, struck half-centuries as Essex continued to tot up the runs earlier than a lunchtime declaration.
In reply, Hampshire scored 10 with out loss in seven overs earlier than the climate intervened.
Essex accrued three batting factors of their quest to problem Surrey for the title – which cancelled out the three bowling factors Surrey, 18 forward on the prime of the desk, picked up in opposition to Northamptonshire.
Having resumed on 310-6, and simply eight overs into the second new ball, Essex had the 350-run bonus level of their sights.
Critchley was extra watchful than he had been throughout his thrilling 177-run partnership with centurion Adam Rossington.
He went from 83 in 123 balls to 99 in 162 balls earlier than getting caught. He batted out a maiden from Liam Dawson – which included him getting dropped off a caught and bowled.
Three extra dots off Kyle Abbott adopted as Critchley struggled to discover a hole within the discipline, earlier than he tried to hit Dawson over the covers and was caught by Nick Gubbins at brief additional cowl.
Critchley, who had by no means had the misfortune of falling for 99 earlier than, now has 969 runs for the season.
His departure sparked an upturn within the tempo, as Harmer got here to life and Yadav took a flowery to Dawson and fellow spinner Felix Organ.
They scored 77 runs in seven and a half overs earlier than the declaration got here – their 70 stand coming in 69 balls.
Harmer dominated his boundary hitting by rocking on to the backfoot and chopping behind level, though he additionally pinged Dawson over long-on after coming down the monitor.
The South African’s half-century got here in 76 balls as he moved previous 500 runs in a worthwhile season from the lower-middle order.
Yadav’s 51 off 45 was breath-taking. The Indian swung laborious and much in his 4 sixes, along with his three fours not coming from precision play.
Harmer and Yadav have been each caught at long-on going for a giant shot, with the latter’s departure bringing the tip of the innings and lunch.
Sam Prepare dinner despatched down three maidens in response, with Harmer’s sole over additionally runless.
Toby Albert and Fletcha Middleton’s 10 runs all got here off Jamie Porter earlier than dangerous mild took the 2 groups off.
The forecast rain then battered the Cloud County Floor, Chelmsford, as play was referred to as off simply earlier than 16:30 BST.
Report provided by ECB Reporters’ Community.