TEAM NEWS
Essex: Dean Elgar, Paul Walter, Tom Westley (C), Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Noah Thain, George Bell (WK), Shane Snater, Zaman Akhter, Mitchell Killeen, Sam Cook.
Warwicksire: Robert Yates, Zen Malik, Dan Mousley, Sam Hain, Vansh Jani, Ed Barnard (C), Kai Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Manav Suthar, Ethan Bamber, Olly Hannon-Dalby.
MATCH DETAILS
Umpires: Nigel Llong & Tom Lungley
Match Referee: Peter Such
Scorers: Paul Parkinson & MD Smith
Toss: Essex won the toss and elected to bat first
Result: Warwickshire win by 8 wickets (Essex 3 points, Warwickshire 19 points)
DAY TWO REACTION: CHRIS SILVERWOOD
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS
DAY TWO REPORT
Manav Suthar spun Warwickshire into pole position in the race for the Rothesay County Championship title with a second five-wicket haul of the season to set up a two-day, eight wicket victory.
The 24-year-old spinner, who made his debut for India three months ago, took his tally to 26 wickets in five Championship matches with figures of 5-75 as Essex were dismissed for 189 in their second innings. It left Warwickshire requiring 133 for a fourth win in five games.
Zen Malik hit four sixes in a whirlwind half-century to lay the foundations before his attempt to land a fifth fell short at deep mid-off. Dan Mousley and Sam Hain duly saw Warwickshire over the line in the sixth of the extra overs taken to achieve a positive result.
Warwickshire must now await the results of the games involving the other contenders, Somerset and Nottinghamshire, before learning who goes into next week’s final fixtures at the head of the Division One table. After a fourth defeat in five, Essex’s focus is on the other end of the table. They are down to bare bones in terms of fit players and were again outplayed for the majority of the two days after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Warwickshire had eked out a first-innings lead of 57 at the start of the day largely thanks to Hain, who came in with the score at 12-2 and batted for 57 overs while scoring an unbeaten 88. Matt Critchley finally dismissed the obdurate Olly Hannon-Dalby to return figures of 4-54.
If things couldn’t get any more dramatic after 19 wickets fell on day one, the second morning dawned with Essex forced to make not one but two injury substitutions. Captain Tom Westley damaged a finger in the field and was replaced by Luc Benkenstein. Shane Snater, meanwhile, succumbed to an unspecified leg injury with a debut given to 17-year-old rookie seamer Jack Auld, who took 3-67 on Monday in England Under-19s’ two-run ODI win against Pakistan.
The youngster had a maiden first-class wicket to his name with the fourth ball of his professional career when Rob Yates edged to second slip in Warwickshire’s run chase.
Earlier, Essex had just cancelled Warwickshire’s first-innings advantage when Paul Walter, who had harvested seven boundaries in his 42, lofted Suthar towards cow corner where Chris Woakes judged the flight perfectly to take a tumbling catch.
Dean Elgar had not looked altogether comfortable against Suthar during his 61-ball stay, though he had just lifted the spinner over mid-off for four when he popped up a catch to short leg. Despite a workmanlike 29, the former South African captain was given a rousing send-off to mark his final innings at Chelmsford before retirement.
Warwickshire evidently saw the wicket of Charlie Allison as a key one judging by Ed Barnard’s delight after an inside edge had wicketkeeper Kai Smith scurrying to his left to claim the catch.
Ethan Bamber took his seventh wicket in the match when Noah Thain, promoted to No. 3 in the injury reshuffle, was beaten for pace and had his stumps rattled. Critchley followed four balls later, nicking Suthar to Smith.
Essex’s lead was only 110 at tea and they lost a sixth wicket straight afterwards when George Bell was lbw attempting to work Suthar through midwicket. Without a run added, Benkenstein had his off-stump flattened by Woakes.
Woakes had a second wicket in five balls when Mitch Killeen steered a delivery that got up into the hands of second slip. The innings was all over very quickly as Cook and Auld both fell lbw to Suthar and Woakes respectively. Woakes finished with 3-33.
It had taken Essex three-quarters of an hour in the morning to winkle out the last Warwickshire first-innings wicket while conceding another 40 runs. Hannon-Dalby stonewalled for 27 balls before getting off the mark. He faced two more deliveries before he became Critchley’s fourth victim to a catch at slip.
DAY ONE REACTION: GEORGE BELL
DAY ONE REPORT
Ethan Bamber claimed a career-best 6-26 to keep Warwickshire nervously clinging on to hopes of landing the Rothesay County Championship title on a day of 19 wickets at Chelmsford.
In the process of helping skittle relegation-threatened Essex for 134 in 44 overs, the 27-year-old Bamber passed 100 first-class wickets for Warwickshire in two seasons since moving from Middlesex, 59 of them so far this summer. In a display of controlled pace bowling, Bamber took three of the first four Essex wickets for seven runs in eight overs, then wrapped up the innings with the final three for 11 in five overs.
Only wicketkeeper-batsman George Bell and tail-ender Zaman Akhter in a stand of 68 for the eighth wicket applied any real resistance. Bell, coming in at 33-5, soon to be 33-7, was unbeaten on 61 to take his tally in three innings on-loan from Lancashire to 153 for once out.
However, injury-hit Essex refused to submit. They had Warwickshire, who began the game in third place, five points behind leaders Somerset, in similar disarray on 151-9 at the close, just 17 runs ahead. Shane Snater had three of those wickets before succumbing to injury, while Sam Hain was the glue in the visitors’ response with 58 not out.
Warwickshire posted four slips from the start of Essex’s innings and three of the quartet had catches to their name in an action-packed first hour. Essex had decided to bat first, a decision which played immediately into the hands of a rampant Warwickshire attack.
The Essex slide started as early as the second ball of the day when Bamber had Paul Walter looking to play into the legside but caught by Vansh Jani at fourth slip. Westley briefly bucked the slip-catch trend by falling lbw to Chris Woakes for a third successive duck before Charlie Allison played down the wrong line to Bamber and was held at second slip by Rob Yates.
Matt Critchley became Bamber’s third victim, guiding the ball into Dan Mousley’s hands at fourth slip. And Dean Elgar, who had watched the first four wickets go down from the non-striker’s end, was the fifth to depart, another catch for Yates, this time off Olly Hannon-Dalby.
Bamber was finally given a break, but his absence from the attack did not stop the clatter of wickets. His replacement, Ed Barnard, struck with his fourth ball as Noah Thain hung out his bat and was caught behind. Snater then wafted at the Warwickshire captain to give Yates a third catch.
Bell brought some calm, yet aggressive hitting to the Essex innings. He took 19 balls to get off the mark but then masterminded the stand with Akhter that was only ended when Bamber returned to the attack after lunch.
Bamber induced a leading edge from Akhter to claim the catch himself high to his right before finishing off the innings by trapping Mitch Killeen lbw and then sending Sam Cook’s stumps in all directions.
Warwickshire’s innings was no less dramatic than Essex’s. Yates played over the top of Snater’s first delivery and was palpably lbw, Mousley misjudged Cook to first slip and Malik left alone a ball from Snater that jagged back to take off-stump, Hain and Jani put on 42 either side of tea before Snater had Jani attempting to swipe across his pads to go lbw.
The first 14 wickets had fallen to seam until Critchley had Barnard sweeping and bowled round his legs.
Kai Smith joined the never-ending procession of batsmen coming and going when he skied Akhter to short midwicket and Woakes mistimed against Killeen to be bowled. Critchley then had Manav Suthar looping up to bat-pad and Bamber lbw three balls later.
