[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division One

vs Essex

Day One

Morning: To the surprise of everyone, given the distinctly unfriendly conditions and the loss of opener Nick Browne to a broken finger in the nets yesterday, Essex contested the toss and elected to bat upon winning. After the early loss of Varun Chopra - caught at gully off the bowling of Steve Magoffin - there seemed a little method to the madness of the visitors, as they played doggedly against disciplined Pears bowling to grind their way to 59-1. However, when Tom Westley was bowled by Ed Barnard a little before lunch, the session was balanced up. Honours were even at the break with Essex going in 64-2.

Afternoon: The chickens came home to roost for the champions straight after lunch, as the first over saw Alastair Cook dropped at first slip only to promptly edge the very next ball to the same spot from a classic Joe Leach outswinger. That opened the door for young Josh Tongue to enjoy his best session in Division One so far; consistently getting the ball to jump up off a length, the paceman removed Dan Lawrence for a quickfire 20, then Ryan ten Doeschate for 1 and Ravi Bopara for 7 in the space of just fifteen balls as Essex collapsed from 68-3 to 101-6. It went from bad to worse for the visitors as Ed Barnard got in on the act, claiming Foster and Harmer before Leach and Tongue struck again to mop up the tail. Eight wickets in total fell in the session, leaving Essex 177 all out; the third innings in a row in which they've failed to make 200.

Evening: Caution was the watchword for Daryl Mitchell and Brett D'Oliveira as the Pears openers guided the hosts through a tricky and gloomy closing session with the new ball. Where Mitch threw up the defences to eke out an unbeaten 7, Dolly showed a little more flair and attacking intent to reach his best score of the season so far, and after a bit of bad-light hokey-cokey forcing a couple of extra overs at the end of the day in which the latter was dropped at gully, the home side finally reached 47 without loss at stumps. Without doubt the best day of the season so far for Worcestershire, building on last weekend's positive showing at the Oval. With rain forecast overnight, the key now is for the openers to see out the first half-hour in the morning and let the pitch dry. This has the mark of a match where wickets will come in groups, and it was around this point where the wheels came off for Essex; with a bit of patience, Worcs can press home a serious advantage tomorrow.