Few teams have Essex in a position like this, so can Durham finish the job?

NICK FRIEND AT CHELMSFORD: Two wickets fell in each of the first two sessions and four in the last, but otherwise this was the kind of occasion for which many county cricket observers live

Chelmsford (second day of four): Essex 96 & 208-6, Durham 259 - Essex lead by 45 runs with four wickets remaining

Scorecard

Plenty happened on Thursday, almost too much: 18 wickets, four ducks, an emotional hundred, the best of spring and the worst of autumn. All in a day’s work. It ended in bitter coldness, with hulking cloud cover and a slightly farcical resumption at 7.04pm, once close-of-play pieces had been filed and the scoreboard at Chelmsford’s River End had been placed on snooze for the night.

Either way, Durham were in the ascendancy despite Essex’s evening fightback, with both sides aware – clichés aside – of the significance of Friday’s first hour.

And so, the order of events thereafter was perhaps surprising: the visitors added 111 runs for their final two wickets in the morning session, making a mockery of the threat posed by the reigning county champions’ much-vaunted bowling attack.

Scott Borthwick, in the triple-role of century-maker, scriptwriter and captain of his boyhood club, sat back and watched as Durham’s tail wagged perhaps even more ardently than he, Marcus North and James Franklin might have imagined: a 163-run lead over the Bob Willis Trophy winners, whose recent dominance in red-ball cricket – and other circumstances – mean that this is the teams’ first meeting since 2010.

When Essex came to bat, tasked with bettering a feeble first innings, Nick Browne and Alastair Cook both fell cheaply before Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence began a dogged recovery.

They are a fascinating watch in tandem, not least as good friends wielding the same Gunn and Moore bat, with a similar trademark whip through midwicket as their calling card – the subtle difference being that Lawrence’s comes dripping in golden swagger. For a while, their shared idiosyncrasies quietly tamed the visitors; Durham were compelled to turn to the off-spin of semi-regular wicketkeeper Ned Eckersley in search of a breakthrough, looking for his first wicket in eight years in a token over pre-tea, while Borthwick dusted off the leg-breaks that once earned him a Test cap. Those threats were seen off comfortably during a 103-run partnership that, in all likelihood, will remain the highest of the game.

^{Essex have not lost at home in the County Championship since 2018}

But both fell in quick succession, Westley edging to slip and Lawrence falling into a trap laid by a short ball from Brydon Carse, pulling hard and flat to Will Young at deep square leg. Those twin dismissals briefly triggered a counterattack of sorts, with Ryan ten Doeschate especially proactive in whittling away what remained of the deficit between the sides, before he offered a sharp return catch to Borthwick, who possesses some of the safest hands in the domestic game.

In truth, this has been his match: an infectious, captivating cricketer, whose bowling mixed drag-downs with perfectly landed wrist-spinners, one of which did for Adam Wheater. It is easy, on this evidence, to understand the rationale behind his instalment as captain – he is, quite clearly, the kind of leader to bring others with him.

Until then, however, there had been a quite idyllic sense of calm that was wholly absent yesterday: two wickets fell in each of the first two sessions and four in the last, but otherwise this was the kind of occasion for which many county cricket observers live.

The pattern of play was sufficiently enthralling to remain intriguing, while simultaneously offering a break from the breathlessness of the previous 24 hours. There was enough time even to admire an over-rate that saw 100 overs bowled in six hours and 20 minutes – proof, if nothing else, that such efficiency is possible. And then, there was a spot of BannermanWatch – futile in the end, alas, with Borthwick’s innings run percentage reduced to just 38.6 per cent by a cast of crucial late-order cameos.

That relative tranquillity also meant that individual moments were able to stand out without the harum-scarum rhythm that typified Thursday’s action. Lawrence’s wrists may well feel hard done by, but arguably Chris Rushworth played the strokes of the day, driving Simon Harmer against the spin through cover with a glorious, graceful flourish and chipping Lawrence past mid-off for another boundary.

^{Tom Westley helped to fashion Essex's recovery before falling to Brydon Carse}

In a sense, those moments perfectly summed up these two days, when batting has quite clearly been difficult at times, but Durham have nonetheless emerged in control. Certainly, no one has made conditions look as straightforward as Stuart Poynter and Matt Salisbury, whose 94-run stand for the ninth wicket must have bewildered Essex to some degree, so rarely do they give away anything at a fortress where they have not tasted red-ball defeat since losing against Surrey in 2018.

In fact, the Salisbury-Poynter axis – at first cautious and then increasingly damaging as it wore on – might just be the difference between these two teams when all is said and done.

Even in Essex’s dominant patches, they were mostly spent behind the eight-ball, attempting to haul themselves back into a game in which they were never able to settle once Durham’s seamers got to work early on the first morning. When Harmer and Lawrence combined to share four wickets in six overs – Harmer ended with five, by the way – Durham already had a lead; a day later, when Lawrence and Westley put together their 38-over act of defiance, they did so while still significantly in arrears.

Essex have the lead now, though, however slender it may be. Paul Walter – not totally dissimilar to Alastair Cook in style as a lanky, industrious left-hander – battled hard to ensure his side were 45 runs ahead at the close. He has Harmer for company, well aware of the job that still needs doing to put in place the building blocks for a great escape.

A fourth innings target of 150 would make for a fascinating chase, given the aura around Harmer’s excellence and the pressure on the visitors to complete what has been, up to this point, a quite terrific performance. Few teams hold Essex by the throat like Durham have managed. The question now is simple: can they finish the job?

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