5.53pm Unfortunately, Yorkshire women fell short in the final, but a great effort to get there. They will continue to play friendlies throughout the summer, but the attention now turns to the regional summer with the Northern Diamonds.
Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson said:
“It feels like we’ve spent a lot of time and got nowhere. The game never really got going – it’s four days that I’m not going to remember much about, to be honest.
“Both teams tried to play the game in the right way and keep things moving forward. The pitch was slow and hard to score on, it didn’t really do that much.
“There was one point where (Harry) Brook and (Dawid) Malan were batting that it came alive a little bit. Today it went flat again and petered out into a draw.
“Brook showed you can play shots and bat with intent, be positive and put bowlers under pressure. He and Malan made it look very easy yesterday.”
4.50pm – Match drawn. Essex finish on 167-0 from 59.4 overs of their second innings, a lead of 105. Yorkshire take 13 points from their third draw of the summer, added to a win. Lancashire next up at Headingley on Thursday.
4.48pm Lyth takes the wicketkeeping gloves and Duke is going to have a bowl to see this game out. Essex 166-0.
4.40pm And Alastair Cook reaches his hundred off 178 balls with 11×4s. 158-0. First time in his 329-game first-class career that he has posted two hundreds in the same game. What a player he still is.
4.39pm Yorkshire have been bowled out for 83 by Lancashire at Northern in the women’s County T20 final.
4.15pm Essex have moved to 129-0 in the 50th over. Cook 82 and Browne 37. Brook and Lyth bowling.
Tea Report England legend Sir Alastair Cook is chasing a career first as Yorkshire’s LV= Insurance County Championship match against Essex drifts towards a draw at Chelmsford.
Cook is playing his 329th first-class fixture, and never before has he posted two centuries in the same fixture, be it for his county, England or any other team such as the MCC.
In the first innings here, the opener posted 107 and is currently 80 not out in the second.
Essex have reached tea at 119-0 in their second innings, leading by 35.
Cook and fellow left-hander Nick Browne have advanced the score from 19-0 at lunch, the former reaching his latest half-century midway through the session off 76 balls. Browne is unbeaten on 29.
3.41pm – Tea Essex reach 119-0 from 45 overs, leading by 57. Cook 80 and Browne 29. We are set for a draw and an early handshake around 5pm.
3.31pm Yorkshire are 36-4 after eight overs of their County T20 final against Lancashire women at Northern.
Here at Chelmsford, Essex are 110-0 in the 43rd over as we approach tea. Cook 75 not out and Browne 25.
3.05pm Essex are 88-0 after 34 overs, leading by 26. Cook 59 and Browne 21.
2.49pm Cook reaches his fifty off 76 balls with 5×4s. Essex 76-0 in the 29th over of 74. 16-run lead for the hosts.
2.22pm Essex are 62-0 in the 21st over, and the scores are level. Alastair Cook is on 43, with Bess bowling as I type. The game is drifting towards a conclusion.
1.50pm Congratulations to Yorkshire women who are into the County T20 final against Lancashire at Northern this afternoon. Yorks chased 110 to beat Derbyshire by nine wickets. Lancs beat Notts by 10 wickets chasing something similar. 3pm final.
1.46pm Into the penultimate session of the game we go, with Essex now 27-0 in the 10th over of their second innings. That’s a deficit of 35. Bess and Revis have taken up the attack.
Lunch Report Essex have made a steady start to their second innings on day four against Yorkshire, leaving the draw the most likely result at Chelmsford.
Yorkshire started the final day of this LV= Insurance County Championship fixture with an outside chance of victory, though lost five wickets for 40 runs in the first 19.2 overs of play to be bowled out for 465.
That left Steve Patterson and co with a lead of 62 and a minimum of 74 overs remaining in the day.
Essex have since advanced to reach lunch on 19-0 after eight, trailing by 43.
Yorkshire lost Dawid Malan for 87 to the day’s second ball when he clipped Shane Snater to square-leg before Simon Harmer removed Harry Duke and Jordan Thompson as the score fell to 459-9 in the 140th over of the innings – the 15th of the day.
Sandwiched in between, Harry Brook fell for a brilliant 123 – caught behind trying to uppercut new ball seamer Sam Cook.
The Yorkshire innings was wrapped up just after 12.20pm when Dom Bess caught behind off Snater.
Essex openers Sir Alastair Cook (15) and Nick Browne (4) will resume after lunch with 66 overs left.
1.01pm Yorkshire, chasing 110 in the women’s County T20 semi-final against Derbyshire, are 13-0 after three overs.
1pm – Lunch Essex reach 19-0 after eight overs of their second innings, 43 behind. We have a minimum of 66 overs remaining in the game.
12.23pm WICKET Bess caught behind off Snater for 13. Yorkshire 465 all out, leading by 62 with a minimum of 74 overs remaining in the game.
12.04pm At Northern CC, in the morning semi-final of the women’s County T20 Cup, Derbyshire are 76-4 in the 15th over against Yorkshire.
12.02pm WICKET Harmer bowls Thompson, 0. Yorkshire 459-9 now.
11.58am WICKET Brook caught behind trying to uppercut Sam Cook. Falls for a brilliant 123. Yorkshire 458-8, leading by 55 with a little over 82 overs remaining in the day.
11.46am WICKET Duke caught by Cook running around from slip following a reverse sweep at Harmer, 10. Yorkshire 446-7, leading by 43 with 86 overs.
11.25am Quiet start to the day, with three runs in the opening six overs. Yorkshire 428-6, leading by 25. Brook 111 and Duke 2.
11.02am WICKET Malan falls for a fine 87 off the second ball of the morning and his first. Clipped to square-leg off Snater. Yorkshire are 427-6, leading by 24, in the day’s opening over.
11am We’re up and running at Chelmsford, with Snater bowling to Brook on 110. Yorkshire 425-5, leading by 22.
10.45am Let’s have a look around the grounds before we get going.
Division One
Surrey 401 beat Northamptonshire 194 and 202 by an innings and five runs, Oval
Hampshire 342 and 204 v Gloucestershire 179 and 111-2, Ageas Bowl
Lancashire 361 v Warwickshire 315 and 4-0, Old Trafford
Division Two
Glamorgan 437 v Leicestershire 320 and 158-7, Sophia Gardens
Sussex 392 and 236-3 v Middlesex 358, Lord’s
Worcestershire 309 and 85-2 v Durham 580 and 170-1d, New Road
9.27am If you want to recap yesterday’s play and read our preview of that aforementioned women’s Finals Day, they are linked below.
9.22am Also today, our best wishes go to the Yorkshire women, who are in County T20 Finals Day action at Northern CC in Liverpool. They play a morning semi-final at 11am against Derbyshire before, hopefully, a 3pm final against either Lancashire or Notts. The first trophy of many this season for the club!
Good morning from Chelmsford, where the sun is shining ahead of day four against Essex.
For the third Sunday in a row, Yorkshire head into a final day with a chance of victory. We were thwarted at Northampton and then at home to Kent. Now, will it be third time lucky.
It is going to be very tough, and this is the least likely victory chance of the three by a distance given the featherbed nature of the pitch at the Cloud County Ground.
Yorkshire will begin the day on 425-5 in their first innings, leading by 22. The aim will be for Harry Brook (110) and Dawid Malan (87) – who were both outstanding yesterday – to pile on some quick runs and then declare.
Dom Bess will have a big part to play later, as will Joe Root you would think.
Simon Harmer and Matt Critchley were getting some turn last night, but it’s slow.
But you never know.
There will be a live stream available again today, via the Match Centre tab at the top of this page. Scroll down to view the stream once you get to the page.
We get going at 11am. Enjoy the day.
