By John Virr – 2nd X1 Scorer
Day 1
Essex won the toss and elected to bowl. Finlay Bean and Will Bennison opened cautiously adding 33 when at the end of the 10th over the bowler Newman got a touch on a straight drive from Bean and unfortunately Bennison was out of his ground – run out for 18. Harry Duke was caught at slip for 3 and Jawad Akhtar departed in the same way for 6.
Bean, putting the occasional bad ball away progressed to 47 not out at lunch from 77 balls with 5 fours and Joe Thompson was 2 not out – Owen Smith having been bowled for 1 and at lunch Yorkshire were 85-4.
Thompson and Bean extended their partnership to 49 from 47 balls before Bean was caught behind for 70 made from 97 balls with 8 fours. This saw us go from 120-4 to 131-7 and it was thanks to Ben Coad (20 from 15 balls) and Subhaan Ali 18 not out from 23 balls that we reached 162 all out.
Coad struck in the first over having Das lbw and Isaac Bepey bowled Fernandes for 4 and Essex were 10-2. Coad struck again, this time twice in an over to reduce them further to 21-4. Ali bowled Killeen; 41-5 and at tea Benkenstein remained not out on 26 from 51 balls but Rashid was caught at slip off Dan Moriarty for 10 and Essex were 63-6.
Lockrose made 5 before being bowled by Coad and he completed his “5 for” when he had Benkenstein caught behind for 46 from 81 balls with 5 fours and a six. Ali closed the innings by having Parrish lbw and Newman bowled finishing with 3-30: Essex 107 all out.
Seven overs remained in the day at Yorkshire closed on 21 without loss to lead by 76.
Day 2
The day started with Yorkshire leading by 76 runs and Bean and Bennison extended this to 148 before the latter was caught at mid wicket for 29 made from 51 balls with 4 fours and a six. At this point we were 93-1 but slipped to 96-3 as Harry Duke was lbw without scoring and Finlay Bean caught down the legside for 65 from 99 deliveries with 11 fours.
Yash Vagadia was bowled for 9 and at lunch Yorkshire were 131- 4, Akhtar and Smith both not out on 18 and 3 respectively – Yorkshire lead by 186.
Post lunch they extended their partnership to 50 from 78 balls before Akhtar was bowled by Jones for 33 from 60 balls – 158-5. Owen Smith made 27 from 70 balls before being caught behind; 209-6 and Ben Coad made 10 from 14 balls prior to being caught at mid on. Throughout all this Joe Thompson was keeping the scoreboard turning and he reached his half century from 74 balls with 6 fours.
Dan Moriarty was stumped for 7 but at tea Subhaan Ali was 5 not out and Thompson unbeaten on 72 from 97 – at tea Yorkshire 266-8 leading by 321. After tea the 2 not out batters advanced the total to 289-8 (a lead of 344) before bad light halted play at 4.19 pm.
Play was abandoned for the day around an hour later.
DAY 3
The third day commenced with Yorkshire leading by 344 with 2 wickets remaining. One of those was lost to the first ball of the day as Subhaan Ali was well caught by keeper, Fernandes. Joe Thompson was 85 not out overnight but could only add 1 more before Brad Sylvester was bowled for 8, leaving Essex needing 354 for victory in a minimum of 194 overs.
Benkenstein and Das opened their reply scoring at a run a ball but the former was well caught at 2nd slip by Owen Smith to give Ben Coad a wicket; 36-1. Sylvester bowled Das for 17; 40-2. This became 62-3 when Fernandes was caught at mid-wicket by Thompson off Isaac Bepey and at lunch Essex were 97-3.
Malik was caught by Duke in the second over after lunch off Coad, 109-4. There followed a partnership of 64 from 116 balls between Zeb and Killeen. Zeb reached his half century from 54 balls and had made 73 from 92 when he was caught behind by Duke off Bepey – Bepey then took his 3rd and 4th wickets by dismissing Lockrose and Rashid in the same over and Essex were 187-7. Jones was adjudged lbw to Charlie Richardson and at tea they reached 204-8.
Only 18 balls were required after tea for Yorkshire to wrap up a victory by 143 runs to send them, however temporarily, top of their group.
It’s a return to T20 next week with a double header at Weetwood on Wednesday 24th against Lancashire followed by a single game at Harrogate on Thursday against Durham.
