Somerset race to 10-wicket win at Essex
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Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day three)
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Essex 149 & 245: Walter 70; Pretorius 3-64
Somerset 348: Overton 141 & 49-0: Vaughan 41*
Somerset (21 pts) beat Essex (3 pts) by 10 wickets
Craig Overton produced a consummate all-round captain's performance to lead Somerset to a comfortable 10-wicket County Championship victory over Essex with more than four sessions to spare.
Standing in as captain in the absence of the injured Lewis Gregory, Overton stepped up to the mark in all departments of the game: he top-scored with a second career century, led the attack with four wickets and claimed a catch as well as calling correctly at the toss to get an important first use of a green-tinged pitch.
The 32-year-old one-time England seamer put the skids under Essex at the start of the third day by removing the two set overnight batters, Matt Critchley and Paul Walter, in quick succession after a promising stand of 96. Already 199 runs behind on first innings, Essex never really recovered.
Set 47 to win, Somerset took just 15 minutes and 5.4 overs to reach the target amid a flurry of boundaries.
Somerset injury substitute Archie Vaughan, with a point to prove after being sidelined so far this season, was certainly in no mood to hang around. He took 19 off just five balls off a Sam Cook over and then twice launched Simon Harmer over mid-wicket for six on the way 41 from 25 balls.
Somerset had been forced into a second injury substitution in the match when Lewis Goldsworthy had to be replaced after tweaking his hamstring the day before. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, remember, had been ruled out with a badly bruised thumb on the first morning with Will Smeed racing over from a second-team game in Abergavenny to take his place.
Vaughan, the 13th player Somerset had to mobilise, was involved as early as the 15th ball of the morning, swooping low to his left at second slip to snaffle Critchley.
Critchley had added just six to his overnight total and had looked to be easing Essex back into the game in a solid partnership with Walter. However, that impression quickly evaporated as the Somerset seamers found renewed life in a pitch that had seemed to flatten out on day two.
With only nine more runs added, Walter followed Critchley back to the pavilion, caught and bowled off a leading edge to give Overton a second wicket in the first 25 minutes.
When Overton gave himself a well-earned rest, he had morning figures of 2-14 from five overs. But even before he handed over the ball to Josh Shaw, the captain had a third wicket involvement of the day. Ten balls after Walter's dismissal, Overton stooped low at second slip to remove Michael Pepper for nought off Jake Ball.
Essex were still seven runs short of making Somerset bat again when Wiaan Mulder's brave rearguard action was ended. The South African, who had been suffering with back spasms, chose not to ignore a short-pitch delivery from Migael Pretorius and attempted an ill-advised hook that flew off the top-edge through to the wicketkeeper. Mulder remained rooted to the crease for several seconds while Somerset whooped and hollered as he contemplated the merit of his shot selection.
Overton's only blemish of the whole game came at 198-7 when he dropped Shane Snater on four at second slip off Pretorius.
Essex limped into a nebulous lead with the aid of a leg-bye before Simon Harmer's late resistance was curtailed when Shaw had him plumb lbw. That Essex made it to lunch was due to some spirited hitting from ninth-wicket pair Shane Snater and Cook.
As the ball softened, they extended the innings 20 minutes into the afternoon session before Cook, defending a lifter from Ball, nicked behind. The end followed swiftly as Pretorius had Snater picked up at midwicket to finish with 3-64.
Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.