Jamie Porter came off the substitutes' bench to tear through the Sussex batting at Chelmsford. Porter had been rested by Essex for this Rothesay County Championship match but was called into action after the pacey Charlie Bennett limped off with a leg injury sustained in the morning session. The injury was later described as 'sore' and was being assessed.
Porter struck in his fifth over, taking 3-32 from twelve overs to push his season tally to 28 wickets. His efforts exposed a sluggish Sussex performance, with batsmen hanging around without scoring at more than 2.3 runs per over before getting out.
Dan Hughes highlighted that with 45 off 107 balls, as Essex's seam attack of Sam Cook, Shane Snater and Zaman Akhter maintained tight lines and deliveries that either took edges or just missed. Bad light cut 10 overs off the day's allocation, leaving Sussex on 213-7 with Jack Leaning unbeaten on 49.
Tom Haines's decision to bat first on a grassy wicket looked questionable. The Sussex captain rued calling correctly when he was the first of two wickets in three balls for Cook with only seven runs on the board. Both Haines and Tom Clark were caught behind to similar inswinging deliveries, the first being Cook's 500th dismissal and the second Pepper's 200th victim.
Under heavy skies and with floodlights on within the first hour, play became attritional. The ball barely left the square as Hughes and Charlie Tear took 19 overs to put together the first fifty of their partnership. The stand was worth 72 when Hughes drove loosely at Snater and the ball flew to slips, where Simon Harmer parried it for Paul Walter to catch. Porter then had his first wicket when Tear dangled his bat and nicked to first slip.
James Coles's difficult time since his double century against Glamorgan in mid-June continued when he hung his bat out to the first ball of Akhter's spell and gave Pepper his 201st scalp. Porter was back among the wickets after tea, getting one to swing late and trap John Simpson lbw. Ten balls later, Jack Carson edged to first slip.
Dom Goodman showed some attacking intent by twice lofting Matt Critchley to long-on for a six and a four in an over. Even with that outburst, his eighth-wicket partnership with Leaning took 17 overs to post fifty for their unbroken stand.
Source: sussexcricket.co.uk — Read the original article
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