Overton century puts Somerset on top against Essex
Somerset's Craig Overton reaches 141 against Essex on day two of their County Championship match at Chelmsford.
Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day two) Essex 149: Allison 49, Elgar 41; Shaw 3-30 & 131-3: Walter 63*, Critchley 53* Somerset 348: Overton 141, Rew 48; Snater 3-56, Porter 3-84, Cook 3-93 Somerset 5pts, Essex 3pt Match scorecard Craig Overton put Somerset in a dominant position against Essex at Chelmsford with the highest score of an illustrious first-class career built largely on his skills with the ball rather than the bat. The stand-in captain walked out on Friday evening with Somerset creaking at 114-5, still 35 runs behind Essex's first innings, but had more than doubled the score in three-and-a-half hours at the crease by the time he was out for 141 in mid-afternoon. In partnerships of 98 with Lewis Goldsworthy and 118 with Will Smeed, Overton helped Somerset establish a 199-run lead.
It was a decade ago that the then 22-year-old Overton scored his only previous century, 138 against Hampshire, though he has been in formidable form with the bat in recent times. He has passed fifty in four of his past six County Championship innings, stretching back to September, and 219 runs in three innings this season. His 180-ball ton included 19 fours and three sixes.
In response, Essex lost three wickets in the first 15 overs of their second innings, before Paul Walter and Matt Critchley settled into a defiant fourth-wicket stand currently worth 86 runs either side of a 53-minute rain delay. Both batsmen timed the ball nicely, with Walter reaching his first fifty of the season and Critchley hitting nine fours in his half-century. Essex closed on 131-3.
That Overton as captain had the Midas touch was evidenced when he won the toss on a bowler-friendly green-top. It continued when Essex batted again when he called up Jack Leach for a short, pre-tea spell and saw the spinner remove Dean Elgar with his sixth delivery, held low down at mid-on. Then, straight after the interval, a switch of ends for Migael Pretorius led to Luc Benkenstein driving loosely at a wide ball that ended up in the wicketkeeper's gloves.