Somerset race to 10-wicket win at Essex
Somerset bowl out Essex for 245 before easing to a target of 47 to win by 10 wickets on day three of their County Championship match.
Josh Thomas and Archie Vaughan took Somerset to their target in 5. 4 overs [Shutterstock] Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day three) 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 Match scorecard 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.