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100 for Lewis but Essex fight back on day two
Lewis Goldsworthy scored his second First Class century but Essex fought back valiently on the second day of this Rothesay County Championship match at Chelmsford.
For the hosts, Paul Walter scored his highest First Class score of 158 as his side eased closer to safety.
For much of his 167-ball innings Walter outscored his opening partner, the former South Africa captain Dean Elgar, two to one as the first-wicket pair compiled a stand of 277 in 61 overs.
By the close of play Essex had reached 295 for two in reply to Somerset’s first innings score of 433.
Elgar, too, reached a second century of the season contributing 16 fours and a six in his unbeaten 212-ball 111.
Somerset’s total had looked formidable thanks to Goldsworthy’s four-hour and 21-minute century that took 193 balls. He was last man out, a third wicket on debut for seamer Charlie Bennett, who finished with three for 73.
A docile pitch saw Somerset try seven bowlers to no avail by the 29th over.
Essex survived two overs before lunch and immediately afterwards Elgar punched back-to-back drives past mid-off for fours off Craig Overton. It set the tone for the rest of the day as they rattled along at above four-and-a-half runs an over.
Walter was the most aggressive from the start, reaching a 54-ball fifty. An off-drive for his 13th boundary took Essex to three-figures in only 21 overs.
When Walter reached his century from exactly 100 balls just before tea, having plundered 16 fours, Elgar was stuck on 49 from 10 balls more.
It took Elgar a further dozen balls after tea to reach his fifty, courtesy of an angled shot backward of square off Kasey Aldridge.
Walter’s third six, pulling Leach over square leg, took him past his previous highest score. His 150 took 154 balls, while Elgar’s 54th First Class century was reached in 184 balls.
Walter eventually departed seven overs from stumps to a stupendous tumbling catch at midwicket by Goldsworthy off Overton, who also accounted for nightwatcher Simon Harmer before the close.
To emphasise the unresponsiveness of the wicket, it took Essex an hour and three-quarters to winkle out the last four Somerset wickets while conceding a further 94 runs. Overton recorded a second successive fifty, and a third of the season, from the 54th ball he faced. But he fell to a ball in Harmer’s first over of the day that spun past his outstretched leg and bowled him between bat and pad after a partnership with Goldsworthy worth 98 in 20 overs.
Another bowling change prefaced another wicket when Leach nibbled at one from Bennett to provide substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes with a fourth catch. Gregory swept Harmer for six during a brief appearance but attempted a repeat next ball and top-edged to short fine leg.
Goldsworthy made it to three-figures just in time, pushing a quick single off Harmer, but departed two balls later when he swung Bennett to deep square leg.
