Essex v Hampshire: Jamie Porter stars as hosts win by an innings

Essex seamer Jamie Porter returned match figures of 7-45

Essex wrapped up a thumping innings-and-97-run victory over Hampshire inside three days at Chelmsford.

Resuming on 92-7, still 268 in arrears, Jamie Porter (5-24) polished off the tail to leave the visitors 115 all out.

Following on, Hampshire again lost regular wickets, with Porter (2-21), Simon Harmer (3-23) and Neil Wagner (2-39) bowling them out for only 148.

Centuries from Alistair Cook and Tom Westley set the platform for Essex, who temporarily go top of Division One.

The ton was Cook's second of the County Championship season, with the former England captain averaging 67.40 through five first-class innings this season.

He and Westley were the only two batsmen to pass 40 in the match, with Lewis McManus top-scoring for Hampshire in both innings with 39 and 37.

Porter was the star with the ball for Essex, returning career-best figures in the first innings before combining with Harmer and Wagner to complete a resounding victory in the second.

Unbeaten Essex have now won two of their opening four games, while the defeat was Hampshire's first of the season.

Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate told BBC Essex:

"Jamie Porter bowled fantastically well. It was one of the best opening spells I've ever seen. He bowled really well in the first three games and was probably a bit unlucky not to take more wickets.

"But nothing to this standard. He was relentless with his lengths and his lines in this game. That can happen when you bowl well and don't get wickets - if you keep doing the right things then eventually you are going to pick up a bagful.

"To have 55 points at this stage of the season is fantastic. I'm delighted with our performance. We knew that eventually the points were going to come.

"It was a strange old wicket. I don't think putting us in was the worst decision. They didn't have a lot of luck. We played and missed a lot. Alastair Cook and Tom Westley had to be mentally strong to get through that first day and we backed up our batting with some really good bowling."

Hampshire first-team coach Craig White told BBC Radio Solent:

"It's a huge disappointment. We batted overall for 80-odd overs for 280 runs and that's just not good enough.

"The pitch did a bit, but that's first-class cricket. You've got to adapt, and be able to cope with different situations and we didn't do that.

"We've got a little bit of a history of losing wickets in clumps, four, five, six at times. We've got to start soaking up the pressure.

"A performance like that isn't acceptable. But one bad performance doesn't make us a bad team. It's been one bad game. The three before [in the Championship] were very good. Maybe we had a hangover from our one-day cricket. We'll let the dust settle and sit down and discuss next week's team."