County Championship: Surrey enforce Essex follow-on after Rikki Clarke's 4-28

Rikki Clarke played two Tests for England in 2003

Rikki Clarke made a half-century and took four wickets as Division One leaders Surrey enforced the follow-on against Essex on day two at Chelmsford.

Surrey resumed on 256-4, and all-rounder Clarke hit 56 off 69 balls before they were dismissed for 351.

Essex folded after lunch as Clarke (4-28) and Tom Curran (3-36) shone, with Tom Westley's 49 the only worthy score.

The reigning champions were all out for 126 and 13-0 when bad light stopped play with them trailing by 212 runs.

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After Somerset's remarkable tie with Lancashire, Surrey have edged closer to taking their opponents' County Championship crown.

Clarke, 36, hit two sixes before taking centre stage with the ball.

Essex were 7-0 in their first innings at lunch, but Westley was the only one of their top eight batsmen to reach double figures, and they could have been bowled out for under 100 but for a ninth-wicket stand of 35 between Peter Siddle (21no) and Jamie Porter (12).

Play was abandoned at 17:15 BST, and Essex openers Nick Browne and Varun Chopra will return to the crease on the third morning with the unenviable task of trying to save the match.

Title race scenario

• Following the tie against Lancashire, second-placed Somerset can only collect a maximum of 247 points this season

• Surrey, therefore, need 52 points to win the title, not including any earned in their current game against Essex

• If Surrey beat Essex, they will collect 22 points, and so will need another 30 to become champions

Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke:

"To bowl them out as cheaply as we did, we're very pleased.

"I had a little bit of an opportunity to free up the arms a bit towards the back end of our innings, and with the ball just tried to keep it simple as I've done all year, and luckily it worked.

"It's just a case of doing what we did in the first innings really - bowling in partnerships, hunting in packs and putting the ball in the right areas."