County Championship: Worcestershire on brink after Ravi Bopara century

Ravi Bopara's century was his 29th in first-class cricket

Ravi Bopara made an unbeaten 133 as Essex built a huge lead at Chelmsford to push Worcestershire to the brink of relegation from Division One.

Bopara hit a six and 13 fours before the home side declared on 474-7, a first-innings advantage of 380.

He put on 117 with Adam Wheater (66) and 134 with Simon Harmer (57).

Worcestershire soon lost both openers to Jamie Porter, but Joe Clarke showed some resolve with an unbeaten 74 as they closed on 140-4, still 240 behind.

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Clarke shared a 94-run stand for the fourth wicket with Alex Milton (38), who was lbw to Harmer just before the close after being dropped at first slip earlier in his innings.

Having only managed two bonus points, the visitors must somehow contrive a highly unlikely victory to take their fight to the final round of games.

If they lose or the game is drawn, Worcestershire will be down, with sixth-placed Yorkshire having already earned enough bonus points against Hampshire to ensure they could not be caught in those circumstances.

Their second innings began in the worst possible way as Jamie Porter, who took 7-41 in the first innings, yorked Tom Fell and then had Daryl Mitchell lbw in the space of five deliveries.

T20 Blast winners Worcestershire were 44-3 when Matt Coles removed Ollie Westbury for eight, but Clarke hit 11 fours as he moved past 800 runs for the season.

Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara:

"We played that first hour very well this morning as we knew there was a new ball around the corner.

"It was always going to be difficult against the new ball but, after that, the runs flowed nicely and it became easier to score.

"The partnership with Wheater put it beyond Worcestershire to win the game and it gives us a good crack to set some attacking fields and put them under some pressure."

Pears head coach Kevin Sharp told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"It was a great partnership between Joe Clarke and Alex Milton. They played the spin of Simon Harmer very well and that has been the best part of the game for us up until now.

"Once Joe gets in he is a high-class player who is capable of scoring hundreds, as he has done. So I know he can bat for two days.

"This morning was very poor in the field. We were not very good at all. We dropped catches, which can happen. There was some poor ground fielding and poor throwing. "Sometimes when you get on a little bit of a roll you lose confidence."