County Championship: Sam Northeast's 169 leads Hampshire dominance against Essex

Sam Northeast batted for almost six hours for his 169

Hampshire's batsmen dominated against Essex for a second day running before bad light scuppered play after tea.

Sam Northeast, 94 overnight, brought up his 22nd first-class century in the first over of day two and went on to make 169 before he was pinned lbw by Ravi Bopara just before lunch.

Northeast put on 165 for the fifth wicket with Liam Dawson (64), to help Hampshire from 303-4 to 525-8 declared.

Essex closed on 25-1, trailing by 500, with Alastair Cook unbeaten on 17.

Cook, who will play the whole season for his county side after retiring from England duty in September, struck three fours before the players went off for a second time at 16:50 BST and did not return.

However, the 34-year-old faces a tough task if he is to get the 2017 county champions back into the game at the Ageas Bowl with Essex likely to have to bat for two days.

Their cause was not helped by losing fellow opener Nick Browne, bowled by Fidel Edwards, for a single.

Earlier, Essex's bowlers continued to struggle with their four main bowlers - Jamie Porter, Sam Cook, Matt Quinn and Simon Harmer - all conceding more than 100 runs.

They were eventually put out of their misery when Hampshire declared after Harmer removed Gareth Berg (33), but not before he had taken his side past 500 with debutant Keith Barker (31 not out).