County Championship: Lancashire collapse to 32-5 against Essex

Essex paceman Sam Cook removed both of Lancashire's openers

Essex completely dominated a rain-hit second day to take an iron grip on their County Championship game with Lancashire.

Less than 40 overs were possible but it was enough for bowling trio Shane Snater, Sam Cook and Jamie Porter to do the damage as Lancashire collapsed to 32-5.

Earlier Snater hit 72 with the bat as the visitors added 111 runs for their final three wickets to reach 391.

Then Cook and Porter took two wickets apiece with the new ball and Snater one to leave Lancashire reeling when rain ended play early.

Resuming on 280-7, Lancashire would have expected to wrap up the Essex innings fairly quickly but they were held up by Snater and Dan Lawrence.

They had added 54 more runs in just 10 overs between a couple of brief interruptions before Lawrence chipped tamely to mid-wicket for 120.

The England batter was clearly frustrated although he had to bat with a runner for the last part of his innings after appearing to tweak something when going for a quick single.

However, his departure did not deter Netherlands bowler Snater as he reached his second half-century of the season. The number nine displayed a mix of good defence, some fine shots and some lower order agriculture to frustrate the Lancashire attack as he added 57 with Cook.

The visitors took that confidence into their bowling as Cook and Porter combined for a magnificent opening spell.

Cook had Keaton Jennings lbw before Porter removed Josh Bohannon and Steven Croft in successive balls for ducks to leave Lancashire in all sorts of trouble.

Luke Wells was then trapped in front by Cook, who produced the ideal spell of opening bowling, with 2-5 from seven overs of accuracy and skill.

And to complete Essex's day, Snater got in on the act in his only over when Lancashire skipper Dane Vilas dragged onto his stumps for 11.

The Red Rose had begun the day still thinking they could overtake leaders Surrey at the top of Division One with victory. They ended it facing an almighty battle to avoid a home defeat, despite batting for just 15 overs.