County Championship: Essex end Lord's drought with victory over Middlesex

Shane Snater took two crucial final-day wickets at Lord's

Shane Snater took two wickets in as many balls to end Middlesex's stubborn resistance and wrap up Essex's first County Championship win at Lord's since 2009.

Chasing a nominal target of 308, the home side displayed fighting spirit on the final morning as Ryan Higgins and Luke Hollman frustrated the bowlers with an eighth-wicket partnership of 87.

But Snater finally achieved the breakthrough, removing Higgins and Toby Roland-Jones with successive deliveries after lunch before Jamie Porter collected the final wicket to dismiss Middlesex for 210 and clinch a 97-run success.

Porter and fellow seamer Sam Cook finished with three apiece, while Snater returned figures of 2-34 and Hollman top-scored for Middlesex with an unbeaten 63 that included eight boundaries.

Having resumed at 77-5, the home side lost their sixth wicket in the second over of the day, a rising delivery from Sam Cook that nightwatchman Tom Helm could only fend into the hands of first slip.

It was Porter, with six wickets to his name in the first innings, who prised out Stephen Eskinazi, trapping the right-hander in front of his stumps for 37.

But Essex were held up by the eighth-wicket pair, with Higgins largely adopting a watchful approach - although he opted to take on Simon Harmer, pumping the leg-spinner over the rope at long-on to lift the total into three figures.

Hollman, meanwhile, looked strong off the back foot as he punched both Cook and Harmer through point to the boundary, along with an audacious reverse sweep off the latter that brought him four more.

The pair shepherded Middlesex to lunch at 162-7 and they continued to hold out for another half-hour after the resumption, when Snater finally gained tangible reward for his consistent spell.

Higgins, whose edge had fallen short of the fielder in Snater's previous over, was leg before for 41 and Roland-Jones steered the next delivery to first slip, where Alastair Cook leapt to his right to take the catch.

There was still time for Hollman to complete a well-deserved half-century - the fifth of his first-class career - by sweeping Harmer for three before Porter castled Tim Murtagh to seal Essex's victory.

Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones told BBC Radio London:

"We're frustrated that we've put ourselves in tricky situations. We were under a lot of pressure with the bat twice and we just left ourselves with a bit too much to do.

"We've probably come out on the wrong side at the start of each first innings and that's proved to be the difference in a 100-run game.

"We can probably point to a slow start with pre-season but I don't think that's an excuse, with the experience we've got.

"Ryan Higgins looked in great rhythm from the start. He's bowled nicely throughout the game. And Luke Hollman offers something on both sides. He's getting better all the time and he's got potential still to be unlocked."

Essex captain Tom Westley told BBC Radio Essex:

"It's always good to start the season with a win. There were stand-out performances from numerous people, which is what you want so early in the season.

"Dan Lawrence's hundred was instrumental and seeing Jamie Porter bowl like that, I'm so pleased for him. He's worked hard over the winter.

"I'm also really pleased for Snates. By his own admission he probably didn't bowl as well as he would have liked first innings. So to come back like that, especially with a ball that was 77 or 78 overs old and get those two wickets was fantastic.

"You know we're going to create 10 chances - and then we've got Simon Harmer. He probably didn't get the wickets he'd have wanted but, when it turns a little bit more, he's going to come right into his own."

Match report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.