County Championship: Essex battle on final day to draw with Lancashire

James Anderson trapped his old England captain Alastair Cook LBW twice in the match

Essex captain Tom Westley weighed anchor for two and three-quarter hours to deny Lancashire a County Championship Division One victory at Chelmsford.

Westley faced 120 balls in scoring 43 as Essex batted for two sessions to save the game.

Lancashire had set a nominal target of 340 in 68 overs after scoring 184 runs in the 28-over morning session, of which 137 came in the final 15 overs.

The big-hitting trio of Tom Hartley (73 not out), Colin de Grandhomme (38) and Tom Bailey (25 not out) hammered nine sixes between them, while young wicketkeeper George Bell completed his second 50 of the match.

But Essex did not rise to the bait, as they settled for a draw from a game that had lost 103 overs because of the weather.

They had reached 128-4 from 58 overs when handshakes were exchanged, both teams taking eight points.

Of greater significance from an England perspective, James Anderson bowled 13 overs in bite-sized spells on the first leg of his domestic warm-up tour ahead of the Ashes.

While not as venomous as in Essex's first innings, England's premier seamer still had the opposition playing and missing with some regularity - and he trapped Alastair Cook lbw for the second time in the match.

Essex captain Tom Westley:

"Given where we were at lunchtime, we are happy with a draw. It was too far out of our reach chasing 340 on a wicket offering assistance to seam bowling.

"But overall, it was nice to be going into a last day and a position where we could potentially go on and win. If we could have got a few more wickets earlier on this morning, and been left chasing 220 or 230, then it would have been really interesting.

"Lancashire managed to get through to 82-1 in difficult batting conditions at the close of the second day which was quite a crucial phase for them.

"We were a little bit hammered by the injury to Sam Cook who was struggling a little bit with his hamstring, but all in all against a very good team, securing the same amount of points was probably fair."

Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings:

"Generally, over the last four days, guys have looked at opportunities to get us out of holes and put pressure on. Up to the last over guys were running in trying to win the game for Lancashire. It was an unbelievable effort. We just need to keep playing the cricket we are.

"This morning we didn't put the foot on the gas too hard because you can crash and burn quite quickly and suddenly it's a 150 chase for Essex.

"Col's first ball stamped a marker down. Tommy struck the ball beautifully, so did Col and young Bailey played absolutely fantastically. So it's one of those where everybody played their role leading up to the declaration.

"George Bell went through some really tough patches in the day and a half that he batted, but he allowed Tommy and Colin to come in and play the way they did. He's a lovely lad, tough, nuggety, who gets stuck in. It's awesome to see him enjoying his cricket, playing with a smile on his face."

Match report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.