Essex hold out for draw against Yorkshire

Simon Harmer faced 115 balls for his unbeaten 32 for Essex in the final session

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day four)

Yorkshire 216 & 426-6 dec: Lyth 185, Bairstow 79, Wharton 61; Thain 3-96

Essex 123 & 273-9: Critchley 75, Pepper 68; White 4-32, Hill 3-31

Essex (11 pts) drew with Yorkshire (11 pts)

Match scorecard

Matt Critchley and Michael Pepper knuckled down for a monumental fifth-wicket stand of 154 in 77 overs to help steer Essex to the unlikeliest of County Championship draws against Yorkshire at Chelmsford.

The pair came together with the home side in the doldrums at 45-4 on the third evening and batted in tandem for four and a half hours, their stand spanning 458 balls.

They looked set to make it through two complete sessions on the final day. Pepper, though, fell to the last ball before tea after a 229-ball 68 that included five fours and two sixes.

Critchley followed after the interval for 75 from 246 balls as Yorkshire scented their second win of the season with three wickets in 21 balls.

However, last-wicket pair Simon Harmer and Jamie Porter saw out the final 38 minutes and 82 balls to prevent a second successive defeat.

George Hill returned career-best match figures of 9-82, supported by Jack White's season's best 4-43, but to no avail as Yorkshire toiled in vain for one more wicket.

The target of 520, with 456 still nominally required at the start of day four, was always going to be beyond Essex's compass and it became more a case of settling in to save face.

The plans for survival, however, were set out from the start as Pepper and Critchley blocked and blocked with little alarm. It was not until the 20th ball of the day that they moved off their overnight 64-4 when Critchley angled a Ben Coad delivery wide of the slips for a boundary.

It was only the introduction of Hill after 35 minutes that saw the usually flamboyant Pepper opened his morning's account, turning the ball down to fine leg for a single.

The first sign of serious aggression came when Critchley hooked Matty Revis so firmly that the square-leg umpire had to take evasive action as the ball sped to the boundary.

Revis then attempted a short-ball barrage at Pepper, and it nearly came off when the Essex batsman gloved one up and over Jonny Bairstow's head behind the stumps.

Pepper broke out of his self-imposed shackles by sweeping Dom Bess for one six and adding a second over long leg. In between, he survived a difficult chance off an uppish drive past mid-on.

Reprieved, Pepper scampered the single soon after lunch that took him to a 155-ball fifty followed quickly by the century stand that ate up 51 overs.

Critchley's half-century was more circumspect, reached with another four guided down to third man from his 190th ball faced.

Yorkshire's hopes seemed to hinge on the second new ball, but they failed to make it count immediately and Bess was recalled to the attack after nine fruitless overs.

However, to the final ball of the 13th over with it, on the cusp of tea, Pepper was caught leaning into a Hill delivery and departed lbw.

Noah Thain lasted 15 balls before he was bowled through the gate by Bess, and Critchley's marathon innings ended when he got the faintest of tickles to Hill and was caught behind.

Shane Snater held out for 32 balls without scoring before he fell lbw to White, and Kasun Rajitha's 21 came off 40 balls before he played down the wrong line and was bowled by Dan Moriarty.

But then Porter came in to join Harmer and thwart Yorkshire despite being ringed by close fielders.

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Essex's Simon Harmer said:

"There were a lot of nerves out there, especially when you're nine down. You understand that you are only one mistake away. But you just have to focus on one ball at a time.

"It's a cliche but if you get carried away looking at an hour left or whatever you can get distracted. So I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. I was there at the end but it was Michael Pepper and Matt Critchley who really set it up for us. Then Jamie Porter at the end, what a superstar he is. He batted like an absolute champion.

"For us to get a draw out of that was a win. It's still not great we were in that position. It's the way that the game goes and it's pivotal for us. If we had lost this game we'd be chasing our tails with regards to the season, so it keeps us in the hunt and hopefully we can put in a good show next week at Worcester."

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath said:

"It's such a shame because I think the lads threw every at them. We pretty much dominated the game from session number three on day one.

"It's a difficult one to take, because it does feel a bit like a loss, But I thought we'd played ever so well this week. All I can ask for was a response from last week [defeat to Warwickshire], and the lads have been absolutely superb.

"I think we played the game perfectly. Obviously, now you'd say we could have declared earlier. If we declared any earlier, it gives them a chance to get off to a good start. We had enough overs. We just couldn't get the result."