Walter puts Essex closer to safety against Somerset

Essex batter Paul Walter hit 158, including 21 fours and three sixes, against Somerset

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

Somerset 433: Goldsworthy 100, Thomas 86, J Rew 74, Overton 60; Porter 3-66, Bennett 3-73

Essex 295-2: Walter 158, Elgar 111*; Overton 2-49

Essex (2 pts) trail Somerset (3 pts) by 138 runs

Match scorecard

Paul Walter exerted total mastery over Somerset's flagging bowlers as his highest first-class score of 158 eased Essex closer to safety in Division One of the County Championship.

The left-hander was barely troubled as he combined perfect timing with seeing everything clearly and early, while spraying the ball around Chelmsford with an air of supreme confidence.

For much of his 167-ball innings he outscored his opening partner, the former South Africa captain Dean Elgar, two to one as the first-wicket pair compiled a stand of 277 in 61 overs. At the close Essex were 295-2.

Elgar, too, reached a second century of the season but was content to play second fiddle while Walter pulled, drove and flicked with nonchalant ease 21 fours and three sixes. Elgar contributed 16 fours and a six in his unbeaten 212-ball 111.

Somerset's first-innings 433 had looked formidable until Essex made mincemeat of it in an emphatic response. That Somerset had achieved as many as they did was latterly down to Lewis Goldsworthy's four-hour and 21-minute century that took 193 balls. He was last man out, a third wicket on debut for seamer Charlie Bennett, who finished with 3-73.

When it was their turn, Somerset struggled to get any response out of a docile pitch and had tried seven bowlers to no avail by the 29th over. They spent two sessions chasing shadows on a sunny autumn day.

Essex survived two overs before lunch and immediately afterwards Elgar punched back-to-back drives past mid-off for fours off Craig Overton. It set the tone for the rest of the day as they rattled along at above four and a half runs an over.

Walter was the most aggressive from the start, at one point lofting Archie Vaughan straight down the ground for four, and cutting Lewis Gregor for another to reach a 54-ball fifty. An off-drive for his 13th boundary took Essex to three-figures in only 21 overs.

His dominance was summed up when he launched Jack Leach for six over long-off, and next ball he rocked on to his backfoot to drive the spinner through the covers for four.

When Walter reached his century from exactly 100 balls just before tea, Elgar was stuck on 49 from 10 balls more.

It took Elgar a further dozen balls after tea to reach his fifty, courtesy of an angled shot backward of square off Kasey Aldridge, and he celebrated by lofting Vaughan straight back over the bowler's head for six. Walter could not resist following suit and bounced down the wicket in the same over for another maximum.

Walter's third six, pulling Leach over square leg, took him past his previous highest score. His 150 took 154 balls, while Elgar's 54th first-class century was reached in 184 balls.

Walter eventually departed seven overs from stumps to a stupendous tumbling catch at mid-wicket by Goldsworthy off Overton, who also accounted for nightwatchman Simon Harmer before the close.

To emphasis the unresponsiveness of the hybrid wicket, it took Essex an hour and three-quarters to winkle out the last four Somerset wickets, while conceding a further 94 runs.

Overton recorded a second successive fifty, and a third of the season, from the 54th ball he faced. But he fell to a ball in Harmer's first over of the day which spun past his outstretched leg and bowled him between bat and pad after a partnership with Goldsworthy worth 98 in 20 overs.

Another bowling change prefaced another wicket when Leach nibbled at one from Bennett to provide substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes with a fourth catch. Gregory swept Harmer for six during a brief appearance but attempted a repeat next ball and top-edged to short fine leg.

Goldsworthy made it to three figures just in time, pushing a quick single off Harmer, but departed two balls later when he swung Bennett to deep square leg.

Match report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay