Essex end season with win over Somerset

Charlie Allison scored more than 1,300 runs in all formats in his first full season for Essex

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

Somerset 433 & 99: Thomas 39; Porter 4-18

Essex 295-2: Walter 158, Elgar 118; Overton 6-88 & 99-3: Allison 32*, Walter 30

Essex (22 pts) beat Somerset (6 pts) by seven wickets

Match scorecard

Charlie Allison kept his head during an otherwise nervy hour and a quarter as Essex claimed a seven-wicket victory over Somerset to round off the County Championship season.

Allison, one of Essex's stand-out performers during a largely disappointing season, finished the game with a second six off Jake Ball over long-on.

He was 32 not out from 34 balls as Essex reached their target of 95 from just 18.4 overs.

Lewis Gregory had given Somerset some hope by removing Dean Elgar and Tom Westley inside the first six overs before taking the catch in the deep to end Paul Walter's tone-setting innings.

Walter, a first-innings centurion, had amassed 30 from 31 balls when he departed with 39 still required.

The Somerset captain was fired up in the face of desperate odds against and caused jitters in the Essex ranks as he repeatedly beat the outside edge of the bat.

He bowled through unchanged and was rewarded with figures of 2-43 from his nine overs.

For two-and-a-half days it looked like the game would peter out into a tame draw but that was before Jamie Porter initiated a Somerset collapse of monumental proportions amid the gloom of a day-three afternoon and early evening.

Essex had subsided themselves earlier in the day from an overnight 295-2 to 438 all out and a nominal lead of five runs.

But in 34 overs, they rolled Somerset over for 99 with Porter taking 4-18, falling just one wicket short of another 50-wicket haul for the season.

However, with all of day four available to knock off the runs, a modicum of tension was introduced in only the second over.

Having put on 277 for the first wicket in the first innings, the opening partnership lasted just seven balls as Elgar departed for a golden duck, rapped conclusively on his front pad by Gregory.

Tom Westley withstood the rest of a torrid over and got off the mark with a characteristic drive through midwicket for four off Craig Overton. He followed that with an emphatic pull through midwicket off Gregory for a second boundary before he, too, fell to the same bowler.

After putting on a 28 with Walter, Westley nibbled at one outside off-stump and wicketkeeper James Rew dived in front of first slip to claim the catch.

Walter had been busy turning twos into threes to the extent that Essex reached 50 from just nine overs when 20-year-old Allison walked down the pitch and smashed Overton through extra over for four.

Overton had been relatively expensive, his five overs costing 25, but his replacement Jake Ball struck with his first ball when Walter went for a big heave and paid the price.

Allison, though, made sure the target came down quickly and deposited Ball for six to take Essex within two runs of the target and then repeated the act to complete the victory.

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

'Difficult season' for Essex - reaction

Essex director of cricket Chris Silverwood:

"This morning the chat was all around trying to be as clinical as we can to get the job done because things can unfold really quickly.

"They've got some good bowlers, so we knew it was going to be tough. We had to apply ourselves and take the opportunities that were offered to us.

"It has been a difficult season, there's no hiding from that. There have been missed opportunities, little sessions that we should have won and which might have made a difference.

"But the fact is if we are positive like we were today it gives you a bit of momentum, something to smile about in the dressing room. We can crack on now and look forward to next year.

"We've seen a young man [in Charlie Allison] grow in confidence, grow in stature, and seen his game grow in front of our eyes as well this season. It's been really exciting and lovely to watch."

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr:

"It wasn't how we wanted to finish but it doesn't take away from what has been an incredible year.

"There have been some incredible performances and some incredible wins. But there have been a couple of hours in the season, like yesterday afternoon, that have affected our chances of winning the County Championship.

"We've got some promising young players who we need to nurture. We've seen in this game Josh Thomas, who has done incredibly well in the second team, that circumstances allowed and he had an opportunity and, boy, has he taken it.

"He's shown how good he can be at this level. That is incredibly exciting for us at the top of the order. We've also got some young seamers we want to look at when they're fit."