Essex rip through Somerset to close in on victory

JAMIE Porter ripped through some fragile batting with four wickets to help skittle Somerset for 99 and put Essex on course for only their second home County Championship victory of the season.

- JAMIE Porter

Ably supported by debutant seamer Charlie Bennett, and latterly spinner Simon Harmer, Porter took his season’s tally to 49 wickets with figures of 4-18 from a dozen overs. It left Essex requiring 95 to win before bad light ended play on day three 17 overs early.

‘At one stage, when Dean Elgar and Paul Walter were putting on 277 for the first wicket the day before, it had looked as if Essex would gain a sizea-ble first-innings advantage. In reality, that lead turned out to be just five runs as they lost all 10 wickets for an additional 161 runs inside 45 overs. But that was before Somerset went in for a second time.