Essex produce a superb final day rearguard action for draw

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

- By MARTIN SMITH

The pair came together in the depths of despair at 45-4 on the third evening and batted for four-and-a-half hours together, spanning 458 balls, and looking to have made 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.

Georger Hill dismissed both batsmen to return 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.