Cook sits out super bowl day

SAM COOK was absent on orders from England but 14 wickets still fell on day one of the County Championship cricket match between Essex and Worcestershire at Chelmsford.

- RICHARD LEWIS

The prolific Essex seamer has been rested ahead of an increasingly likely Test call-up next month and would surely have relished conditions as his side fell for 179 before the Pears reached 98-4 at stumps.

Jordan Cox's 32 was the best Essex could muster as Jacob Duffy took 4-39.