Alastair Prepare dinner books in for any other Oval masterclass as Essex dominate

Dan Lawrence 78 as Essex rack up runs after opting for to bat in south London

Essex 299 for three (Prepare dinner 140*, Lawrence 78) vs Surrey

An even-sized crowd rose to applaud the previous England captain when he reached 3 figures simply earlier than tea. After dominating a 120-run 2nd wicket partnership with Tom Westley, Prepare dinner went on so as to add an extra 145 in 41 overs with Dan Lawrence as Essex constructed a robust basis looking for a 3rd successive Department Two victory.

Making his seventeenth top quality look on a flooring which holds many nice particular person recollections – he additionally scored his most effective T20 hundred on the Oval, for Essex in 2009 – the 36-year-old Prepare dinner seemed in nice fettle from the instant he drove Reece Topley all sides of canopy for his first two obstacles within the 3rd over of the day.

There have been 18 fours in all in Prepare dinner’s masterclass, a lot of them throughout the off facet and together with one memorable back-foot extra-cover pressure off Rikki Clarke, as he raised his 2nd Championship century on the Oval. 3 of his 33 Check lots additionally got here at this flooring, together with 147 on his ultimate look in 2018.

Lawrence reached a fluent 78 earlier than he fell leg-before to Dan Moriarty 3 overs earlier than stumps, enjoying round his entrance pad, and the one Essex batsman to fail to spot an easy-paced pitch after Westley had gained the toss and opted to bat used to be opener Nick Browne who had reached simply 13 when he edged a defensive push at Jordan Clark to keeper Jonny Tattersall.

Yorkshire’s Tattersall used to be an emergency mortgage signing by means of Surrey after Jamie Smith failed a health check and the 26-year-old took a 2nd catch when Westley, on 47, used to be crushed by means of a legcutter from Clarke as he performed ahead.

Prepare dinner, by means of then, used to be well beyond his half-century and his most effective scares got here on 26, when a vanguard off Moriarty’s left-arm spin looped up in opposition to level and simply refrained from Clarke’s despairing dive because the veteran allrounder attempted to get to it from slip, and within the nineties when he edged Clark blank between slip and gully for 4.

Lawrence, in the meantime, signalled his competitive intentions by means of skipping down the pitch and swatting Moriarty top over long-on for 6 however, if truth be told, Prepare dinner saved tempo along with his more youthful spouse right through their superb stand all sides of tea.

In all, there have been six fours and that six from Lawrence, together with two gorgeously-timed instantly drives off Topley and Clark, whilst the reputedly insatiable Prepare dinner confronted 280 balls in a six-hour effort – with energy, after all, so as to add.

Jamie Porter got here in as nightwatchman, on Lawrence’s departure, and used to be 0 no longer out on the shut.