Div One reports: Jarvis majestic for lively Lancashire

Somerset seamers Paul van Meekeren and Craig Overton gave Essex the first real examination of their Championship title credentials for nearly four months when they skittled the Division One leaders for 159.

 

Dutchman van Meekeren, 24, claimed career-best first-class figures of four for 60 on his Championship debut, with Overton chipping in with four for 40, as Essex were bowled out in 51 overs.

 

Only Nick Browne and Ryan ten Doeschate, who compiled 51 for the fifth wicket before lunch, showed any serious resolve on a day when the ball nipped and swung. But when Somerset replied they found Jamie Porter in equally devastating form, taking four wickets for 27 from 12 overs as the visitors ended the day 41 runs adrift with five wickets in hand.

From a shaky 20 for three, James Hildreth and Tom Abell dug in with a patient and sensible fourth-wicket stand of 78 in 22 overs before Porter returned for a second spell.

 

Essex, who opted to bat, had won five of their previous six Championship outings since Middlesex had them on the ropes at the end of April in a rain-affected match at Lord’s. But with no batting points collected here, their 41-point lead at the top suddenly looked vulnerable.

 

The wickets started tumbling from the sixth over onwards. Varun Chopra was first to go when he missed a straight one from van Meekeren to go lbw. The Dutchman had a second wicket in his next over as Dan Lawrence drove at one outside off-stump and was snaffled at second slip by James Hildreth without scoring.

 

Overton switched ends to relieve van Meereken and had Ravi Bopara trapped lbw with his fourth ball. Adam Wheater went the same way, playing around one from Tim Groenewald, and Essex were 39 for four.

 

Browne survived a dropped chance at square leg by Eddie Byrom when 24 before putting on 51 in 13 overs with ten Doeschate that repaired the early damage. The captain gave his younger partner a 19-over advantage and had almost caught him up when he departed six balls after lunch.

 

Ten Doeschate was particularly strong through the covers and thumped Jack Leach over midwicket for six. He stood his ground in the belief the ball from Overton had reached Marcus Trescothick in the slips on the bounce. But the umpires conferred before sending him on his way for a 42-ball 35 that included five fours.

 

Browne followed in Overton’s next over, attempting a hook but top-edging so high that three fielders converged from distant parts before van Meekeren dived full-length to take it backward of square. His 44 took 94 balls, with six fours, and in the process passed 4,000 first-class career runs.

 

James Foster didn’t last long, caught low down by Hildreth, before Paul Walter helped Simon Harmer put on 23 for the eighth wicket – the second-highest partnership of the innings. Harmer went to a thick edge to one from van Meekeren, the ball was pushed into the air above his head by Trescothick, who competed the slip catch at the second attempt.

 

Walter became van Meekeren’s fourth scalp when he was bowled through the gate by a straight one. After some lusty hitting by the last pair, Porter chopped down on a delivery from Overton, only for the ball to trickle on to his stumps.

 

Trescothick departed in the fifth over of Somerset’s reply, caught behind from a faint edge off Porter. The second-wicket pair added just eight runs in seven overs before Tim Rouse was held by Harmer at second slip in Bopara’s first over after tea. He had eked out four from 26 deliveries.

 

Byrom was even more painstaking, needing 39 balls to score five before Porter got one to swing in and bowl him. But then Hildreth and Abell steadied the ship in the fading evening light. Hildreth reached his fifty from 67 balls with six fours, but Abell departed next ball for 30 from 75 balls. Chopra took the catch at first slip and then Porter added a fourth wicket when Hildreth, on 51, mistimed a short ball and hooked to midwicket.

 

 

Kyle Jarvis took six wickets in an innings for the second Specsavers County Championship match running to give Lancashire the advantage after day one against Warwickshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Jarvis returned six for 67 from 18.2 overs as the Bears were bowled out for 200 on the stroke of tea after electing to bat.

The in-form star said: "I thought I bowled terribly and had no rhythm from the James Anderson End, which is where I normally bowled from. I decided to switch it around. It then came out really nicely. 

"I've not got many wickets from this end in my four-year career here. That's just the way it goes."

They slipped from 89 for three at lunch to 119 for eight before Jeetan Patel and ninth-wicket partner Olly Stone shared 76 to limit some of the damage.

Lancashire then lost Haseeb Hameed, Alex Davies and Dane Vilas cheaply as they replied with 112 for three from 33 overs.

Jarvis took a Red Rose best of six for 61 against Hampshire in their last match, a draw at the Ageas Bowl at the start of the month. 

Here, the Zimbabwean claimed all six wickets in the afternoon having improved significantly from his morning new ball spell.

All 10 Warwickshire wickets fell from the Statham End of the ground, with stand-in captain Ryan McLaren claiming four for 45 from 18.

There were signs of uneven bounce when bowling from that end, but certainly not enough to warrant a side being bowled out for 200.

McLaren trapped Dom Sibley lbw offering no shot for one in the third over before getting opposite number Jonathan Trott and former Bears skipper Ian Bell caught at second slip by Jos Buttler for four and 14 as the score fell to 41 for three in the 15th over.

After Patel’s late 47, opener Andy Umeed’s 44 was the next best score.

He played patiently having already succeeded against Lancashire this summer, hitting a century in the pink ball draw at Edgbaston in late June.

But he was the first of the seven afternoon wickets to fall as he was caught behind off a Jarvis delivery with extra bounce in the fourth over the session.

That was the first of four wickets in 24 balls for Jarvis, who had Tim Ambrose caught behind, Keith Barker lbw and Matthew Lamb bowled before both Patel and Stone were dropped during their stand.

Jarvis returned to the attack shortly before tea and had Stone caught behind for 32 as the score fell to 195 for nine in the 61st over before bowling Patel in the 63rd as he played across the line shortly after a batting point had been secured.

Hameed then fell for 15 in the 14th over of Lancashire’s reply when, stuck on the crease, he edged Chris Wright to Umeed at first slip as the score fell to 32 for one. 

That was the first wicket to fall from the James Anderson End.

Umeed also took the catch, albeit at the second attempt, to help Ryan Sidebottom get rid of Davies for 20 in the 17th - 44 for two.

Stone, having signed from Northants and playing his first Championship match since May of last year following injury, then took his maiden first-class wicket for the Bears when he bowled Vilas with 80 on the board in the 27th over.

Liam Livingstone will begin day two on 41, including a straight six off Patel, alongside night-watchman Stephen Parry on 15.