Pepper and Cook leave Durham in a stew

Durham v Essex – LV Insurance County Championship – Emirates Riverside -Day One – Summary

Essex 182 (62.2 overs)
Durham 58/6 (33.0 overs)
Durham won the toss and elected to bowl
Durham trail Essex by 124 runs with four first-innings wickets standing

Michael Pepper’s 92 coupled with three wickets from Sam Cook ensured Essex held the upper hand on day one of their LV Insurance County Championship encounter with Durham at the Emirates Riverside.

A crowd returned to the North-Easterner home for the first time since lockdown restrictions were lifted. However, despite 4/32 from Chris Rushworth and 4/45 by skipper, Scott Borthwick, the home side found themselves largely frustrated by Pepper, who came within a whisker of a maiden first-class century following a mature 219-minute stint at the crease.

The 22-year-olds 92 came off 167 balls and included thirteen boundaries. He was eventually trapped lbw by Rushworth having steered Essex towards 182.

Cook then took centre stage, taking 3/20, while Peter Siddle chipped in with 2/15 as wickets continued to tumble and Durham were reduced to 58/6 – Cameron Bancroft top-scoring for the hosts with 20. Play resumes on Friday at 11am.

Durham: CT Bancroft, AZ Lees, SG Borthwick (Capt), DG Bedingham, JTA Burnham, MA Jones, EJH Eckersley (WK), BA Carse, BA Raine, MJ Potts, C Rushworth

Essex: NLJ Browne, AN Cook, T Westley (Capt), MS Pepper, PI Walter, RN ten Doeschate, AJA Wheater (WK), SR Harmer, PM Siddle, SJ Cook, JA Porter

Umpires: JD Middlebrook and DJ Millns
Scorers: WR Dobson and G Maddison
Match Referee: TJ Boon