County Championship 2022 | Simon Harmer seals the day to put Essex in winning position

With the end of Day 3 fixture against Lancashire, Essex are just one wicket away from sealing their second win of the County Championship 2022 season.

The day began with Lancashire stuttering at 32/5, with Phil Salt and Luke Wood as the batters at the crease. Although Wood (21) started positively, he played a loose shot to Samuel Cook, which wicketkeeper Adam Rossington caught eight overs into the day's play. 

Then the tail-enders Tom Bailey and Hasan Ali perished without troubling the scores much. After that, however, it was Matthew Parkinson who showed composure to play second fiddle, while Salt provided the most contribution in a 43-run stand. 

Both the batters were dismissed within a space of 10 balls, and the team was dismissed for a score of 103 and trailed by 288 runs. 

Essex enforced the follow-on, and James Porter breached the defence of opener Keaton Jennings and bowled him for a duck in the 6th over. 

Then Josh Bohannon and Luke Wells played cautiously, but it was Protea spinner Simon Harmer whose accurate lines and lengths put the purchase to help his team's cause. 

He affected a dismissal after inducing an edge of Bohannon (14) in the 23rd over. Then a few overs later, Wells mistimed a pull shot off Samuel Cook, which was caught at the square leg region. 

However, Steven Croft and Dane Vilas calmed the situation with their strokeplay, as they played out more than 25 overs in a confident manner. 

But, in an attempt to play a lofted shot over the fine leg area, Croft (39) was holed out to Cook off Harmer. Then Salt arrived at the crease and again came up with a satisfactory performance to score 31 off 67. 

After Salt's dismissal, Dane Vilas and other players could not hold enough patience at the crease. 

At the end of Day 3's play, Luke Wood and James Anderson are the crease, with Lancashire at 213/9 and still trailing by 75 runs. For Essex, Harmer registered his 44th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. 

Brief scores:

Essex - 391/10 (1st innings)

Daniel Lawrence 120, Shane Snater 72;

Tom Bailey 3/61, Luke Wood 2/83

Lancashire- 103/10 (1st innings) 

Phil Salt 44, Luke Wood 21;

Samuel Cook 4/18

Lancashire- 213/9 (2nd innings) 

Dane Vilas 62, Steven Croft 39;

Simon Harmer 5/85