Essex sail a little rockily into uncharted territory

No team had made 300 against Surrey this season, and that record threatened to stretch into a seventh consecutive innings at Chelmsford. Essex were coasting towards uncharted territory at tea on the first day, 204 for 3 and with Tom Westley, the captain, and Matt Critchley ensconced in an unbroken hundred stand, only for a clatter of wickets to leave the scoreboard reading 245 for 8, and cries of "C'mon the 'rey" drifting across the county ground.

In the end, the home side pocketed their second batting point fairly comfortably, thanks to an enterprising partnership of 62 in 12 overs between Simon Harmer and Sam Cook. Both benefited from misses in the field - Harmer put down by Rory Burns at slip on 5, while Kemar Roach at fine leg completely failed to pick up a top-edged hook when Cook had 8 - and Surrey were left to repent at leisure before Gus Atkinson returned to cap a fine display with his maiden first-class five-wicket haul.

By then Essex had carved out a position from which they could hope to remain competitive. Alastair Cook has endured a lean start to the season but produced a first half-century, and his efforts were matched by Westley and Critchley; but after toiling through the afternoon Surrey girded themselves in the manner of champions. Their response, on what looks a dry surface, against Harmer, who had men crowding the bat in his one over before stumps, could determine whether they maintain their position at the top of Division One after the conclusion of this round.

These two counties have won four of the last five Championship titles, and this fixture featured 13 players with international experience. There might not have the attendant fanfare of Steven Smith's debut for Sussex at New Road, but Sean Abbott bowling to Dan Lawrence offered up a proto-Ashes duel (even if both are some way off being selected at this stage) while Ben Foakes produced a reminder of what England would miss were he overlooked behind the stumps - even as Jonny Bairstow was doing his best a few hundred miles to the north to state a convincing case for why the selectors should do just that.

Surrey, whose motto might be "never knowingly under-resourced", were able to leave out their leading wicket-taker, Dan Worrall, and still produce the sort of concerted bowling performance that eventually found a way through the cracks in Essex's batting. And despite the presence of Abbott and Roach, their most-impressive performer was Atkinson, the 25-year-old playing his first match of the season.

His best figures in any format for Surrey included the prize wicket of Cook, that venerable warhorse of Ashes summers past, as well as both Essex tail-end miscreants to finish with fine figures of 6 for 68. There was also an important contribution from the returning Will Jacks, whose flighted offbreak was responsible for ending Essex's fourth-wicket stand at 114, Critchley's outside edge snapped up one-handed by a flying Burns in one of the better moments of Surrey fielding. Foakes, immaculate as ever, claimed five catches behind the stumps.

The morning began with Essex opting to bat, the home XI bolstered by returns for Lawrence and Sam Cook after injury. Surrey omitted Worrall as part of the planned rotation of their seamers, while Jacks made his first appearance since suffering a hip injury while on England duty that scuppered his chances of playing in a maiden IPL.

Essex's openers negotiated the early exchanges without too many alarms, although Cook did enjoy an early let off - Jamie Smith failing to latch on to a sliced drive off Abbott that looped tantalisingly towards backward point when he had made 13. Cook's front foot was soon lunging forward, Hungry Hippos-style, to clump the ball through cover as he went past 50 for the 193rd time in this, his 21st season as a first-class cricketer. He was dropped again shortly after, Ollie Pope only able to get a hand on a diving chance at second slip.

Atkinson had been the bowler to end a 62-run opening stand, finding lift and movement from back of a length with just his second ball to have Nick Browne taken at third slip, and he produced an even better one-two combination to see off Cook. Having switched to round the wicket, Atkinson jagged one past the outside edge, missing the top of off stump by a whisker, then brought his next ball back to graze the inside edge - Foakes completing the dismissal with an athletic leg-side take.

A third wicket went down straight after lunch, Abbott curving one past Lawrence's outside edge for another Foakes catch - although whether the ball came off bat or thigh pad was less clear. Essex's fourth-wicket pair then settled into a steady rhythm as the pendulum swung back towards the hosts. There was even the chance for fans of the home side to enjoy the glovework of Foakes, an Essex boy who has gone on to greater things with Surrey, who acrobatically held on to an in-dipping Roach yorker that beat Westley all ends up only to miss leg stump.

The grumbles began after Critchley and Westley departed in consecutive overs, and may have increased a notch when Michael Pepper was caught behind attempting to reverse-sweep Jacks, having made 6 off six balls with one scoring shot. A collapse of 5 for 27 undid some of the hard work but few teams will tangle with Surrey this season and emerge completely unscathed.