Cook provides a topping to a cheesecake day

Like countless summer blockbusters with the most hyped of trailers or that favourite food you would not normally deep fry, sometimes high expectations have to give way to an acceptance of reality. Sometimes, cheesecake is fine as it is.

Indeed, there were passages on day two - three, to be exact - when we seemed on the cusp of something thrilling as Essex took an unassailable hold on the game.

Alastair Cook, unbeaten overnight on 50*, took his guard as Mark Footitt, a man championed for England honours, walked out his angled approach towards what was mid-off. By now, after one over, the Chelmsford crowd had settled in - they rarely cut things fine in this part of the world - awaiting the clash of the England captain and the man who wanted to leave his mark on him, with Gus Fraser, in his guise as England selector, scoring the bout.

Then there was the partnership of Ravi Bopara and Jesse Ryder: two players of equal skill but differing methods, operating outside the international scene through circumstance and choice, respectively. They came together at 230 for 3, on a pitch that was playing true, against an attack that looked there for the taking. Class was in the offing.

Lastly, when Ryder strode out for the evening session, with Ryan ten Doeschate for company, with the new ball weathered, the opportunity for Essex to get out of sight, with Graham Napier to come. Fireworks, surely?

And yet, while none of those scenarios quite came to pass, you would be hard-pressed to find a soul here at Chelmsford that was not enthralled by what actually took place.

The locals will be pleased all the same: at least as Essex achieved their first batting points at home. Their three doubled the total number of batting points achieved here by all teams (Leicestershire achieved two, Gloucestershire one).

The dynamic of Footitt's dual with Cook shifted after his first over. After leaving four of the left-armer's first five balls of the day, all following Footitt's natural arc - in this instance, away from the left-hander - Cook left the sixth. However, this one held its line and just missed off-stump. Cook, upon hearing the gasps from those on the field and those off it, looked back at his off-stump and reassessed his alignment. Satisfied, he left his crease for an end of over chat with Nick Browne, who by then had moved to his half-century. Then it was business as usual.

In typical Cook fashion, he judged the next 10 balls he faced from Footitt perfectly. A few more leaves and Footitt was at the stumps, which Cook picked off for a few into the leg-side. Then, in the last over of Footitt's morning spell of five, he took him for two fours - both characteristically cut on width and length.

The bowler looked a tad frustrated that he was roped into Cook's web of patience. Not to worry - many of the world's best have fallen for it. Throughout the day he bowled with good control but could have been more probing, particularly in a new-ball spell that saw his four overs return 0 for 12.

Former New Zealand international bowler Iain O'Brien, present at Chelmsford as a commentator for BBC Radio Derby, noted that the undulating run-ups were affecting Footitt's leap, which was long rather than high, and thus affecting his gather. Still, given he has 32 wickets already this season; he is allowed an off-day. So too, Cook, who had a third hundred in six long-form innings there for the taking before he hung back to a Wes Durston off-break that found a way through him.

For the best part of 20 overs, Bopara and Ryder exchanged the strike, nodded in appreciation of each other's boundaries and, occasionally, had a quick word about their running between the wickets. But this game-changer of a partnership was kept in check by some controlled overs from Shiv Thakor and Tony Palladino, backed up well in the field.

While Ryder got off the mark with a four through cover, he would have to wait 27 balls for his next one: a cover drive off Palladino that went through Thakor at cover with such force that it must have taken some of his knee cap with it.

Bopara begain to tick and went to his half-century, off 104 balls, with the sort of straight drive you would show to your friends but hide under your bed, out of your mother's sight. Three balls later, he wafted at a short, wide ball, straight to second slip to give Wayne White his third wicket of the match.

White would have his fourth after tea, when Napier found Thakor at square leg, after an enterprising 35 from 39 balls. That really was the end of any prospective charge to dusk, with Ryder (52) and ten Doeschate (20) back in the hutch. James Foster continued on, sweeping the spinners on line and the odd punch off the quicker bowlers.

He finished the day on 51 not out. The pitch looks easy as pie to bat on and it might be in Essex's best interests to declare overnight, with a lead of 301, and make use of the early morning conditions with a new ball. But then, who knows what the reality will be.