Robson pushes Leicestershire along victory path

Angus Robson struck his first century of the season as Leicestershire ended the second day at Chelmsford as favourites to claim a long-overdue victory. The Australian-born opener, made 120 out of a total of 280 to earn a first-innings lead of 114 and then watched his new ball bowlers remove both Essex openers before the close.

Robson anchored the innings for just over five and a half hours while collecting 15 boundaries before he was ninth out when he edged Jesse Ryder to Nick Browne at first slip. He showed immense discipline during his marathon effort and needed all his concentration to keep the visitors afloat while the Essex seam attack picked up wickets at regular intervals on a pitch that gave them help, although it did not pose the sort of problems experienced on the opening day.

Robson shared in an opening stand of 58 with Matt Boyce but his most productive partnership featured Clint McKay, who adopted a carefree approach while contributing 45 in a partnership of 74 in 16 overs. McKay's runs came from 59 deliveries with the help of six fours and a six before he chanced his arm once too often and was bowled by Ravi Bopara.

Earlier Graham Napier destroyed the middle-order with a devastating 21-ball spell in which he picked up three wickets for seven runs as the visitors subsided to 170 for 6 after passing the 150 mark with only three wickets down. But those setbacks did not ruffle Robson who occasionally broke from his watchful defence to produce several sweetly-timed strokes either side of the wicket.

Fast bowler Jamie Porter, who did the early damage, finished with 3 for 69 while Napier returned figures of 3 for 63. There was also a wicket for debutant Aron Nijjar, the left-arm spinner having Tom Wells caught in the covers.

Essex soon ran into trouble when they went in again. Nick Browne's poor run of form continued when he caught at bat-pad off McKay for only 2, and soon afterwards, Jaik Mickleburgh was bowled by Ben Raine who had claimed a career-best five-wickets haul on the opening day. That left Essex in serious trouble at 16 for 2 but Tom Westley and Bopara steered clear of further trouble before the close. But it will take a monumental effort by the home side if they are to deny their opponents a first victory in 38 Championship games.

"In terms of the match situation, it was the most important innings I've played," Leicestershire centurion Robson said. "It was a good cricket wicket - one you could trust but one on which you never quite felt you were really in because the ball did a bit at times. But we are now ahead of the game and hopefully, we can press home our advantage. But there is still a lot of hard work ahead because Essex have a strong batting line-up to get right back in it."

Paul Grayson commented: "We would have liked to have restricted them to a lead of around 50 but the stand between Robson and McKay put paid to that. We are not out of it but I feel we will need to bat all day tomorrow and if we can leave them a target of around 220, we can still win."