Worcestershire end their Waite with crushing win over Essex

Matthew Waite's career best figures propelled Worcestershire to a rampant three-day victory over Essex in the Rothesay County Championship

The home side rallied to 134 all out at Visit Worcestershire New Road, with Ethan Brookes' valuable 38 the standout knock, setting Essex 336 to win the game. They were then blown away as Waite did the bulk of the damage with 6 for 19, enabling Worcestershire to claim a 225-run win.

Worcestershire's crucial victory keeps them in touch of the sides around them as the scrap in the bottom-half of Division One continues.

After resuming day three on 58 for 5, the hosts began the morning session looking to add to their overnight lead of 259. Essex capitalised on a slow Worcestershire start, however, with Simon Harmer and Shane Snater sharing three wickets inside the first hour to reduce the hosts to 80 for 8.

That brought Brookes to the crease, who, with a canny supporting role from Waite, eased his way into proceedings. Brookes expressed himself, those in Worcestershire colours cheering every run added, as together they stretched the lead past 300.

Evergreen pro Harmer (21-5-37-4) returned the best figures for Essex, Snater and Jamie Porter claiming three apiece, as the home side closed out their innings on 134.

Set an unlikely 336 to win, Essex's chase fell apart, stumbling from 34 for 0 to 47 for 5. Charlie Allison and Noah Thain shared the highest score, each scoring 23, but on a dismal Essex card, only two other batters could muster double-figures as they were bundled out for a measly 110.

Dean Elgar was the first to go for just 9, as he feathered an edge through to keeper Gareth Roderick off a rising Ben Allison ball. Just one run separated the wicket of Elgar and his opening partner Allison, when the impressive Waite accounted for his wicket in the same fashion.

Tom Westley's struggles continued when he was pinned in front by a nip-backer from Yadvinder Singh, and the Worcestershire bowlers tightened their grip further on the contest when Waite extended his fine form to remove Robin Das, who had failed to trouble the scorers for a ten-ball duck.

When Waite bagged his sixth wicket of the match, the away side were left spiralling towards a heavy defeat, with Michael Pepper accounted for.

Only two-overs into his spell, a loose Matt Critchley drive opened the door for Brookes to sneak through and grab a faint edge on the way into the gloves of Roderick, with a delivery that jagged back enough to ensure his keeper collected his eighth catch of the match.

Waite, the stand-out performer across the match, grabbed the headlines as he collected the wickets of Snater, Harmer and Porter on his way to returning career best match figures of 9 for 53.

Victory for Worcestershire saw them close the gap on the rest of the pack at the foot of the Division One table, while Essex will make the journey home knowing a trip to The Oval awaits them on Friday.