Liam Dawson's allround excellence leaves Essex on the back foot

Liam Dawson enjoyed the sort of day all-rounders dream of with a resilient century followed by two key Essex wickets as Hampshire took a firm grip on their Rothesay County Championship match at Chelmsford.

The England international's 139 from 235 balls, and a fifth-wicket partnership of 133 with fellow centurion Tilak Varma, underpinned Hampshire's first-innings 453. It left Essex requiring 157 just to make their opponents bat again, or survive four-and-a-half sessions to prevent a third Championship defeat of the season.

But Dawson quickly upset Essex plans by dismissing both openers inside the first 16 of 46 overs faced either side of tea on the third day. With Eddie Jack removing a subdued Jordan Cox, Essex were teetering on 108 for 3 at the close, still 49 runs behind.

If there was any consolation on a miserable day for Essex it was that Simon Harmer collected the 500th first-class wicket of his nine seasons at the club. At the other end of the scale, 19-year-old pace-bowling debutant Mackenzie Jones chalked up his first.

There were two milestones pending from overnight and they were completed in the opening 13 balls of the day. First, a flick of the wrists sent the ball for the two runs that took Tilak to the sixth first-class century of his nascent career. Then, at the start of the day's third over, Harmer induced a mistimed drive from the Indian left-hander and the edge looped up into Cox's hands at slip. Tilak's 100 embraced 241 balls and included 11 fours and three sixes.

Dawson followed Tilak to three-figures for the 18th time in his career when he turned Sam Cook off his hip for two runs from an over that also contained two boundaries as he raced through the nineties.

Once they moved into the lead, Hampshire's ambition was to accumulate a horde of batting points that had proved scarce this season. Dawson and Prest added 74 in 17 overs to ease them to 371-5 by the cut-off of 110 overs and increase their season's points haul with the bat from six to nine.

All told, the sixth-wicket pair put on 98 in 28 overs before they were parted. Prest went to launch Critchley over midwicket and instead sliced the ball to backward point.

Felix Organ skied Critchley to extra cover and was quickly followed by the demise of Dawson. He became the maiden wicket for Jones, taken spectacularly one-handed low to his right by wicketkeeper Michael Pepper. But not before Dawson had contributed 14 fours and three sixes to the Hampshire cause.

Pepper was on the scorecard twice more, first to end Abbott's cameo and provide Critchley with a fourth wicket (at a personal cost of 102), and then finish the innings by providing Cook with a belated third wicket.

Dawson's memorable day continued apace when he got a delivery to jump out of the foot-holes and take the edge of Dean Elgar's bat before ending Paul Walter's uncomfortable hour at the crease.

Cox, meanwhile, had just survived a confident lbw appeal from Jack but was not so fortunate three balls later when the same bowler rapped him on his front pad and this time the shout was upheld.

Essex captain Tom Westley dug in to lead the fightback and reached his second half-century of the campaign with his fifth boundary. It had taken him 99 balls. He was kept company to stumps by Critchley, who defended even more resolutely