Critchley steers Essex to six-wicket win at Hants

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day three)

Hampshire 235 & 214: Gubbins 71, Brown 57*; Harmer 4-66

Essex 273 & 178-4: Critchley 90*; Abbott 4-35

Essex (20 pts) beat Hampshire (3 pts) by six wickets

Match scorecard

Matt Critchley made short work of steering Essex to their second County Championship win of the season by six wickets against a struggling Hampshire at Chelmsford.

The 29-year-old all-rounder smashed 15 boundaries in his unbeaten 90 from 73 balls as he led the Essex recovery from a creaking 40-3 in a 101-run fourth-wicket stand with Charlie Allison, who was a comparative bystander.

Critchley, who had already recorded 173 against the same opposition in the opening game of the season, was still there when Wiaan Mulder lofted Tom Prest over mid-wicket for six to complete the victory with one ball of the scheduled third day's play to go.

That Hampshire were able to set Essex 177 to win from a notional 138 overs was down to contrasting, but equally important innings by Nick Gubbins and Ben Brown.

Gubbins frustrated Essex for three-and-a-half hours for his 71, but even when he was fifth man out, Hampshire's lead was only 87. However, a typically punchy, unbeaten 57 from 89 balls from captain Brown ensured his cohorts had something tangible to bowl at.

Simon Harmer wheeled away for most of a session and a half to take season-best figures of 4-66, while Sam Cook's 3-52 gave him six wickets in the match. Kyle Abbott also chipped in with 4-35 in Essex's second innings to reach 22 so far this season.

Essex's chase had reached 20 in seven overs, the majority of them to Paul Walter, on 17, when the left-handed opener walked down the wicket and wafted hazily at a ball from Abbott and kept walking.

Even on a third-day, fourth-innings pitch, Abbott still extracted considerable life. But not even he can have believed his luck when Dean Elgar (eight) choose to inexplicably leave alone a ball that angled in and hit middle and off-stumps.

The South African had already hit Charlie Allison in the chest, causing the batsman to collapse momentarily in a heap, before Tom Westley became a third wicket, whipping the ball off his legs into the hands of short midwicket to go for nine.

Allison recovered quickly and played the anchor role in the fourth-wicket stand, allowing Critchley to mount a one-man assault on the Hampshire bowling. Abbott had figures of 10-6-16-3 from his first spell either side of tea, but when he returned Critchley thrashed three boundaries through the offside in his first over.

However, in his next over Abbott struck again, having Allison trapped lbw for 34 from 68 balls. But that was as good as it got for bottom-of-the-table Hampshire.

At the start of the day, their two left-handers, Gubbins and Jake Lehmann, took their overnight third-wicket stand to 74 with Gubbins the more aggressive, whipping Cook through mid-wicket to reach 50 for the second time this season. But Lehmann's run of five successive half-centuries ended in spectacular fashion on 27 when he played around a delivery from Jamie Porter which left just leg-stump standing.

Ben Mayes hung around unconvincingly for eight off 31 balls before he was too quick on to a shorter delivery from Harmer and lobbed the ball back to the bowler. Gubbins followed when he nudged one that turned from Harmer to slip.

The two not-out batters, Ben Brown and Liam Dawson, must have chatted over lunch about a more forthright approach as they hammered Harmer for 14 in the first over after the interval with Dawson depositing one ball over long-on for six. Dawson's contribution was short-lived, though, as he then tried to charge Cook, flung bat at ball and ended up getting an uncontrolled, one-handed, inside edge to the wicketkeeper.

The accelerated scoring rate continued with Brown and James Fuller adding 46 in 10 overs before Fuller was lbw, misjudging a delivery from Mulder.

That signalled the beginning of the end with the last three wickets falling in nine balls, two of them to Harmer in three deliveries. Scott Currie swept wildly to be caught at square leg over his shoulder by Elgar, Abbott retreated in his crease to be pinned lbw before Harmer was on hand at second slip to take the catch as Mulder dismissed Codi Yusuf.

Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.