Essex Tighten Grip on Nottinghamshire with Pepper's Century

Nottinghamshire's relegation woes deepened as they were left trailing Essex by a mammoth 420 runs after the second day of their Vitality County Championship clash at Chelmsford.

Michael Pepper continued his remarkable run of form, scoring his second consecutive century to help Essex post a formidable 457 in their first innings. The wicketkeeper-batsman's 115 from 147 balls eclipsed his previous best score against Worcestershire last week by three runs.

Pepper's innings was built on a solid foundation laid by Tom Westley, who scored 122 from 241 balls. The Essex captain put on 69 with Pepper before the latter joined forces with Simon Harmer in a stand of 133 for the seventh wicket.

Harmer's 51 was his highest score of the season, and his partnership with Pepper threatened to pile further pressure on Nottinghamshire. However, the visitors managed to reduce the deficit to 420 for the loss of captain Haseeb Hameed in the 10.5 overs possible before play was curtailed by bad weather.

Nottinghamshire had started the day on the back foot, with Rob Lord striking for his third wicket of the innings with the 19th delivery of the new ball. However, the Kookaburra was more than 30 overs old before the next wicket fell.

Westley's patient accumulation ended when he dragged on to his stumps after more than five hours at the crease. Pepper continued to bat sensibly, reaching three figures from 135 balls.

Harmer's confidence was evident as he reached his first fifty of the season, including a six over midwicket and a reverse-swept four. However, he misjudged a reverse sweep in Freddie McCann's first over and was bowled.

Nottinghamshire lost Hameed in the fourth over of their reply when he slashed Sam Cook to point. Michael Slater remained unbeaten on 26, but rain added to the gloom to curtail the day with 36 overs remaining.

Tags: #Essex, #Nottinghamshire, #VitalityCountyChampionship, #MichaelPepper, #TomWestley