PETER Siddle helped Essex tightened their stranglehold over Hampshire as he claimed two second-innings wickets after the follow-on was enforced at Chelmsford.

Hampshire were all out for 172 in 79 overs, 263 runs behind Essex’s 435. And, second time around, they lost Joe Weatherley, bowled without scoring, to Siddle’s fifth ball and Jimmy Adams in the Australian’s second over, pushing forward to a straight delivery.

Siddle finished the day with two for 10 from his four second-innings overs to follow his tidy two for 22 in the first.

At the close of the third day, Hampshire were 17 for two, still 246 runs away from suffering an innings defeat.

Sam Cook was Essex’s chief wicket-taker with three for 27, while Simon Harmer wheeled away for 31 overs, taking two for 52.

Hampshire’s James Vince, who had not fielded in the morning, nor taken his usual place at first wicket down, suffering from a stomach bug, came in at five and stifled his natural instincts. He hung around for 96 balls while eking out 26 runs.

The first-innings collapse started in the fourth over when Jimmy Adams was bowled by Cook for one. And in the 11 overs that followed they lost two more to go to lunch at 44 for three.

Ian Holland went in the first of Harmer’s marathon 27-over stint, punctuated only by lunch and tea, bowled by one that turned and struck middle-stump. Then on the stroke of the interval Sam Northeast was pouched at slip off Siddle.

Vince soon lost opener Joe Weatherley, shuffling across in front of his stumps and was lbw to Siddle for 32. Tom Alsop had just driven Cook to the boundary, but played no shot as the next ball struck off-stump.

Vince and Rilee Rossouw then put down roots for 17 overs. They had added 25 before Harmer got one to turn square and Rossouw planted the ball into Nick Browne’s hands at short midwicket.

Gareth Berg clipped lazily low to Browne in the same position to give Bopara the first of two successive wickets. His second, via a wide half-volley, was that of Vince, who failed to move his feet and gave Harmer catching practice.

The largest stand of the innings was the 36 put on for the ninth wicket between Kyle Abbott and Liam Dawson. Jamie Porter then bowled Dawson for 32 and Cook wrapped up the innings on 172, snaring Fidel Edwards, before Siddle’s double follow-on strike.

Essex added 72 in 11 overs in the morning to claim maximum batting points for the first time his season.

SCORECARD
Essex first innings
NLJ Browne b Edwards 9
V Chopra lbw b Abbott 61
T Westley b Abbott 40
DW Lawrence c sub b Holland 124
RS Bopara c Adams b Abbott 4
RN ten Doeschate (c) c Adams b Holland 55
AJA Wheater † b Dawson 52
SR Harmer c Adams b Abbott 19
PM Siddle lbw b Abbott 8
JA Porter not out 5
SJ Cook c Berg b Edwards 14
Extras 44 (b 22, lb 18, nb 4)
TOTAL 435 all out (114.1 overs)
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (NLJ Browne, 4.4 ov), 2-117 (T Westley, 39.5 ov), 3-120 (V Chopra, 43.4 ov), 4-124 (RS Bopara, 45.2 ov), 5-246 (RN ten Doeschate, 73.1 ov), 6-351 (AJA Wheater, 98.1 ov), 7-394 (SR Harmer, 107.6 ov), 8-408 (PM Siddle, 109.6 ov), 9-412 (DW Lawrence, 110.3 ov), 10-435 (SJ Cook, 114.1 ov)
BOWLING: FH Edwards 18.1-2-97-2, KJ Abbott 28-8-90-5, IG Holland 27-3-83-2, LA Dawson  24-6-56-1, GK Berg 17-4-69-0.

Hampshire first innings
JJ Weatherley lbw b Siddle 32
JHK Adams b Cook 1
IG Holland b Harmer 17
SA Northeast c Lawrence b Siddle 1
JM Vince (c)  c †Wheater b Bopara 26
TP Alsop † b Cook 5
RR Rossouw c Browne b Harmer 12
GK Berg c Browne b Bopara 3
LA Dawson b Porter 32
KJ Abbott not out 28
FH Edwards c sub b Cook 6
Extras 9 (b 1, lb 2, nb 6)
TOTAL 172 all out (78.3 overs)
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (JHK Adams, 3.5 ov), 2-39 (IG Holland, 12.6 ov), 3-44 (SA Northeast, 15.2 ov), 4-57 (JJ Weatherley, 21.2 ov), 5-65 (TP Alsop, 25.5 ov), 6-90 (RR Rossouw, 42.2 ov), 7-99 (GK Berg, 47.1 ov), 8-110 (JM Vince, 49.5 ov), 9-146 (LA Dawson, 66.2 ov), 10-172 (FH Edwards, 78.3 ov)
BOWLING: JA Porter 16-3-38-1, SJ Cook 10.3-4-27-3, PM Siddle 14-3-22-2, SR Harmer 31-13-52-2, RS Bopara    7-0-30-2
    
Hampshire second innings (following on)
JJ Weatherley b Siddle 0
JHK Adams lbw b Siddle 8
IG Holland not out 1
KJ Abbott not out 3
Extras 5 (w 5)
TOTAL 17/2 (f/o) (9 overs)
Yet to bat: JM Vince (c), SA Northeast, TP Alsop †, RR Rossouw, GK Berg, LA Dawson, FH Edwards
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (JJ Weatherley, 1.5 ov), 2-13 (JHK Adams, 3.5 ov)
BOWLING: JA Porter 4-3-7-0, PM Siddle 4-2-10-2, SR Harmer 1-1-0-0.

Toss: Essex , elected to bat first
Umpires: Mike Burns and Rob Bailey
Points so far: Essex 8, Hampshire 2.