YORKSHIRE face an uphill struggle not to lose only their second County Championship fixture of the season after a difficult day against Essex.

It began with the bat for the Tykes, before a serene partnership of 199 between Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara really put the hosts in control.

Their efforts mean the home side take a commanding second-innings lead of 304 runs into the final day with seven wickets still remaining.

“It was a tough day,” said Martyn Moxon. “Cook and Bopara are quality players and they played very well. I think it is a pretty good pitch though so when we are given the chance to bat again we will need a couple of batsmen to make big scores.”

The importance of Yorkshire getting something from this match is even greater now, after second placed Nottinghamshire romped to a tenwicket win over Warwickshire.

Stuart Broad did the damage with figures of eight for 52, and by picking up 23 points they have wiped out the 21 point advantage the Tykes had.

However, if Yorkshire want to reinstate the gap at the top when Essex declare on the final day, they will have to show far more stubbornness with the bat than they did on day three.

Resuming on 227 for five, and with three of the remaining batsmen having first-class hundreds to their name, there was real hope that they could get close to the 399 which Essex posted, but in reality they were never going to trouble it.

Only Adil Rashid showed resistance with 52 not out as Gerard Brophy, Tim Bresnan, Steven Patterson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby all came and went with only 97 runs added.

It meant the home side had an innings advantage of 75 and although Bresnan, with the first ball of Essex’s reply, and Patterson quickly reduced the hosts to 15 for two, there would be no answer to Bopara and Cook’s onslaught.

By tea they had added 60 to the total, and with Anthony McGrath then dropping both in the final session at second slip it was perhaps no surprise that they would go on to punish the Tykes attack further.

Scoreboard

Essex v Yorkshire At Chelmsford

Overnight: Essex 399 (R S Bopara 142, J S Foster 61; A U Rashid 5-87).Yorkshire 227-5 (A Lyth 75).

Yorkshire First Innings

G L Brophy b Carter ...........................33

T T Bresnan c & b Phillips ....................5

A U Rashid not out ............................52

S A Patterson c G W Flower b Phillips .16

T L Best b Carter ..................................0

O J Hannon-Dalby run out ..................1

Extras (b4 lb8 nb22 pens 0) ..34

Total (112.1 overs) ...............324

Fall: 1-81 2-104 3-146 4-177 5-215 6- 236 7-254 8-304 9-304

Bonus Pts: Essex 7 Yorkshire 6

Bowling: Chambers 17-6-39-0. Wright 15- 3-64-1. Phillips 44-15-94-4. Westley 10-2- 25-1. Carter 24.1-3-77-3. G W Flower 2-0- 13-0.

Essex Second Innings Close

J C Mickleburgh b Bresnan ..................0

A N Cook not out ...............................90

T Westley b Patterson .........................7

R S Bopara b A U Rashid ..................102

M J Walker not out ............................13

Extras (b6 lb9 nb2 pens 0) ....17

Total 3 wkts (57 overs) .........229

Fall: 1-0 2-15 3-214

To Bat: J S Foster, G W Flower, T J Phillips, C J C Wright, M A Chambers, A Carter.

Bonus Pts: Essex 7 Yorkshire 6

Bowling: Bresnan 13-2-31-1. Patterson 7- 2-21-1. A U Rashid 12-2-47-1. Best 9-0-45- 0. Rudolph 4-1-14-0. Hannon-Dalby 6-0-35- 0. McGrath 6-0-21-0.