Hampshire Bowlers Fight Hard On Damp Day One

Hampshire's bowlers fought hard despite an impressive effort from Essex's top order on day one of the Specsavers County Championship clash at Chelmsford.

On a rain affected opening day, Fidel Edwards (1-35) & Kyle Abbott (1-43) claimed the only wickets of the Essex innings as Alastair Cook (114*) and Tom Westley (111) each recorded centuries.

The duo shared an Essex record 243-run partnership but a late scalp from Abbott saw the home-side reach 243-2 at the close on day one.

After rain delayed the start of play by 45 minutes in the morning session, Edwards made up for lost time by striking with just the fifth ball of the innings to remove Nick Browne (0) without a run on the scoreboard.

Just three overs were possible in the morning session as more rain arrived, and with an early lunch taken, play finally resumed at 1:30pm.

Hampshire will have been hoping to make further in-roads after the interal, however an impressive partnership between Cook and Westley saw Essex move beyond 100 without further loss.

The duo continued to accumulate despite good spells from the bowlers and the hosts safely reached 141-1 at tea.

Cook and Westley built further following the break and both batsman reached their centuries half-way through the evening session - the landmarks also took their side past 200 with 16 overs to go.

Abbott bowled beautifully throughout the day and was finally rewarded with a deserved wicket when he bowled Westley in the penultimate over of the day. The seamer struck late in the session before stumps to pick up his 280th first-class wicket and give Hampshire hope of a recovery heading into tomorrow's day two.