Jacob Duffy and Matthew Waite took advantage of a seam-friendly pitch to skittle Essex for 179 at Chelmsford. New Zealand's Duffy led the way with a fine display of fast, accurate bowling that was rewarded with figures of 4-39 while Waite took out three middle-order wickets as Essex were dismissed inside 59 overs.

Only Simon Harmer's innings lasted more than 47 balls and 68 minutes. The South African spinner's obdurate 77-ball 28 spanned nearly two hours – as no one got to grips with a hybrid pitch that had plenty of grass on it and provided extra lift, carry and lateral movement. The toss was crucial and Brett D'Oliveira won it for Worcestershire.

Not that the visitors fared much better when it was their turn to bat. Although Essex were without England pace prospect Sam Cook, on instruction from the ECB, who had asked for him to be rested pending a potential call-up, they still managed to reduce Worcestershire to 22-4.

**Jake Libby pushed a delivery from Snater into Matt Critchley's right hand at third slip and Gareth Roderick fell to the same combination. Then Essex's debutant overseas bowler Kasun Rajitha had his first wicket when Rob Jones was caught behind and Jamie Porter had Kashif Ali taken at fourth slip to make But Adam Hose and visiting skipper Brett D'Oliveira, who had been a big doubt for the game with a thumb injury, then stepped up, piecing together the biggest partnership of the match so far. They added an unbeaten 76 added for the fifth wicket as the Pears revived to 98-4 when bad light ended play with nine overs remaining. Worcestershire are looking for a second successive Championship win at Chelmsford, last season's victory in September, their third straight win and a massive stride towards securing their place in the top flight following promotion in 2023.