Champions Notts complete innings victory at Essex

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford (day three)

Essex 184 & 221: Allison 56; O'Neill 5-39, Patterson-White 3-66

Nottinghamshire 457: Haynes 137*, Hameed 89; Harmer 5-165

Nottinghamshire (22 pts) beat Essex (2 pts) by an innings and 52 runs

Match scorecard

Liam Patterson-White claimed career-best match figures of 9-109 to spin Nottinghamshire to a crushing innings victory over Essex at a muggy Chelmsford.

The 27-year-old left-armer added three more wickets to his personal-best 6-43 in the first innings as he took full ownership of a dry, turning pitch.

He eclipsed the five-wicket haul by the Australian Fergus O'Neill, who signed off his stint at the club with 26 wickets in five games.

The win, by an innings and 52 runs, was important for the morale of the reigning County Championship champions, who had suffered a humiliating 306-run defeat at the hands of Somerset just six days before.

This game, however, had been put beyond Essex's reach from the moment Nottinghamshire gained a first innings lead of 273 thanks to an unbeaten century from Jack Haynes and 89 from captain Haseem Hameed.

Only Dean Elgar, with 42, and Charlie Allison's 56 in a 65-run seventh-wicket stand with Luc Benkenstein – who posted a first-class high of 42 – showed the resilience required to delay Nottinghamshire's celebrations, which duly arrived at 16:59 BST.

Essex started the day needing to hang around for six full sessions but were already in trouble after losing two wickets in the first six overs of their second innings the previous evening.

They lost a third 17 balls into the morning when the second nightwatchman, Charlie Bennett, drove O'Neill loosely to backward point

Elgar survived a torrid examination from Olly Stone, often forced on to the back foot and defending low over his bat.

Consequently, the majority of the South African's eight fours in a 76-ball knock came against O'Neill or Patterson-White, driven purposefully through extra cover or mid-wicket.

Elgar had received the benefit of an appeal when it was felt he gloved O'Neill behind the night before and half-walked until realising the umpire's finger had not moved.

Therefore, Stone's frustration and irritation were clearly evident throughout and particularly in the celebration when he tucked up Elgar again and received a positive lbw decision. Elgar departed reluctantly.

Patterson-White had been introduced into the attack after three-quarters of an hour, but it took until his 12th over for him to strike for the seventh time in the match.

Tom Westley had dug in doggedly for 96 minutes before getting a thick edge to a turning ball that landed in slip's hands. Patterson-White equalled his best match haul of eight wickets when Matt Critchley nicked behind.

That united the former England Under-19 team-mates Allison and Benkenstein for a partnership that held up Nottinghamshire for 20 overs. They were generally watchful, but Allison twice launched occasional off-spinner Freddie McCann for two huge sixes in reaching his third half-century of the season.

However, Patterson-White claimed his third wicket of the innings as Allison played down the wrong line and was lbw. When Michael Pepper was caught in the slips for 0 soon after off Lyndon James, Essex were still 98 runs short of making Nottinghamshire bat again.

Benkenstein and Harmer ate into the deficit in a breezy 39-run stand but both became victims of O'Neill, who took his figures to 5-39.

Essex have two months to lick their wounds before their next red-ball fixture, against Somerset at Taunton. Nottinghamshire, meanwhile, will hope no momentum is lost before they head to The Kia Oval.

Nottinghamshire assistant head coach Paul Franks said: "We knew we needed to bounce back after last week when we didn't play well at all.

"There were some quite honest and frank words spoken after that game. It's the first time for a long time we've had to do that. But to come here and play as well as we have is really satisfying.

"They won the toss, the chose to bat, whether it was the right decision, with the benefit of hindsight only they can answer that. We had four or five players who played outstandingly well in the game.

"Jack Haynes's innings was truly brilliant on that surface, Haseeb also played really nicely and that allowed the lower order to come in and play aggressively. Then we had a bowling attack led by Liam, backed by Fergus and Olly. We had all bases covered and made it really difficult for them."

Essex director of cricket Chris Silverwood said: "If I'm brutally honest I don't think we've put our best foot forward in any department.

"In the first innings we left a lot of runs out there and didn't apply ourselves as well as we should have done and put up a score that was challenging.

"Then when we bowled there were chances missed that cost us, so we have only ourselves to blame there as well. It put us under pressure for this final innings. Again, if I am honest, I think we have been outplayed all game."

Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.