Surrey in command

County Championship D1, Chelmsford, day two: Surrey 376 & 7-0 (at close), Essex 252

Match scorecard

Bicknell hit a six and 17 fours during his innings

Essex did well to avoid the follow-on as Martin Bicknell continued to play the starring role at Chelmsford.

The Surrey veteran followed a career best 141 by picking up the wickets of Paul Grayson, Will Jefferson and Aftab Habib as the home side slumped to 17-4.

Former Zimbabwe Test star Andy Flower began the revival with 51 and determined lower order batting enabled Essex to stave off the possibility of an embarrassingly low total.

Skipper Ronnie Irani made 42 and Jon Dakin hit nine fours in his 59 before becoming one of three victims for Jimmy Ormond.

Bicknell returned to have James Foster caught by Azhar Mahmood for 38 and finished with figures of 4-67.

Despite the recovery, Surrey began their second innings with a lead of 124 but Ian Ward and Jon Batty only faced 3.4 overs before the weather closed in.

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Essex: D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, A P Grayson, A Flower, A Habib, R C Irani (Capt), J S Foster (Wkt), J M Dakin, G R Napier, J D Middlebrook, S A Brant.

Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, G P Thorpe, A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), J Ormond, Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq.