County Championship: Essex v Somerset – Allison six seals home victory

Charlie Allison kept his head during an otherwise nervy hour and a quarter as Essex claimed a seven-wicket victory over Somerset to round off the County Championship season.

Allison, one of Essex’s stand-out performers during a largely disappointing season, finished the game with a second six off Jake Ball over long-on.

He was 32 not out from 34 balls as Essex reached their target of 95 from just 18.4 overs.

Lewis Gregory had given Somerset some hope by removing Dean Elgar and Tom Westley inside the first six overs before taking the catch in the deep to end Paul Walter’s tone-setting innings.

Walter, a first-innings centurion, had amassed 30 from 31 balls when he departed with 39 still required.

The Somerset captain was fired up in the face of desperate odds against and caused jitters in the Essex ranks as he repeatedly beat the outside edge of the bat.

He bowled through unchanged and was rewarded with figures of 2-43 from his nine overs.

For two-and-a-half days it looked like the game would peter out into a tame draw but that was before Jamie Porter initiated a Somerset collapse of monumental proportions amid the gloom of a day-three afternoon and early evening.

Essex had subsided themselves earlier in the day from an overnight 295-2 to 438 all out and a nominal lead of five runs.

But in 34 overs, they rolled Somerset over for 99 with Porter taking 4-18, falling just one wicket short of another 50-wicket haul for the season.

However, with all of day four available to knock off the runs, a modicum of tension was introduced in only the second over.

Having put on 277 for the first wicket in the first innings, the opening partnership lasted just seven balls as Elgar departed for a golden duck, rapped conclusively on his front pad by Gregory.

Tom Westley withstood the rest of a torrid over and got off the mark with a characteristic drive through midwicket for four off Craig Overton. He followed that with an emphatic pull through midwicket off Gregory for a second boundary before he, too, fell to the same bowler.

After putting on a 28 with Walter, Westley nibbled at one outside off-stump and wicketkeeper James Rew dived in front of first slip to claim the catch.

Walter had been busy turning twos into threes to the extent that Essex reached 50 from just nine overs when 20-year-old Allison walked down the pitch and smashed Overton through extra over for four.

Overton had been relatively expensive, his five overs costing 25, but his replacement Jake Ball struck with his first ball when Walter went for a big heave and paid the price.

Allison, though, made sure the target came down quickly and deposited Ball for six to take Essex within two runs of the target and then repeated the act to complete the victory.