County Championship – Essex v Surrey: Elgar & Westley hit fifties

Dean Elgar and Tom Westley shared an unbroken second-wicket century stand as Essex took control of their final County Championship match of the season against newly crowned champions Surrey before rain intervened at Chelmsford.

Having completed their third successive title triumph against Durham last week, Surrey were largely on the back foot during the 28.3 overs possible until persistent heavy rain drove off the players nine minutes before lunch.

Essex, who won the toss, had by then reached 116-1 as Elgar (54 not out) and Westley (52 not out) hit an under-strength Surrey attack to all corners of the ground in a stand currently worth 112 in 26 overs.

Elgar passed his 1,000 first-class runs for the season for Essex in the process – the sixth Division One player to reach that landmark this summer.

Essex had earlier suffered a dismal start under heavy clouds as Robin Das lasted just six balls before he hung his bat out to Tom Lawes and was caught behind by Josh Blake – one of three first-class debutants for Surrey alongside Ollie Sykes and spinner Yousef Majid.