County Championship: Warwickshire v Essex – Bears bowled out for 78

Snater then struck twice in seven balls as he removed Hamza Shaikh’s off stump and had Ed Barnard leg before.

Former skipper Will Rhodes, on his last home appearance before joining Durham, and still needing 46 runs to reach 1,000 runs in a season for the first time, made 29 before edging Snater to wicketkeeper Michael Pepper.

Cook then knocked out Michael Burgess’s middle stump with the last ball of the morning session.

The last three Essex wickets went in 16 balls as Snater completed his first five-fer since 2022, while Porter’s 3-15 leaves him on 49 scalps for the summer.

Essex quickly lost Robin Das lbw to Hannon-Dalby, who also accounted for skipper Tom Westley the same way for 30, before Barnard’s two wickets in three balls – Dean Elgar caught at first slip and Paul Walter playing on.

Noah Thain edged to second slip off the luckless Chris Rushworth, who had to go off with what looked like a hamstring injury. But Matt Critchley (32) added 55 with Pepper (37) in 18 overs before Simon Harmer and Snater added another 39.

Craig Miles removed Harmer (31) and Cook in the space of three balls but Snater is still there on 33, having been joined by last man Porter, to help take the lead to 111.