8:04pm Sunday 13th July 2008
Essex turned the screw on Glamorgan, who finished the third day of the LV County Championship match at Cardiff on 35 for one in their second innings - trailing their opponents by 209 runs.
Despite the loss of a day and 30 overs to the weather, the visitors have eased themselves into a position from which they could record their fourth win of the season in the competition, having scored 376 all out in response to the hosts' first innings total of 132 all out.
Captain Mark Pettini led from the front, hitting 92, his highest score in the Championship since September 2006, and, with three other batsmen also posting half-centuries, the visitors were able to build a solid base from which to launch a victory quest on the final day.
Pettini has strong ties with Cardiff, having attended university in the city before concentrating on cricket full-time, and he gave a lesson in composed and effective batting, playing with assurance and composure from the start.
He arrived at the crease with his side already enjoying a 33-run lead with seven wickets intact and, by the time he was dismissed, Essex had extended their advantage to 240 runs, with hopes of victory a realistic possibility.
Pettini underpinned the visitors' efforts, playing selectively but including some sweetly-timed drives as the visitors stabilised a positive situation.
After the Essex innings had begun steadily on a slow wicket against defensive field placings, the combination of Pettini and Ravi Bopara accelerated the tempo as they put on 66 for the fourth wicket in 18 overs while a further 97 runs were accrued from 23 overs between Pettini and James Foster for the firth wicket against an increasingly dispirited bowling line-up.
Bopara, playing with eye-catching fluency, was soon among the runs, penetrating the field with a fine array of shots on both sides of the wicket until he fell leg before to Robert Croft, having reached 44, while Foster also played freely, striking five boundaries on his way to 56 from 76 balls as the visitors increased the run-rate.
Foster fell foul of an intended reverse sweep to Dean Cosker with the scoreboard now showing 328 for five and, eight runs later, Ryan ten Doeschate perished for seven in search of quick runs when he top-edged a sweep to mid-wicket to give slow left-armer Cosker another wicket.
The entrance of batting golden boy Graham Napier alerted the attentions of the crowd and, although his stay lasted just eight deliveries, the all-rounder did not disappoint, blasting three successive sixes off Cosker before he fell attempting a fourth when picking out deep mid-wicket.
Pettini was only eight runs short of his century when, having faced 121 balls and struck eight boundaries including a six, he moved down the pitch and was bowled by Croft, who also picked up the wicket of Danish Kaneria to finish with four for 97, while Cosker, having bowled David Masters, returned five for 81 as Essex were bowled out for 376, giving them their seventh bonus point of the match.
That left Glamorgan nine overs to face at the end of the day and, not surprisingly, Kaneria was introduced as early as the second over but it was Napier who gained the breakthrough when encouraging Gareth Rees to chase a wide delivery that found an edge to give Foster a diving catch to his left.
Cosker arrived as night watchman to join Richard Grant and successfully played out time, despite Kaneria switching ends, but the Essex hopes wil llie with the Pakistan leg-spinner on the final day.
The visitors passed Glamorgan's first-innings total without losing a wicket after Jason Gallian and Varun Chopra comfortably countered the threat of the Glamorgan attack on a slow pitch.
It was the first time this season an opening pair had reached three figures for the county in the competition as both batsmen eased to half-centuries.
Gallian was first to the milestone, taking 119 balls that included seven boundaries, and, shortly after, his partner also passed 50 for the first time in 11 Championship innings, having faced 13 fewer deliveries and striking only three boundaries.
Having advanced to 59 out of 137, Chopra was the first to depart when he stepped a couple of paces down the pitch and was bowled by Robert Croft to be followed quickly by Neil Dexter.
The on-loan man from Kent spent much of the second day off the field with food poisoning and he would also have felt sick after missing out on the opportunity to enjoy the friendly bowling attack.
Having scored a duck and a single on his initial Championship appearance for Essex, he managed only two before edging Croft to Mark Wallace behind the stumps.
Gallian was the next to depart for a soundly fashioned 73, leaving Pettini to orchestrate matters so effectively from thereon.
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