County Championship D1, Old Trafford, day two (close): Essex 215 & 41-2; Lancashire 375

It is my worst century in terms of the way I played, but one of my best in terms of application and determination Iain Sutcliffe

Iain Sutcliffe and Mark Chilton hit a century apiece to leave Essex reeling at Old Trafford.

The home side resumed play on 127-1 with Sutcliffe already past the half-century mark in a steady, if unspectacular, innings.

Mal Loye fell cheaply at the resumption of play as did Stuart Law, two of Ronnie Irani's four victims in the innings.

That brought Chilton to the crease and he and Sutcliffe put on 83 runs for the fourth wicket.

Chilton continued, receiving adequate support from the tail, to give Lancashire a big lead on first innings.

And in the final 15 overs further woes hit Essex, who had been reduced to having to use 49-year-old coach Graham Gooch as a substitute fielder.

They lost both openers to the new ball, leaving out-of-form duo Andy Flower and Nasser Hussain to shore things up.

Lancashire: A J Swann, I J Sutcliffe, M B Loye, S G Law, M J Chilton, C L Hooper, G Chapple, W K Hegg (Capt, Wkt), P J Martin, J M Anderson, G Keedy.

Essex: D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, R C Irani (Capt), N Hussain, A P Grayson, J S Foster (Wkt), A Flower, G R Napier, J D Middlebrook, S A Brant, J B Grant.