Essex bowlers are giving Somerset a tough time in the early stages of their county championship clash in Taunton.

Essex captain Ronnie Irani claimed two wickets in the First session of play, snatching the wickets of opener Cox and number three man Burns.

Justin Bishop followed his good example after lunch today (Wednesday), claiming the scalps of Blackwell and Bowler.

At tea Somerset had scored 187 runs for the loss of six wickets, and Irani's men had high hopes of limiting their opponents to a small score.

More information about Essex County Cricket Club's 2001 season including a link to the official ECCC site with live scorecard Up-and-coming batsman Mark Pettini, a 17-year-old right-hander, had been on standby to make his First Class debut.

But Pettini was denied his chance in this County Championship Division One clash after Stephen Peters recovered from a finger injury which kept him out of the game against the Australians over the weekend.

Pettini is one of the County's brightest prospects and holds the record of being the youngest player to turn out for Essex in the 2nd XI Championship at 15 years 267 days.

Essex, who face a huge task to avoid relegation from the First Division, will be seriously weakened by the absence of leading run scorer Stuart Law and paceman Ricky Anderson, one of the country's leading wicket-takers.

Law is ruled out for at least a fortnight with a broken finger and Anderson is still recovering from a groin strain and shin injury.

In addition the County are without Nasser Hussain, who will be leading England in the First Test against Australia at Edgbaston from Thursday.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.