After dismissing Worcestershire for 302, Essex ended the first day of their Championship fixture at Kidderminster on 35 for the loss of one wicket.

Having won the toss and elected to field, the visitors may have been disappointed that they allowed the home side to reach their third batting point having reduced them to 17-3 at one stage.

But former Nottinghamshire batsman Paul Pollard came to his side's rescue with a century.

Essex began on Wednesday one point adrift of fourth-placed Worcestershire and were boosted by the availability of England captain Nasser Hussain, who replaced Ian Flanagan.

Opener Elliot Wilson had scored five when he edged a ball from Ashley Cowan to Barry Hyam before Graham Hick was bowled by Ronnie Irani for one. Then Irani trapped Phil Weston for 11.

Then Pollard's partnership with Vikram Solanki saw the addition of 92 runs for the fourth wicket.

Solanki reached his half century with an off-drive off Danny Law, having faced 75 deliveries and hit 11 boundaries.

His spell ended four balls later when Ashley Cowan induced a forward prod that the batsman nicked to Hyam.

A seam-dominated attack continued immediately after lunch as David Leatherdale and Pollard prospered.

They had posted 124 in 31 overs when Leatherdale was trapped lbw for 52 to give another victim to Cowan.

The same bowler then had Steven Rhodes caught at first slip by Stuart Law to raise the Essex spirits as Worcestershire progressed to 250-6 at tea.

But Pollard was not to be denied his century, which he duly reached by driving Grayson past mid-off for a boundary.

His late order efforts were not matched by his tail end colleagues, whose recklessness saw the last four wickets fall for the addition of 15 runs.

Stuart Lampitt (six) dragged a Danny Law delivery to his stumps before Kabir Ali chased a wide delivery from the bowler to give Hyam a catch.

Matthew Rawnsley was run out thanks to the quick actions of Hyam. The wicketkeeper then concluded his good day by stumping last man Alan Girshereiyar for one as he attempted to drive at a Grayson delivery.

Cowan's final analysis of 20-8-69-4 represented just reward for his toils. He was well supported by Irani's commendable figures of 19-11-24-2, although, Grayson apart, there will be a few red faces at the supporting figures.

Essex were left with ten overs to face but soon lost Grayson to his third ball which swung back into him.

Paul Prichard, off the field for much of the day after dislocating his left thumb, was able to adopt his usual opening role after having the digit put back into the joint.

In partnership with Hussain he took Essex to the close without alarms.

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