Sam Cook, Porter and Shane Snater get the job done for the visitors, who were celebrating at Lord's - scene of their Bob Willis Trophy success in 2020 - again
Lord's (fourth day of four): Essex 266, 211, Middlesex 170 & 210 - Essex won by 97 runs
Shane Snater took two wickets in as many balls to end Middlesex's stubborn resistance and wrap up Essex's first LV= Insurance County Championship win at Lord's since 2009.
Chasing a nominal target of 308, the home side displayed fighting spirit on the final morning as Ryan Higgins and Luke Hollman frustrated the bowlers with an eighth-wicket partnership of 87.
But Snater finally achieved the breakthrough, removing Higgins and Toby Roland-Jones with successive deliveries after lunch before Jamie Porter collected the final wicket to dismiss Middlesex for 210 and clinch a 97-run success.
Porter and fellow seamer Sam Cook finished with three apiece, while Snater returned figures of 2 for 34 and Hollman top-scored for Middlesex with an unbeaten 63 that included eight boundaries.
Luke Hollman frustrated Essex before Snater's late surge (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Lord's (third day of four): Essex 266, 211, Middlesex 170 & 77-5 - Middlesex need 231 runs to win with five second-innings wickets remaining
Essex's seamers destroyed the Middlesex top order for the second time in 24 hours as they closed in on victory on day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Lord's.
Nominally chasing 308 to win Middlesex’s first four batters were all on a pair after the havoc wreaked by Jamie Porter’s six-fer on day two. And the mental scars of that had clearly not healed as the hosts quickly plummeted to 15 for 3, Sam Cook the chief architect with an opening burst of two for four.
Max Holden and John Simpson also succumbed to the spin of Simon Harmer and Matt Critchley respectively as Middlesex closed on 77 for 5, Cook finishing on 2 for 16.
Earlier, Critchley's 53 ensured Essex reached 211 in their second innings, Tim Murtagh taking 4 for 44.
It has been a memorable match with the ball for the visitors (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Lord's (second day of four): Essex 266 v Middlesex 170 - Essex lead by 96 runs with 10 second-innings wickets remaining
Jamie Porter wrecked Middlesex's top order with a devastating spell to put Essex on top in their LV= Insurance County Championship game at Lord’s and eclipse Toby Roland-Jones' seven-wicket haul.
Porter, operating in tandem with seam partner Sam Cook, ended the day with 6 for 35 and looked virtually unplayable as the pair ripped out Middlesex's first four batters – all for ducks – to reduce them to a perilous 4 for 4.
That burst followed Roland-Jones' return of 7 for 61 to dismiss Essex for 266, the second-best figures of the Seaxes' skipper's career and a performance that ushered him beyond the landmark of 500 first-class wickets.
Ryan Higgins and John Simpson oversaw a spirited recovery with their sixth-wicket stand of 127, but the home side trail by 96 after being bowled out for 170 at stumps.
Dan Lawrence hit a fine hundred for Essex (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
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Lord's (first day of four): Essex 162-3 v Middlesex
Dan Lawrence was the highlight as Essex had the better of a truncated, gloomy opening day of the LV = Insurance County Championship season against newly-promoted Middlesex.
Lawrence, a man still on the fringes of England selection despite a dismal 2022 Championship season where he averaged only 22.10, showed little of the aggressive intent so much in vogue and survived a chance when 32 in reaching 74 not out in a score of 162 for 3 before bad light and rain intervened for the final time.
He shared a stand of 121 with skipper Tom Westley, while it was hard work for the home bowlers, new skipper Toby Roland-Jones the pick with 2 for 42.
With Essex losing the toss and being inserted by Roland-Jones, the opening pair of Sir Alastair Cook and Nick Browne rattled along early on, despite the gloom, but this had more to do with the friendly offerings served up by Roland-Jones and Tim Murtagh, who was uncharacteristically loose from his beloved Nursery End, than any regard to chasing the bonus points.
Neither entertained us for long, though. Cook was the victim of a leg-side strangle, while Brown fell to the very next ball, Sam Robson holding a fine catch above his head. Infuriatingly for Browne and the visitors, he hadn't reached the boundary rope before the rain came, the first of two interruptions to a much-truncated morning.
Porter took 6 for 35 at Lord's (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Their demise brought Lawrence to the crease, a man with a case to make as one on the England fringes. He began fractiously, surviving an injudicious charge down the wicket before Robson dropped him at slip. To rub salt in the wounds, the right-hander drove luckless bowler Murtagh gloriously straight for four in the very next over.
Such shows of flamboyance were rare through much the afternoon as circumspection superseded daring-do, but in harness with Westley, Lawrence batted the visitors into a position of strength, reaching 50 from 113 balls with seven fours.
The 100 partnership was delayed by teatime rain, but on the resumption, Lawrence expanded his repertoire, flat-batting Roland-Jones calypso style through the covers before advancing to the next ball and lofting it over the same region.
Westley remained becalmed if untroubled and it was a surprise when he slashed the persevering Roland-Jones to backward point to depart for 48.
Soon afterwards the light closed in before the rain came again and play was abandoned for the day.
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