Essex 266 (Lawrence 105, Roland-Jones 7-61) lead Middlesex 170 (Higgins 70, Simpson 63, Porter 6-35) by 96 runs
Visitors to Lord's will notice that there are now two replay screens above the Allen Stand next to the Pavilion. Opulence, perhaps, but in an UltraHD era, the crispness of those letters and digits were a recognisable example of a traditional sport moving with the times. And yet there was a moment at about 2.50pm on Good Friday, when all within the ground strained between blinks as they tried to register what both screens displayed.
Middlesex's top four all had noughts to their names, all dismissed, yet four runs had been amassed by virtue of two front-foot no-balls. Jamie Porter had figures of 3 for 2 - Sam Robson was lbw to the first ball of Middlesex's innings before Pieter Malan was bowled with the third, then Stevie Eskinazi was caught down the leg side with the 16th - just after Sam Cook got in on the act with Mark Stoneman caught behind.
Four for Four. And not just any four for four; the first time in 48 years No.1, 2, 3 and 4 had all been dismissed for ducks in the County Championship.
All that was missing was the sitcom record-scratch accompanied by the usual "You're probably wondering how we got here?". The answer to that in itself was more than enough to get your head around at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend. Dan Lawrence completed a measured yet engaging century, but with Toby Roland-Jones taking 7 for 61 in response, Essex, having begun day two on 162 for 3, were limited to 266 all out under bright blue skies.
What advantage they had ceded was quickly re-established with the ball. It took 4.4 overs for Middlesex to get their first run off the bat, a frantic tip-and-run from Max Holden drawing ironic cheers from the stands. He was the next to fall - 20 for 5 - when Porter nabbed a fourth thanks to a smart low catch by Simon Harmer at second slip.
A period of breath-catching followed with a127-run stand between Ryan Higgins and John Simpson. But it only delayed the inevitable of a sizeable Essex first-innings lead - 98 - and Porter's first five-wicket haul of the summer. The 29-year-old finished with six for 35, with Harmer's 3 for 33 - beginning with bowling Higgins through the gate to break the sixth-wicket partnership - keeping the tail honest. That Essex were able to remove the last five Middlesex wickets for just 23 at the end of a session pushing three hours was a testament to their red-ball dominance established well before this day.
It felt like an age since Lawrence had resumed on 74. It was a whole different game with a very different story when he was ticking off the remaining runs to a 13th first-class century with the same patience, sound judgement and the odd flash of brilliance he showcased on Thursday. He marched at Tim Murtagh to pull him for six - a second of this knock - and went from 99 to 103 with an on-drive for four. The stroke was greeted with a skip and punch of the air at the climax of a cursory jaunt to the non-striker's end.
Lawrence is not usually a big celebrator, but the personal value of this knock after a 2022 summer of struggle - just 420 runs at 21.20 - was high, and not just because this was a first hundred at Lord's. He knows this is a huge summer as far as international credentials are concerned.
Unlike last summer, when he drifted away from the Test set-up under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum despite a valiant showing in the Caribbean under different interim management, Lawrence looks more at ease. He may have only carried drinks in New Zealand, but was left with a far better idea of where he stands and what he can do to move forward.
"I think the general messaging for me was I score quickly enough anyway," Lawrence explained about the nuggets he had been offered from Stokes and McCullum. "So I don't need to change that much. It was probably more the other way for me; I'm trying to hone my defence a little bit more and then have the odd calculated gamble where I'll take someone on when I feel like I need to. And it paid off this week."
The game changed considerably when Lawrence departed. He was the first of four wickets to fall for just 30 runs, the last three to Roland-Jones, bringing up the seamer's 25th five-wicket haul. The first came as the culmination of a 12-over period in which Essex managed just 14 runs. Helm, Higgins and Luke Hollman kept things quiet until the new ball, before the skipper stepped in to finish things off.
Adam Rossington, formerly of this parish, flicked straight to square leg before Roland-Jones bagged Simon Harmer (lbw) and Shane Snater (bowled via an inside-edge) in consecutive deliveries, the latter giving him five in the match and a 500th first-class dismissal. The hat-trick ball was a naff half-volley on leg stump put away by Ben Allison with ease. A more appropriate delivery to a No.9 eventually came after lunch - the 35-year-old seaming one into the front pad after Allison had committed early to a forward defence.
Matt Critchley was watching calmly at the other end, like a Parisian dining alfresco amid a riot. His calm indifference to the collapse unfolding was characterised after lunch when he struck four fours in the 89th over off Helm, including a gorgeous straight drive to remind Middlesex a frontline batter had been playing possum.
Critchley moved to 50 from 98 - a third score of fifty or more for Essex since joining from Derbyshire at the end of 2021 - but greeted the milestone with a shake of his head. He had exposed the No.11 Porter to five deliveries of a Roland-Jones over in taking that single. Ironically, he would be the man to fall to the Middlesex skipper, lured into attacking the short boundary and skying a pull that was smartly taken by Simpson.
Barely 30 minutes after the catch, Simpson was back out there tending to the wreckage of Middlesex's top-order. He was the one to walk out on 4 for 4, for so often the designated firefighter this side of London, heading towards the danger once more. Higgins was more of the aggressor in their stand - a half-century from 72 balls, whereas Simpson's came from 151 - and Simpson's failed attempt to take matters into his own hands further spoke of Essex's chokehold on the game.
Essex could have had Simpson for just 5 had Rossington reacted better to a nick off Porter. That would have made it 15 for 5 and perhaps increased the likelihood of Middlesex not passing the follow-on target of 116. Nevertheless, the hosts have plenty to do to avoid a chastening defeat in their first match back in Division One.
