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Pakistan’s Champions Trophy title defence got off to an inauspicious start, as Fakhar Zaman was forced off the field after two deliveries of their opening game against New Zealand in Karachi.New Zealand opener Will Young drove Shaheen Afridi through the covers to beat the infield, with Zaman setting off in pursuit. He cut it off before palming the ball to Babar Azam to throw it back to the keeper, but immediately appeared to feel discomfort in his lower back or side. He signalled that he needed to be replaced, and went off the field with the physio, though he walked unaided back to the dressing room.”Fakhar Zaman is being assessed and examined for a muscular sprain and further updates will be provided in due course,” the PCB said in a statement shortly after.Fakhar came back on the field after spending a little more than two hours off it, which prevented him from opening Pakistan’s chase of 321. Saud Shakeel opened with Babar Azar and Fakhar only came in at the fall of Mohammed Rizwan in the tenth over. He had been deprived of any batting time with the fielding restrictions in place, when his reputation for power hitting could have come in handy for Pakistan.Almost from the outset, though, it was apparent he would be unable to make that sort of contribution. He was unsteady on his feet and visibly struggling with running between the wickets. On more than one occasion, he slumped to his knees between overs, with the team doctor and physio coming on with painkillers. While he attempted to play the attacking strokes the match situation required with the asking rate ever-rising, it was something of a tortured knock. He managed 24 off 41 before he tried to sweep Michael Bracewell – a shot he a deployed throughout the innings – only to miss completely and see his stumps shattered.Pakistan had been hampered by an injury to Saim Ayub in similar circumstances, one that ultimately kept him out of the Champions Trophy. In a Test against South Africa, he set off in pursuit of a ball to the boundary and ended up twisting his ankle. It resulted in a fracture that will keep him out until at least the middle of March. Fakhar, who until then wasn’t part of Pakistan’s ODI plans, came back into the side as Ayub’s replacement, and made an impressive return, scoring 84 off 69 and 41 off 28 in his first two matches back in the side.Pakistan did, however, get a fitness-related boost before the game with Haris Rauf fit enough to start. He had pulled up with a side strain in the opening game of the triangular series these two sides took part in over the last fortnight along with South Africa. That day had also seen a New Zealand player struck down with injury, when Rachin Ravindra lost the trajectory of a hit while fielding at the boundary, which ended up hitting him flush on the forehead. He needed stitches, and though he trained yesterday and New Zealand have said that he showed no signs of delayed concussion, he did not play against Pakistan. He was seen running drinks to New Zealand’s batters, though.The game marked the return of ICC tournament cricket to Pakistan after 1996, with huge crowds building up outside the National Stadium in Karachi in the hours before the start. The opening ceremony was attended by Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari and had an air force fly-past parade after the toss, which Pakistan won and asked New Zealand to bat.

Abhishek Sharma credited Suryakumar Yadav for his scintillating century in the fifth T20I against England, one that helped India register a 150-run win and take the series 4-1. Abhishek scored a 37-ball century, the second-fastest in men’s T20Is for India.”I was in a zone where I was going to react to the ball. I didn’t even know my score,” Abhishek said after the match. “I just asked Surya [Suryakumar] ‘ what do you think?’. He said ‘since a wicket has fallen you can take your time, take a couple of balls.’ That really helped me, because of him only I would say the hundred happened and my highest score happened. At that time, I didn’t realise I was going to hit the fastest hundred [second-fastest for India].”Abhishek got off to a swift start and crossed fifty in just 17 balls. He was on 94 off 32 balls after nine overs and had the Indian record for the fastest T20I century – off 35 balls by Rohit Sharma – in sights. He finished with a 54-ball 135, the highest individual score for India in men’s T20Is.”It never crossed my mind that I should play till the end,” he said. “I react to the ball based on the team situation. Luckily today, when I was in the 80s or 90s, Surya came in and said you’ve played well so far, worked hard, so you can take two-three balls. When the captain is [batting] with you and tells you something, I felt I should bat carefully. When Hardik [Pandya] came in, he said, ‘since wickets are falling you have to play according to the situation and bat till the end since you are hitting the ball well’. Then Axar came in… these three are senior players and have played well for India, so no better players to listen to in that situation.”Related

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Given India do not play a T20I any time soon, it was a timely knock from Abhishek, who could jostle for spots in the team once Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill return. But he insisted none of that played on his mind.”I had met Jassu [Jaiswal] and Shubman yesterday [at the BCCI awards]. There has never been a competition among us – we are playing together since Under-16. There was just one dream – to play for India. The three of us are playing now, so there is no better feeling.”4:07

Abhishek: ‘If I have the ability, I should nourish it’

Abhishek has been one of the flag-bearers of India’s high-intent batting template. Since the start of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2023-24, he has scored 1893 runs in T20 cricket. Only five batters across the world have more runs than that, none of them at a faster rate than Abhishek’s 199.47. He was the Player of the Tournament in that SMAT which his domestic team, Punjab, won. His fast starts even helped runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024. How did the transformation happen?”I worked hard [to bat in a certain way] ahead of that season and when I saw the results, I thought I should back myself and express myself,” Abhishek said. “I practiced a lot of match scenarios in open nets. Brian Lara had told me one thing – just play your shots but make sure that you don’t get out. So that is what I had in my mind. That helped me and I felt I could hit shots off the first or second ball as well.”When you are young, you don’t explore much, but I did that and realised I could play with more intent and help the team. When you do well, you get the support of your team. So I thought that when it is my day, I have to play this way – whether for Punjab or my franchise. Obviously when it comes to India, it’s a special and a big moment. I felt if I have the ability, I should nourish it. There are ups and downs, but you need to be clear about playing this way.”Abhishek also stressed on the role former India allrounder Yuvraj Singh has played in his game.”Yuvi was always there for me and put all these things in my mind and believed in me. When Yuvraj Singh tells you that you are going to play for the country and win games, you also try to believe in yourself and give your best. I talk to him after every game, he is the one I listen to. He knows me better than me.When your captain and coach tell you that you have to play like this and we are backing you, we’ll be there for you always, that is the biggest motivation for a young player in the team. In South Africa I remember Hardik and Surya telling me, you are100% going to make some runs, just believe in yourself’. In this series Gauti [head coach Gautam Gambhir] came back and I feel grateful that they believe in me, that’s not normal and is the biggest motivation for any player.”

On Thursday, that saw the final round of group fixtures at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), as many as 17 teams were in contention for the eight remaining knockouts spots. At the end of an engaging day’s play, this much was certain: Punjab won’t be defending their title this season despite Abhishek Sharma’s heroics, Mohammed Shami will have an opportunity to garner more match time with Bengal and Ajinkya Rahane’s scintillating form for Mumbai may yet keep him in conversations around captaincy at Kolkata Knight Riders. Here are the highlights from Thursday:

Bhuvneshwar the hat-trick hero as UP enter knockouts

Signed for INR 10.75 crore by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved he is not a spent force just yet. His hat-trick against Jharkhand in a match-winning effort helped Uttar Pradesh seal a pre-quarterfinals berth, where they will take on Andhra on Monday.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockouts:

• 1st Pre-quarterfinal: Bengal vs Chandigarh (December 9)

• 2nd Pre-quarterfinal: Andhra v UP(December 9)

• 1st Quarter-final: Baroda vs winner of 1st PQF (Dec 11)

• 2nd Quarter-final: Delhi vs winner of 2nd PQF (Dec 11)

• 3rd Quarter-final: MP vs Saurashtra (Dec 11)

• 4th Quarter-final: Mumbai vs Vidarbha (Dec 11)

Bhuvneshwar, captaining UP, recorded figures of 4-1-6-3 – all his wickets coming in his final over – as Jharkhand fell short by 10 runs chasing 161. Among the wickets for Bhuvneshwar was the big-hitting Robin Minz. That Jharkhand got that close was because of allrounder Anukul Roy, who smashed a 44-ball 91 at No. 5.Earlier in the tournament, Bhuvneshwar upstaged Jasprit Bumrah to become the first Indian seamer to get 300 T20 wickets. Among Indians, only Yuzvendra Chahal (364), Piyush Chawla (319) and R Ashwin (310) have more T20 wickets than Bhuvneshwar (308).

Shami continues pain-free return

Shami picked up three wickets in another sure shot sign of him slowly returning to full match fitness, as Bengal stormed into the pre-quarterfinals where they will take on Chandigarh.Playing his seventh straight game of the competition, Shami picked up 3 for 26 as Bengal restricted Rajasthan to153 for 9, before half-centuries from Abishek Porel and Sudip Gharami helped seal a seven-wicket win.Related

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Shami has so far bowled his full quota of overs (27.3 out of a possible 28) in the seven games, while picking up eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.67. Prior to SMAT, Shami had returned a match haul of seven wickets against Madhya Pradesh in the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy last month, his first competitive outing since last year’s World Cup final.Bengal will take on Chandigarh in the pre-quarterfinal on Monday.

Rahane 95 helps Mumbai record highest SMAT chase

In a must-win, Mumbai eclipsed their previous highest chase of 227 to beat Andhra and set up a quarter-final on Wednesday against Vidarbha, the team they beat in last season’s Ranji final. Rahane’s 95 off just 54 balls, with nine fours and four sixes, kept Mumbai in the chase right until the end, before Suryansh Shedge finished it off in a blaze.Set an imposing 230, thanks to KS Bharat’s unbeaten 53-ball 93, Mumbai were fuelled by a rollicking opening stand of 51 in just four overs between Rahane and Prithvi Shaw, who made a 15-ball 34. Then they hit choppy waters with Shreyas Iyer (25) and Suryakumar Yadav (4) falling in quick succession.Rahane then found support from Shivam Dube, with whom he put on 54 in just 31 balls; Dube’s contribution to the partnership an 18-ball 34. At one stage, Mumbai needed 26 off 10, and Shedge, on 2 off 2 at that point, hit two fours and three sixes to finish on an unbeaten eight-ball 30 as Mumbai won with three balls to spare.File photo: Ajinkya Rahane continued his fine form in T20s•AFP/Getty Images

A win would have helped Andhra qualify directly for the quarter-finals as they would have topped the table. They will now have to play the pre-quarters because Mumbai and Andhra finished on the same points and Mumbai were the table-toppers because of their head-to-head against Andhra earlier in the league stage. Mumbai’s win also knocked Kerala out of the competition.

Gujarat knocked out despite six wins in seven

Net run rate cruelly led to Gujarat’s group-stage exit as they lost out to Saurashtra and Baroda, who set the record for the highest T20 score, against Sikkim.When Gujarat blasted 251 for 5 batting first against Karnataka, thanks to opener Aarya Desai’s 73 off 40 and Axar Patel’s unbeaten 20-ball 56, there was no inkling of the heartbreak that was to follow. They managed to restrict Karnataka to 203, with Axar picking 2 for 22 off four overs in their 48-run win.However, Saurashtra managed to edge out Gujarat by chasing down their 137 target against Tripura in just 13.3 overs. In the end, Baroda, Saurashtra and Gujarat all finished on 24 points and Gujarat lost out on a knockout berth because their NRR was lower than Saurashtra’s by 0.335.

Cricket Victoria and the St Kilda Cricket Club have renamed one of the heritage listed grandstands at the Junction Oval in Melbourne after the late Shane Warne in honour of his contribution to Victoria and his club team St Kilda.The process of renaming the stand, which has stood since 1925, had begun well before Warne’s passing in March, 2022. The stand was formerly named after Australian rules footballer Kevin Murray who has supported the change. Murray’s name now adorns a stand at Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.The MCG named its southern stand after Warne at his state funeral in 2022 but the process to get the heritage listed stand renamed on the western side of Junction Oval in St Kilda, a suburb just south of Melbourne’s CBD, took far longer.Warne’s father Keith and his two daughters Summer and Brooke attended the unveiling, which took place before Victoria took on New South Wales in a One-Day Cup match at the Junction Oval. Australia Test captain Pat Cummins, and a host of Australian players including Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell, attended the ceremony before playing in the game. Some of Warne’s former Australia, Victoria and St Kilda teammates were also in attendance at the unveiling.Cricket Victoria have also unveiled a Shane Warne exhibition in the foyer of their administration and high performance centre at the northern end of the ground. The exhibition features memorabilia from Warne’s career, with a lot of it supplied by his father, and is free to visit.”Today marks a very special and proud day for the Warne family to have a stand named the Shane Warne stand here at the Junction Oval is a wonderful tribute to Shane, who we know would be honored to be chosen for such an accolade,” Keith Warne said at the unveiling.”In February 1991 he made his first-class debut playing for Victoria against Western Australia here at the Junction Oval. Some of Shane’s most enjoyable early cricketing years were whilst playing with his beloved St Kilda, especially when the matches were played here at the Junction Oval. As proud as Shane would be to know a stand at the Junction Oval bares his name, he would also be thrilled to know that he will now be forever linked with St Kilda Cricket Club and the Junction Oval. On behalf of her family, I’d like to thank Cricket Victoria and St Kilda Cricket Club for their support in honouring Shane with such a wonderful tribute, further enhancing Shane’s incredible legacy.”

India are in the middle of a fundamental change and it is partly because of Jasprit Bumrah. Ahead of his first Test series in charge, Gautam Gambhir touched on how he’s started to have an effect far beyond just his cricket.”It has not happened many times in India where we started talking about the bowler,” Gambhir said. “I think it has always been about batters, batters and batters. India at one stage was a batting-obsessed nation. And you’ve got to give credit to Bumrah, [Mohammed] Shami, [Mohammed] Siraj, [R] Ashwin, [Ravindra] Jadeja that now they are turning this intention into a bowling obsessed… not bowling obsessed nation that we started talking about the bowler.”Bumrah might only have played 36 Tests but his numbers are startling. He’s taking a five-wicket haul (ten so far) roughly once in three Tests and he’s been the driving force behind some of India’s most famous wins – Oval 2021, Melbourne 2018, Visakhapatnam 2024.Related

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“Bumrah is the best fast bowler in the world in all the three formats. And it’s not just his performance, it’s just his hunger as well. The best part is that he wants to play as much Test cricket as he can.”I think what he has done in T20 format in West Indies to what he can do in red-ball cricket, what he did against England. So I feel that yes, it is actually not even a luxury. I think it’s really an honour that we’ve got someone like Bumrah playing for us and sitting in that dressing room. We can make a change, we can make a difference at any stage of the game. So yes, hopefully, we can do the same in this series and going forward as well.”

Gambhir: ‘Want India to adapt and learn quickly’

Gambhir is taking the reins of a very successful Test team and even though he hasn’t really been a coach at any level he believes the relationships that he’s built with the India players from his 12 years as an all-format opening batter will ease him into the job. He has set himself no mandate other than to win games for India.”I’ve always been a believer that the best style is the style that wins and we want to be a team that adapts and learns quickly, rather than adopting one style. Because if you start adopting one style, then there is no growth. We want guys to be playing the situation, the conditions, and then keep growing every day. And that is all that matters. You know, all this, giving a name to a certain style and playing only one way, see, ultimately sport is all about results. And the best, as I just mentioned, the best style is the style that wins.”2:37

Gambhir: It’s good we’re talking about bowlers in India

Given this is the home season for India and the Test match against Bangladesh on Thursday will be played in Chennai, a fair bit of focus will be on the spinners. Gambhir explained how he would pick them.”Obviously, first is the impact they can create on day one and on day five,” he said. “India has been very fortunate that we’ve got people like Ashwin and Jadeja. They’ve bowled really well in tandem as well, and we know how they can contribute on day one. Because for Test cricket, the most important thing is that you should have the ability to bowl defensive, and you should have the ability to bowl attacking stuff as well. So I feel that we’re going to have an attack which can take 20 wickets, and those two guys are definitely going to create a lot of impact in Indian conditions.”India have never lost a Test to Bangladesh but Gambhir has been careful not to let that affect the way they prepare for the game in Chennai on Thursday. “You don’t change your intensity by looking at the opposition,” he said. “International cricket means that, do you have that hunger for every session, every hour, every ball? Because, ultimately, when you are playing for your country, and when the other 15 players are playing for their country, they will be good and anyone can defeat anyone. So, if you think that, changing your intensity by looking at Australia or England, I think, no high-quality side does that. And, it shouldn’t be done. A champion side is the one who sets their own standards.”Bangladesh has got some really quality cricketers. Shakib [Al Hasan] has got the experience. Mushfiqur [Rahim] has got the experience. You’ve got a very good bowling attack as well. Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] is there as well. So we know that there is talent in Bangladesh. But the important thing is that we need to be switched on from ball one. And that is what the expectations from all of us are in that dressing room.”Gambhir is very happy with the talent pool that he has to work with. “The best thing is that, from the last seven-eight days, my first Sri Lanka tour, I have seen one thing, that all the players sitting in that dressing room, how much they like to play for India. We always say that players like to play IPL. But, there’s not much truth in this. Ultimately, when you represent your country, there’s nothing greater than that.”But switching between formats does create a challenge for them, especially in Test cricket. India, despite 17 successive series victories at home, haven’t been immune to this. Their batters are going through a little bit of a lull when it comes to making big scores.”This batting line-up has so much quality that we can play any opposition, any bowling line-up, any spin attack in any conditions,” Gambhir said. “What happens is we often judge [ability to play spin] a lot looking at T20 and one-day cricket; there’s a heaven and earth difference. In one-day cricket, you don’t get much time to defend. In Test cricket, you have time to defend and make the bowler bowl into your strengths. But, for that, the most important thing is if you want to play well in Test cricket, how tight is your defence?”We have played in T20 format on so many good wickets that sometimes, it feels like you have to develop so many shots. But the foundation is your defence. When we started, any youngster was taught to defend. If your defence is strong, you can develop everything on that defence. But, if you think that you have all kinds of shots and if you want to be a good Test cricketer, there is no guarantee for that.”

As India’s new bowling coach, Morne Morkel’s foremost goal is to protect an already well-oiled set-up, and make sure the players “feel at home” despite the weight of expectations.Morkel, who replaced Paras Mhambrey in the role last month, joined the team in Chennai, where it is preparing for the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh.”Coming here, this is a set-up that operates by itself,” Morkel said on bcci.tv. “To protect that and make it better in small ways is going to be the goal.”When I was sitting in the plane, I reflected that we are so lucky to have quality senior players and they will lead the charge. Our responsibility is to support them and give them the best sort of advice that we can give.Related

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Morkel’s name was recommended by head coach Gautam Gambhir. The two had worked together for Lucknow Super Giants during IPL 2022 and 2023. Morkel said it was important for him to connect with the players and make them feel secure to get the best out of them.”I have played a lot against some of the players, I have seen and connected a little bit with some of the guys during the IPL,” he said. “To be now in the camp and form friendships and relationships is very important.”Today’s goal was to get an understanding of the guys, their strengths and weaknesses, and help them with planting those seeds for goals for the upcoming series. That’s the sort of conversation we had today. And the guys did really well. I was blown away by how they went about things, how professional they were. So that’s a good sign and, hopefully, we can build on that.”It’s one thing to have talent and skill but how can you make those guys feel welcome in an intimidating environment… India playing in the blue shirt is a lot of expectations, so for me, having the experience, going through that, and passing that sort of knowledge and helping them settle in and feel at home [is important].””As soon as a player has that comfort and feel that they belong, that’s when the performance comes. So it’s about looking after that and … from there obviously upskill them and get them up to the standard.Talking about his appointment, Morkel said his dad was the first person he shared the news with.”It [the appointment] was quite a special moment for me. I enjoyed it for about five to seven minutes with myself and then obviously shared it with the family. The first thing did was to phone my dad first. I spoke to him about it. I didn’t go to my wife. Normally, they say go to your wife first. But I spoke to my dad.”I feel ready to take up this challenge. I understand and know that there will always be expectations of winning. Luckily, I have experienced that in my playing days and I can share that knowledge.”

Eleanor Threlkeld staged a superbly-judged knock of 69 not out as Thunder beat Western Storm by two runs on the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern Method in a rain-shortened Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy contest at Taunton’s Cooper Associates Ground.Thunder’s captain won the toss, elected to bat first and then led by example as the visitors raised 216 for 9 from 50 overs, Alice Clarke weighing in with 41 and Grace Johnson contributing a useful 23, their efforts representing atonement for three self-inflicted run outs in a rollercoaster innings.Making her final appearance of what has been a successful campaign in Storm colours, Australian international Amanda-Jade Wellington signed off with 2 for 28 from 10 overs, her leg breaks doing much to undermine northern progress during the middle overs. Restored to the attack, Mollie Robbins impressed with the new ball and again at the death to finish with 3 for 28, keeping things tight while her fellow seamers proved expensive.Required to score at four an over as the rain clouds gathered away to the south west, Storm appeared to be in control of their own destiny. Openers Emma Corney and Sophia Smale departed early on, but the experienced pair of Sophie Luff and Fran Wilson restored calm and were in a position to dictate terms.But the third wicket pair inexplicably failed to move their team ahead of the DLS requirement of 71 as the rain began to fall and, when umpires Mark Newell and Fiona Richards finally led the players off the field after 20 overs, Storm were 69 for 2 with Luff and Wilson unbeaten on 16 and 13 respectively.Needing to resume their innings if they were to register a second win in three days and move off the foot of the table, Storm were ultimately frustrated by the weather, the umpires deciding they had no option but to abandon the game at 4.42pm.When Storm last encountered Eve Jones, playing for Central Sparks on this ground two weeks earlier, they found themselves on the receiving end of a match-winning 130. No wonder Ellie Anderson celebrated when having the experienced opener caught at the wicket for 16 with the score on 26 after Thunder had won the toss. But the home side had to be patient thereafter as Clarke and Seren Smale staged a steadying partnership of 40 in 10 overs for the second wicket.Wellington entered the fray with the scoreboard on 66 for 1 and immediately made her presence felt, having Smale comprehensively stumped by Katie Jones for 18 and then accepting a straightforward return catch to send back Fi Morris for six. When she was not taking wickets herself, the Australian was spreading panic among the opposition, her reputation inducing muddled thinking and contributing to a trio of run outs that saw the visitors lose their way.Danielle Collins was run out by Fran Wilson’s throw from the deep, while Clarke was nine runs short of a maiden half century when she was run out in the act of backing up her captain as Thunder slipped to 102 for 5. Threlkeld pushed a ball from Wellington into the leg side and set off on a single, only for stop-start confusion to set in, allowing Emma Corney time to throw in to Jones, who completed a slapstick dismissal. It was a disappointing end to a workmanlike innings that had seen Blackburn-born left-hander Clarke graft her way to 41 from 78 balls.Panic reared it’s head once more when Wellington returned to bowl the 37th over. Having gone along nicely in accruing 23 in a stand of 43 with Threlkeld, Grace Johnson clipped a ball from Wellington behind square and was called through for a risky single by her captain.Corney’s pick-up and throw was precise and Johnson was still out of her ground when Wellington whipped the bails off. Darcey Carter then played on to the returning Robbins as the visitors further subsided to 149 for 7.Having been involved in two of the three run outs, Threlkeld no doubt felt it incumbent upon herself to make amends, the 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batter taking charge of affairs to claim a spirited unbeaten half century and ensure the tail wagged. Tara Norris played her part, contributing 11 runs in a partnership of 34 for the eighth wicket, before being caught at the wicket by Jones, standing up to Robbins, who then had Hannah Jones held by Luff at mid-on later in the same over on her way to season’s best figures.Thereafter, Sophie Morris faced 13 balls without scoring, surviving long enough for Threlkeld to reach her 50, Thunder’s skipper going to that landmark from 77 balls with a reverse sweep off Sophia Smale for her fourth boundary. Storm succumbed to pressure at the death, Anderson being removed from the attack after sending down two beamers and being replaced by Alex Griffiths in a final over that cost 17 runs as the last wicket pair raised an unbeaten alliance of 33.

Fourteen wickets fell on an attritional day two at the Kia Oval as Surrey edged themselves ahead against Essex in a top-of-the-table contest that could have a significant bearing on the destination of this year’s Vitality County Championship title.Division One leaders Surrey, resuming on 248 for eight, at least made sure of a batting bonus point before being bowled out for 262 but second-placed Essex, missing an ill Jordan Cox, were then dismissed for 180 in their own first innings.And, on a well-grassed pitch giving assistance to the quicker bowlers, Surrey then struggled to 44 for three in their second innings but still took their overall lead to an already handy 126.Only Paul Walter, who top-scored with 64, and Matt Critchley, with a determined 48, held up the Surrey seam attack for any length of time – but Jamie Porter, Shane Snater and Eathan Bosch all struck new-ball blows for Essex before bad light lopped 27 overs from the day’s allocation.Cox’s absence was particularly unfortunate for Essex, with the in-form 23-year-old – who has scored 763 championship runs at an average of 69.36 this season – reportedly needing to have an appendix operation after leaving the field yesterday feeling unwell.Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark took 3 for 40 and 3 for 33 respectively for Surrey, with Worrall chiefly responsible for Essex’s initial slide to 113 for five. Clark followed up his crucial early strike to remove former South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar for a 19-ball duck by later ending Walter’s combative 64 and finishing off the innings by having Bosch caught at mid on for 12.Walter, who struck Clark for six and also hit eight fours – several of them booming off drives – was eventually eighth out when he miscued a hook to deep square leg.Essex began badly with Nick Browne edging Worrall to third slip on 12 and fellow opener Elgar following in the next over when Jamie Smith held on again in the same position as the probing Clark found reward for his sustained accuracy with the new ball.Tom Westley made 11 before losing his off stump to a magnificent ball from James Taylor but Critchley and Walter then added 52 either side of lunch, with Critchley hooking Tom Lawes for six to go to 32.Worrall returned to remove Critchley with an outswinger prodded to second slip, and Worrall struck again when Michael Pepper (1) slashed straight to square cover.Simon Harmer offered some lower order resistance, pulling Taylor for four and then on-driving him next ball for another boundary, but on 16 was pinned leg-before by the same bowler.And Lawes, in his first appearance for two months due to a heel injury, looked more dangerous in his second spell and had Snater caught by Taylor at long leg for six.Tea was taken immediately after Clark wrapped up the Essex innings but Surrey then lost both openers in quick succession as Dom Sibley was bowled off stump for 11 by an absolute beauty from Porter and Rory Burns edged Snater to second slip to go for eight.Bad light first forced the players off at 5.09pm, with Surrey on 36 for two, and on a resumption at 5.37pm Dan Lawrence was adjudged lbw for 10 to Bosch, playing no stroke to one angled back into him.But only two overs were possible in this mini-session before more bad light drove the players off again at 5.51pm, umpires Peter Hartley and Graham Lloyd then waiting patiently for more than an hour until the light improved enough for a final four overs to be bowled from 7.02pm.At stumps at 7.17pm Smith had moved on to 11 not out, with Ben Foakes unbeaten on four and having already taken a blow on his right hand from a Porter lifter.