Jack Haynes’ sterling unbeaten century put Nottinghamshire in complete control against Essex at the halfway point of the sides’ Rothesay County Championship clash in Chelmsford.
Haynes amassed a marathon 137 and was well backed up by contributions down the order - most noteworthily the 89 made by Haseeb Hameed and Fergus O’Neill’s 61.
It added up to see the dominant visitors to 457 all out, which was a crushing 273 runs ahead of Essex’s first innings total of 184.
Things then got even worse for the current Division One leaders as O’Neill then produced a rampant spell to take two wickets and reduce them to 13-2 at stumps, still 260 runs in arrears.
Haynes built on the foundation put in place by Hameed’s knock to remain not out after a tad over five hours at the crease, ultimately facing 206 deliveries and hitting 15 fours.
Such was the dominance of the Green and Golds, Simon Harmer’s first red-ball five-wicket haul for Essex since 2023 went under the radar completely.
It also came at a personal cost of 165 runs, in stark contrast to his Notts counterpart Liam Patterson-White’s standout day one effort of 6/43.
Notts were made to work for their runs in the morning under heavy, overcast skies, but it was a challenge they rose to as Haynes overcame the loss of Hameed to move to 48 before lunch.
It did take the visitors only until 10 minutes before lunch, with 66 overs completed, to overhaul Essex’s first-innings 184, and they eventually reached the break on 197-5.
From there, though, Haynes helped the tempo increase dramatically, twice reverse-sweeping Harmer to the vacant third boundary on his way to passing fifty for the sixth time this season.
Batting became easier as the clouds parted during the afternoon, as Haynes and Lyndon James put on 96 for the sixth wicket before Harmer had the latter lbw for a well-made 40.
Moments later, Haynes scampered for a quick single into the off side and was punching the air before reaching the non-striker’s end to celebrate a century from 144 balls.
Having replaced James at the other end, the flamboyant O’Neill was in no mood to hang around, launching Harmer over long-on for six and pulling Charlie Bennett for another.
He reached his own fifty from 44 balls with a seventh four, lofting down the ground off Matt Critchley, but his entertaining cameo was cut short on 61 when he was stumped by Michael Pepper.
Patterson-White followed O’Neill’s lead with four boundaries and a six in a 20-ball 25 before skying Harmer to short extra cover.
Brett Hutton fell off a top edge to Critchley, but it would be a further 64 balls before Harmer was able to remove Stone as the last wicket stand pushed Notts past 450.
The number 11 was on 30 before he was removed, having added 38 with Haynes, and the exhaustion of spending 126 overs in the field then took its toll on Essex as they returned to bat.
In six frenzied overs before the close, the hosts then lost Paul Walter to the third ball, bowled playing around one from O’Neill, and he then had nightwatcher Jamie Porter caught at third slip.
