Rees' half-century sees Glamorgan to a draw at Chelmsford

Essex may have held their end-of-season awards ceremony two nights ago, but there is one prize James Foster and his side have been seeking above all others, namely promotion into Division One. The weather during the past three days however may have played a decisive hand with the loss of 63 overs yesterday, plus 54 on the first day. This loss of playing time has frustrated the ambitions of the Essex side, and their only hope of winning this game now lay in some helter-skelter batting this morning to swiftly garner maximum bonus points and a first innings lead, before hoping that their bowlers could winkle out the Glamorgan batsmen after lunch.

Michael Hogan and John Glover duly resumed the bowling with the tempo remaining sedate as each both a probing line and length in their opening overs until, in the fifth over of the morning, Owais Shah on-drove Hogan for four. But in his next over the Australian was rewarded for his accuracy as Jaik Mickleburgh edged to Gareth Rees at first slip as he claimed his 97th victim in all cricket this summer.

256/3 saw Ravi Bopara join Shah, and the England all-rounder was soon into his stride as he clipped Glover through mid-wicket for four. Ruaidhri Smith then replaced Hogan at the Hayes Close End and was drilled through extra cover by Bopara. Smith nearly ended Shah's innings next over but Hogan could not quite grasp the miscued shot. The batsman celebrated his good fortune by despatching Glover through mid-off for four, before Bopara pulled him to the ropes at mid-wicket.

Will Bragg then replaced Glover as Bopara also miscued an off-drive shortly after the 300 had been reached as both batsmen looked to up the tempo with Shah clubbing Smith straight for four. He also showed a more deft touch by guiding the youngster to third man for another boundary. Dean Cosker then entered the fray in the 79th over and was swept for four by Bopara before Shah completed his century with a single against Bragg - his 147th delivery - as Essex went into the lead.

A deft dab to third man by Shah against Bragg followed by a lofted straight drive for four against Cosker saw Essex to the 350-mark and another bonus point before another sweep for four by Bopara saw him complete a 53-ball fifty. Smith then replaced Cosker and was drilled over long-off by Bopara for six and then hoisted to mid-wicket for four next ball as Essex raced towards the 400-mark and a likely lunchtime declaration.

But with the total on 386 Shah holed out at long-on s Rees claimed his second catch of the morning and Smith secured his first scalp of the innings. With James Foster joining Bopara, the latter pulled Bragg for six and four in successive deliveries before hoisting Smith for successive sixes, but attempting a third over extra cover he holed out to Murray Goodwin. Two deliveries later Graham Napier was caught at deep square-leg by Ben Wright off the last ball of the session. It also proved to be the last ball of the innings as during the lunch interval Essex declared.

After the flurry of 184 runs in the morning session, Essex declared on their lunchtime score of 424/6, giving them a lead of 102 runs and a minimum of 67 overs in which to attempt to dismiss Glamorgan for a second time. Gareth Rees and Will Bragg began though with few alarms with the former starting with a brace of two's, plus a pair of crisp cover drives against Reece Topley, whilst a fielding error saw the latter collect an all-run four.

After six overs of seam, Monty Panesar's left-arm spin was introduced at the River End whilst David Masters switched to the Hayes Close End. Rees greeted the twirler by sweeping him for four in successive balls - the first to an orthodox blow whilst the second came from a reverse-sweep. Another of the latter saw a third boundary to the last ball of the over, before Bragg clipped Masters to square-leg following by a rasping off-drive as Glamorgan eased to the 50-mark in the 10th over.

Rees' quixotic innings continued as he cheekily dabbed Masters between third and fourth slip before appearing to get a single off the back of his bat as he unfurled another reverse-sweep against the former England spinner. Bragg also punched a delivery from Panesar through extra cover for four before deftly leg-glancing Masters. Graham Napier then replaced Masters and was greeted by rees with a drive for three through extra-cover, and the southpaw continued - quite literally - to make hay as the sun shone by completing fifty from 59 balls.

But by the time he had reached fifty he had lost Bragg as his partner as with the score on 82 he had feathered an edge into foster's gloves in Napier's second over. Murray Goodwin duly joined Rees and opened his account by clipping Napier off his hips before driving Panesar though mid-off. He then brought up the hundred with a rasping pull for four against Napier as the veteran showed he is also in fine fettle ahead of the big day tomorrow at Lord's.

Resuming on 124/1 after tea, the dénouement to this rain-affected contest saw Gareth Rees and Murray Goodwin continue batting for a further hour as Essex strove to dislodge the second wicket pair. Reece Topley and Graham Napier bowled in tandem as a leg-glance by Goodwin off the latter brought up the fifty stand before Rees secured successive fours as he pulled and cut Napier, followed by another cut for four against Topley.

Goodwin added to his tally by square-driving Topley for four through the off-side , but Rees' valiant innings ended on 76 as he spliced a drive against Napier into the hands of Ben Foakes in the gully. Ben Wright duly joined Goodwin for the final twenty minutes and drilled a couple of off-drives against Napier before Goodwin cut Topley, with the game ending shortly before 4.30pm with Owais Shah delivering the final over.