Twenty20 may have the razzmatazz and pyrotechnics, but you cannot beat Championship cricket for producing an enthralling contest with more twists and turns than a Blackpool rollercoaster. An action-packed third day of this enthralling contest was a perfect example of the county game at its best, starting with a morning session in which Essex dramatically nosedived, losing their last five wickets for nine runs in the space of 26 balls as Graham Wagg completed his first five-for of the summer.
The wickets continued to fall either side of lunch as Glamorgan slumped to 78/5 after Bragg and Cooke departed leg before to deliveries which torpedoed into their pads, and when Colin Ingram pulled a short ball straight into deep square-leg's hands, it looked as if Essex had come back into the match. But Mark Wallace and Wagg then counter-attacked in style as 200 runs were plundered during the afternoon session, leaving the visitors with a target of 364 in a minimum of 117 overs.
At the start of play, the equation for Essex was 313 from the remaining 96 overs, with the home attack missing David Lloyd who strained a hamstring whilst bowling on the second day. Michael Hogan and Graham Wagg resumed the bowling duties as teenager Daniel Lawrence and night-watchman Jamie Porter looked to frustrate the home side's victory ambitions. Both of the visiting batsmen played with freedom in the opening overs, with Porter nurdling Wagg to third man, before Lawrence on-drove and pulled successive balls from Hogan to the boundary boards.
Lawrence also played a rasping square-cut for four against Hogan before Porter also struck the Australian through point for three. Andrew Salter then entered the attack whilst Craig Meschede entered the fray at the Cathedral Road End. Porter passed his previous career-best score with an on-drive before square-cutting Meschede for four, although he edged Salter through the gaggle of close catchers on the leg-side as the hundred came up in the 34th over.
It was Salter who made the breakthrough as immediately after a drinks break, Lawrence lofted the off-spinner into Chris Cooke's hands on the mid-wicket boundary. James Foster began by edging Meschede through the slips for four but he then chipped a drive back to Salter as the Essex captain departed with his side on 130/4.
Hogan then returned and with his first delivery he bowled Porter as the night-watchman departed for a career-best 34. Ryan ten Doeschate then cut Salter for four - the first boundary off the spinner in 72 deliveries, and three balls later, Kishan Velani also cover drove him for four before doing the same to Hogan, whilst ten Doeschate also cut Salter for four shortly before lunch. In the closing over of the session, Rudolph at second slip dropped an edge from Velani's bat as Essex went to lunch on 158/5.