Chelmsford

(Day one of four, Essex won toss)

Middlesex have scored 263-7, Strauss 88, Joyce 66, Middlebrook 5-59.

Morning

A green, well-grassed pitch persuaded Essex to bowl first after winning the toss on a cloudless morning. Their pace bowlers did not, however, get the movement off the seam that Mark Pettini, the captain, would have hoped for. Nor was there much swing.

Andrew Strauss and Billy Godleman batted without undue alarm through until five minutes before lunch was taken, by which time they had added 85 in 27 overs.

James Middlebrook, the Essex off-spinner, made the breakthrough when he had Godleman caught behind trying to cut a ball that was a little too close to off stump.

In his next over, Middlebrook dismissed Ed Smith for a duck when the Middlesex captain poked at a ball outside off stump and was well caught low at slip. Strauss reached his 50 off 98 balls with five fours.

Afternoon

As the ball got softer, making any further breakthroughs proved very difficult for Essex, who had to be content with a single wicket in the afternoon session. That came in the 59th over, 30 overs and 103 runs after the previous wicket, when Andrew Strauss was dismissed for 88 from 177 balls with 10 fours.

In this, his last match before the first Test against New Zealand next week, Strauss got exactly what he needed – time in the middle even if what was his first 50 of the season in the Championship was not completely convincing.

He became a third victim of the day for James Middlebrook when, trying to cut an off-break delivered from round the wicket, he was surprised by extra bounce and well taken at the wicket by James Foster. At the other end Ed Joyce advanced to his own 50 from 101 balls with eight fours, steering the Londoners to a satisfactory 199 for three from 64 overs at tea.

Evening

Middlebrook continued to bowl his off-spin beautifully, combining immaculate control with some intelligent variation to get David Nash and Tim Murthagh caught at short leg, giving him his first five-wicket haul in the County Championship for four years.

The Yorkshireman, who turns 31 next week, still harbours England ambitions, and on this form is the equal of any other off-spinner in the country. When you throw in his more than useful batting and fielding, together with a positive influence in the dressing room, his value is clear. Last year, he was Essex's only ever-present bowler in the County Championship.

Essex claimed two further wickets to put the match in the balance.