Essex were 94-2 at stumps in their second innings, still 116 runs behind.Essex had looked like reaching the close with 10 wickets in hand but Westley was spectacularly caught by Northants skipper Stephen Peters at mid-wicket off Willey and Ben Foakes then edged Copeland to wicketkeeper Murphy, ending a miserable day for the visitors. However, the home side's tail-enders had other ideas.It had looked as if the sides would be evenly placed after the first innings as Napier had Rob Newton (35) caught behind with the first ball of the day before dismissing James Middlebrook and David Murphy with less than an hour played on day two.Crook and Willey clobbered 111 from just 82 balls, provoking Essex skipper James Foster to throw on part-time spinner Tom Westley, but it brought no breakthrough.But the show was soon stolen as Crook shared century stands with Willey (76) and then Copeland (70) before the latter was dismissed, leaving Northants one run shy of maximum batting points.Willey was eventually caught at deep fine-leg before Copeland continued the show to give Northants a huge first innings lead of 216.
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