County Championship: Essex have day one advantage against Middlesex at Lord's

LV= County Championship Division One, Lord's (day one):Essex 162- 3: Lawrence 74*; Roland-Jones 2-42Middlesex: Still to beat /em>Scorecard

Lawrence, a man still on the fringes of the English selection despite a dismal 2022 Championship season where he averaged just 22.10, showed little of the much-vogue aggressive intent and survived a chance when 32 by reaching 74 not 162-3 before may the bad light and rain intervene for the last time.

He shared a stand on 121 with skipper Tom Westley, while it was hard work for local bowlers, new skipper Toby Roland-Jones the pick with 2- 42.

Opening day began as Andrew Strauss' high performance review was consigned to history.

Perhaps more relevant changes to the scoring system mean only five will be awarded for a tie and batting teams are now required to score 450, not 400 for max points.

Hope is for a more aggressive stick similar to the test of England is approaching, despite the season starting April 6 under gray skies at Lord's with rain in the air.

Eyes too were on the opening hitters, the accepted wisdom being that any vacancy in England is top of the list, assuming Jonny Bairstow isn't shoved into the role as soon as he returns from injury.

With Essex losing the draw and being inserted by Roland-Jones, such a canvas background mattered little to Sir Alastair Cook - a legend of another English era - while his opening partner Nick Browne is unlikely to be on the radar.

Nevertheless, the pair got along well from the start, despite the gloom, but that had more to do with the friendly offerings served by Roland- Jones and Tim Murtag...