NICK Browne and Ravi Bopara posted their highest scores in the County Championship this season and combined in a fourth-wicket stand of 127 to underpin Essex’s innings on the first day at Chelmsford.

Browne batted for five hours and 12 minutes in grinding out a 244-ball 84, while Bopara gave his partner a 160-minute lead and was within 13 runs of him when Browne departed. They were together for 42 overs in the middle of a cloudless day.

Browne’s innings was lulls punctuated by the occasional outburst and beat his previous highest score this season, the 77 he scored in the second innings against Surrey 10 days ago.

Bopara’s knock was of outbursts punctuated by the occasional lull. He finished the day unbeaten on 84, 20 runs ahead of the 64 he recorded in the first innings at Guildford.

That Essex managed just 263/5 from a full 96-over day highlights what a day for painstaking run-scoring it was.

A measure of just how slow the day was can be seen by when milestones were reached: the first fifty came up in the 23rd over, 100 in the 46th and 150 in the 59th.

The new-ball was taken after 80 overs with the score on just 217/3.

Rikki Clarke took two quick wickets with the second cherry to peg Essex back at a time when they threatened to build a huge total and inflect Warwickshire’s fourth innings defeat of the season.

Essex elected to bat on the same strip on which 743 runs, for the loss of 10 wickets, were scored in the One-Day Cup semi-final on Friday.

It was slightly different on a soporific first hour and a half before Jeetan Patel was introduced at the Hayes Close End.

With the final ball of his third over, he had Alastair Cook thrusting a leg down the wicket to kill the spin before being rapped on the pad to end a first-wicket stand of 60.

Cook had been the more forthright of the openers – Nick Browne took 47 balls to reach double-figures – and got the scoreboard moving from the 23rd ball of the day with a glorious off-drive for four.

When he was out for 39 from 64 balls, he had added another three boundaries.

Tom Westley had just swept Patel for four when he played forward and got a decisive edge to be held at slip by Rikki Clarke.

Browne was almost added to Patel’s scalps soon after lunch when the ball dollied off a forward prod and just eluded Sam Hain at short leg.

Then Boyd Rankin had Varun Chopra inexplicably leaving alone a straight-ish delivery to be bowled.

Bopara went after Patel when he returned, taking two steps down the wicket and depositing the ball over the bowler’s head for six. He collected a two from a paddle-sweep and a four, handsomely driven through the covers.

Browne went to his 50 from 161 balls with a three carved through midwicket off Patel.

His first real show of aggression came 220 balls into his innings when he took several strides down the pitch and smashed Patel through mid-on for his sixth four.

Browne’s seventh boundary, driven through the covers off Sunny Singh, brought up the 100 partnership in 35 overs. Next ball, he swept another four to bring up Essex’s 200 in the 77th over. Bopara then took advantage of a full-toss by Singh to go past his previous highest County Championship score of the season.

After his marathon effort, Browne’s innings finally ended when he was beaten for pace by Clarke and was bowled. Clarke claimed a second victim in quick succession when he had Ryan ten Doeschate almost doubled up by one that came back to leave him lbw for four.