Ryan Patel took three quick wickets as Essex declared on 508/8, with Essex batters Dean Elgar, Tom Westley and Matt Critchley scoring a century apiece
The former South African captain, batting ostensibly on one leg, led the way by posting 182, the highest of his four centuries for Essex this season during a stay at the crease that began on Thursday morning and ended 102 overs later on Saturday evening – five sessions having been wiped out by the weather on days one and two.
Elgar and Westley put on a record 253 in 59 overs to eclipse the 95-year-old best of 206 for the second wicket against Surrey. Elgar then piled further agony on by adding 168 for the third wicket with Critchley, who played freely for his 112 from 171 balls before Essex declared on 508-8.
Earlier, Westley had been in such explosive form that 106 of his 135 runs came in boundaries (25 fours, one six).
Essex require 17 points from the game to finish ahead of Somerset in third place on games won. They have already pocketed the maximum five for batting and now need to bowl Surrey out twice on the final day of the season. Surrey finished the penultimate day on 30 for the loss of captain Rory Burns, caught at point off Simon Harmer.
Under sunny skies, in contrast to the rain of the first two days, the third morning was only nine balls old when Elgar tweaked his left calf and required four minutes’ worth of treatment. He hobbled on manfully, picking the right moment to amble through for easy singles and the odd two but not contemplating anything too sharp.
With Elgar largely incapacitated, Westley moved to three-figures from 141 deliveries with three fours in five balls off Taylor, including one off the backfoot that rocketed past point.
Elgar watched the Westley show before finally driving Majid through the covers for a boundary of his own and then reaching his century from 169 balls, 28 slower than his partner.
Westley was finally out just after the partnership went past 250 when he picked out Tom Lawes on the long-leg boundary to give Yousef Majid a maiden first-class wicket.
Nowhere did the Elgar limp look more noticeable than the quick single to reach his 150 from 234 balls. He took Essex to 400 with his 19th four, an audacious uppercut off Lawes to the boundary backward of point, but fell when chipping Ryan Patel to short extra cover to spark a middle-order collapse.
Patel claimed three wickets in seven balls – and finished with 3-41 from 12 overs – when Luc Benkenstein played all around a slower ball and Paul Walter scooped to mid-on as Essex slipped from 425-2 to 433-5. Majid claimed his second wicket on debut when he had Adam Rossington lbw, but not before Essex had claimed all five batting points.
Critchley became the third centurion of the day when he pulled Ollie Sykes to square leg, but was the first of two late wickets for Taylor, holing out in the covers. Shane Snater was then bowled to bring about the declaration.
