Worcestershire 266 (D'Oliveira 68, Taylor 62*, Porter 5-52) and 2 for 0 trail Essex 404 (Pepper 112*, Westley 68) by 136 runs

The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had only passed fifty once before this summer, and his previous highest red-ball score of 92 came three years ago at Durham, but his unbeaten 125-ball 112 turned the tide in Essex's favour as they seek to end a run of three games without a win.

Before the game was effectively taken away from them, Brookes had been an unlikely terminator of Essex's serene second-wicket partnership that had put on 65 in 13 overs after the loss of Dean Elgar to the last ball of day one. Brookes had never taken a first-class wicket before he broke Robin Das's middle-stump with a bit of extra pace followed by a jubilant running leap into the air.

The 23-year-old seamer did not have long to wait for his second as Jordan Cox, released by England the day before to play for Essex, showed the first real attacking intent in his uncharacteristically obdurate 21-ball innings when he drove uppishly to short midwicket.

Brett D'Oliveira brought himself on for an over before lunch and with his third ball had Matt Critchley lunging forward before being rapped fatally on his front pad.

Westley settled into an innings that mixed abandon with caution before reaching his fifty from 95 balls. Early on he hit three fours in an over from Tom Taylor, two off his legs through midwicket and the third driven crisply through extra cover. Yet he managed only two more boundaries in reaching his fourth half-century of the season.

The Essex captain had put on 55 with Paul Walter when he received a delivery from Virdi that jumped up and caught the edge of his bat before ending in Gareth Roderick's gloves. Six balls later, Walter's forceful knock was over when he slashed Logan van Beek to slip the ball after chipping him over extra cover for his fifth four.

Brookes returned for a cameo in which he strangled Simon Harmer down legside to claim a third wicket in only his seventh over of the innings. The majority of the heavy lifting was done by the loaned-in pair Virdi and van Beek, who bowled nearly 60 of the 107.4 overs Essex faced.

Essex overtook Worcestershire's first-innings 266 soon after the new-ball had been taken and shortly before Pepper and Shane Snater chalked up their first fifty partnership in 12 overs - 22 runs coming in the first three overs of the new Kookaburra - their second fifty spanning a further 11 overs. At one point they needed just six overs to move from 300 to 350 as the tempo increased.

Pepper is renown for his 360-degree game and outrageous shots in the short form, but his most audacious effort was when he chopped Joe Leach over slip's head to the third-man boundary. The majority of his runs were orthodox shots, mainly between extra cover and cover points. Snater went past fifty from 73 balls with successive fours off van Beek but fell next ball when beaten for pace. Sam Cook batted freely before Virdi got one past his defences.

Pepper scampered a two off Brookes to reach three-figures from 116 balls and celebrated with a further 10 runs from the next three balls, including a six high over midwicket. Jamie Porter hung around long enough to see the centurion over the line before he was Virdi's third victim.