A rollocking second-wicket stand between Sol Budinger and Jake Weatherald was followed by a loss of impetus as Leicestershire gently subsided to 333 all out on the opening day against Essex.

The left-handed pair went off at a rate of knots, sharing 19 fours and three sixes, in a partnership of 125 from 22 overs that questioned Tom Westley’s decision to give them first crack on another Chelmsford wicket with plenty of grass left on it.

However, when both men departed either side of lunch, Weatherald for 61 from 77 balls, Budinger for 89 from 114, that earlier exuberance was not sustained and Essex grew into the game.

Apart from Stephen Eskinazi’s bright and breezy 50, no other Leicestershire batsman was able to dominate.

And with the exception of a wayward opening over, Wiaan Mulder was the pick of those Essex attack.

The South African all-rounder bowled with real menace and asked questions of the batsmen, particularly with deliveries that reared up outside off-stump, and fully deserved figures of 3-70.

Left with three overs to negotiate in the evening sunshine, Essex lost nightwatchman Sam Cook to the second delivery of the innings, nowhere near a fine delivery from Ian Holland.

Nightwatchman number two, Jamie Porter, was then sent in, though Dean Elgar needed little protection as he took successive boundaries off the Leicestershire captain as Essex reached stumps at 10-1.

The loss of Rishi Patel to Cook’s seventh ball of the day – caught behind off a tentative forward-defensive push – united Budinger and Weatherald, who took the game to Essex in a whirlwind of power hitting.

Weatherald was in such a rush that he brought up the 50 stand with five boundaries in eight balls, three of them in succession off Cook, who had earlier been flicked nonchalantly over square leg for six by Budinger.

Budinger added a second maximum over extra cover to the fourth ball from Simon Harmer to reach his half-century from 54 balls. Weatherald, meanwhile, treated Mulder’s first delivery with disdain, pulling it over the ropes at square leg.

His 50 was comparatively more sedate than Budinger’s, reached with a sharp single to mid-off from his 61st ball.

However, the ball after he was dropped by Cook from a straight skyer, he played on to Mulder via a painful blow to his elbow, which he gave a rueful rub to as he walked off before being despatched for an X-ray.

Holland was never comfortable and departed soon after lunch, trapped on his crease by Porter. And Essex wrested back the initiative to the point where Budinger scored just nine runs from the first 28 balls he faced after the interval before he drove Cook straight back down the pitch for four.

Budinger was finally beaten by a ball from Shane Snater that jagged in to peg back off-stump and Jonny Tattersall followed quickly, misjudging one from Mulder.

Eskinazi and Ben Cox opted largely for caution after three quick, post-lunch wickets, though Cox did scoop a six and a four off Porter and Cook respectively.

Even so, the whole tempo of the innings changed with 72 runs scored in the afternoon compared to 166 in the morning.

Immediately afterwards, however, Mulder claimed a third wicket when he beat Cox for pace. Ben Green followed Eskinazi in launching Matt Critchley for six over midwicket before he lobbed Snater to short midwicket.

And Eskinazi had just reached his fifty when Cook knocked back his off-stump with the new-ball.

The end was nigh when Ben Mike swished across the line to Porter and Snater completed figures of 3-59 when he bowled Josh Hull with a ball that was too good for a number 11.