Essex v Northamptonshire
LV= Insurance County Championship
The Cloud County Ground
Thursday 28 April – Sunday 01 May
11am start
10am gates
After back-to-back away fixtures, Essex return to the Cloud County Ground and will be looking to bounce back after defeat against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Despite a spirited second-innings effort, bolstered by a brilliant Harmer 75*, a low first-innings score left Essex with a deficit of 217 runs which ultimately proved too many.
Essex’s opponents this week are Northamptonshire, a team which have scarred memories of Chelmsford after their record-breaking defeat in 2021.
Squad:
Essex will be without Dan Lawrence and Adam Rossington for this fixture. The former is still recovering from a hamstring injury he sustained against Warwickshire and Rossington is unavailable for selection against his parent county as per the conditions of his loan.
Feroze Khushi, fresh off a hundred in this week in the Second XI, enters the squad for the first time this season.
The Opposition:
Northamptonshire had a quiet red-ball season in 2021, winning five out of their 15 matches and finishing in 4th spot in Division Two.
They have, however, made a better start this season after rescueing draws from losing positions in each of their opening two games.
After being dismissed for 204 in the first-innings of their last game against Yorkshire, who then racked up 406-3, they batted for the best part of 120 overs to scrape the draw.
Their overseas opening bat, the New Zealander Will Young, faced 241 balls for his 96 and he was well supported by Rob Keogh and Lewis McManus who survived 265 balls between them.
Northamptonshire Squad: Ricardo Vasconcelos (c), Gareth Berg, Josh Cobb, Emilio Gay, Matt Kelly, Rob Keogh, Simon Kerrigan, Lewis McManus (wk), Luke Procter, Ben Sanderson, Tom Taylor, Will Young, Saif Zaib.
Last time out:
Northamptonshire fans won’t enjoy being reminded of the last time their team visited to Chelmsford.
In a game where the Essex bowlers ran riot, Northamptonshire were restricted to scores of 81 and 45 all out with only four batters reaching double figures across both innings; one of those being Essex loanee, Adam Rossington.
Sam Cook finished the match with scarcely believable figures of 10/41, while in the first-innings Jamie Porter took 4/31 and in the second, Shane Snater took 4/7.
The game was wrapped up early on the second-morning with less than 100 overs being bowled throughout the entire match, making it the shortest completed four-day County Championship match in history.
The win for Essex saw them finished top of Division Two in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
How To Watch:
Our Live Stream service will be available across all four days of this game from 10:30am, which also includes player stats, scorecards and clips throughout the day.
The broadcast can be accessed via the Essex Cricket Matchzone here.
