Essex v Yorkshire
LV= Insurance County Championship
The Cloud County Ground
Thursday 05 – Sunday 08 May
11am start
10am gates
Essex fought back well to secure a thrilling draw against Northants last week. Paul Walter, playing in place of the injured Dan Lawrence, produced a mammoth effort in Essex’s second-innings scoring 93 and importantly soaking up 246 deliveries as Essex battled for points on the final day.
There were also valuable contributions from Matt Critchley (47), Adam Wheather (33*) and Feroze Khushi (30) as batted out the fourth and final day and took 10 points from the game.
Now all eyes turn to Yorkshire and the prospect of two former England Captains facing off at the Cloud County Ground.
Squad:
Essex welcomes the return of Adam Rossington who is available for selection after sitting out against his parent Club, Northamptonshire. He joins the otherwise unchanged squad in place of Adam Wheater.
The Opposition:
News in the run-up to this match has been dominated by the return of the now-former England Captain, Joe Root. He is widely tipped to make his first Yorkshire appearance of the season as he begins preparation for the New Zealand Test Series in June.
Yorkshire do, however, have a number of high-profile absences with overseas pace bowler Haris Rauf joining an absentee list that already includes Matthew Fisher (injured), Jonny Bairstow (IPL) and David Willey (IPL).
A strong start to the season sees Yorkshire sat 4th in Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship after three games, having one victory and two draws. They will, however, feel aggrieved to only have the one win to their name, having been in winning positions against both Northamptonshire and Kent.
Haris Rauf will travel with the Yorkshire squad as he continues his rehabilitation from a side injury. Ben Coad, on the other hand, has recovered from a groin injury and regains his place in the squad.
Yorkshire Squad: Dom Bess, Harry Brook, Ben Coad, Harry Duke (wk), George Hill, Dimuth Karunaratne, Tom Loten, Adam Lyth, Dawid Malan, Steven Patterson (c), Haris Rauf, Matthew Revis, Joe Root, Jordan Thompson.
Last time out:
It has been three years since the two sides last played in red-ball cricket, with the only fixture in-between times being last year’s Royal London Cup Play-Off which Essex won by 129 runs.
When the sides last met in the County Championship in July 2019, Essex were on their way to Division One success.
After winning the toss and batting, Yorkshire were reduced to 208 all out, thanks to five Simon Harmer wickets. Essex’s response was a good one, half-centuries from Tom Westley and Ryan ten Doeschate saw the side to 328 and a first-innings lead of 120.
Despite some effective lower-order hitting from Keshav Maharaj, who hit five sixes in his 85*, Yorkshire’s second-innings total of 211 left Essex with just 91 runs required for victory.
Essex completed an eight-wicket victory in just the 22nd over of the chase with Nick Browne and Dan Lawrence seeing the side home.
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.
