Essex Cricket would like to place on record its heartfelt thanks to First Team Scorer of two decades, Tony Choat, who retired from his role after his final match with the team this week against Middlesex.
Tony, who was born in Benfleet, just 16 miles from The Cloud County Ground, has scored 764 first-team matches since his debut in 2001.
He initially joined the Club as a steward in 1993, and three years after initially beginning to score games, he took on the first-team role full-time.
Tony’s first experience in a professional scorebox came in a pre-season encounter at Cambridge University which Essex won by 335 runs, before his maiden County Championship outing saw Sussex visit Castle Park in August 2003.
His final match against Middlesex will be his 299th in the first-class format, a total that includes two England Test matches, both at Lord’s, against the West Indies in 2009 and Sri Lanka in 2016.
He was also in the scorebox at the Home of Cricket for the most unforgettable of all World Cup finals, when the Three Lions defeated New Zealand on boundary countback after a super-over in 2019 to lift the trophy for the first time.
In the List A format, Tony’s CV includes a total of more than 200 matches, while he has been responsible for scoring 213 T20 clashes too, including two Vitality Blast finals.
Tony’s service to the Club has been extensive, and all at Essex wish him the very best as he moves on.
