Essex County Cricket Club can today confirm the termination of Adam Zampa’s and Moises Henriques’ contracts for this year’s Vitality Blast campaign by mutual consent.

Zampa was due at The Cloudfm County Ground for his third stint with the Eagles, having played an important role in the side’s success last year, whilst Henriques had signed up for his first spell with Simon Harmer’s side.

Derek Bowden, Chief Executive at Essex Cricket, said: “The last few months have been extremely difficult and whilst we prepare for a shortened domestic season, there are still uncertainties and restrictions which means this is the most sensible decision going forward.

“It’s a shame as Adam is a fan favourite at Chelmsford and a popular member of the dressing room, whilst we also feel that we had recruited well by bringing in Moises. However, but we still believe we have a squad that is more than capable of defending the title.

“I would like to thank Adam, Moises and their representative teams for their understanding of the current situation and the impact it’s having on the game.”

Essex’s Overseas signings are in partnership with Seven Investment Management, the Eagles’ Vitality Blast shirt sponsor.

No one was more relieved than Essex opener Nick Browne when the ECB announced that the delayed 2020 season would include a mix of red and white-ball cricket.

One of the alternative plans for the mini-season that begins on August 1 was for solely one-day matches, and Browne’s more patient approach has not been seen in the 50-over format for three years or in the helter-skelter of T20 since 2016.

He admits: “Yes, I was relieved. I really thought they were just going to do T20s and 50 overs. I thought on the financial side it probably made sense. But obviously I love four-day cricket, I love playing it, so I’m happy.

“But I would have tried to play both [white-ball] formats. You’ve got to try and adapt, haven’t you, to get some kind of cricket in. Now I’ve got these five [red-ball] games to play and then I’ll try and get into the T20 team!

“There might be an opportunity this year, you never know. If Dan Lawrence is still away with England; we don’t know if Cameron Delport will make it over from South Africa, and we’ve obviously lost Ravi, so that’s three batting spots available!”

The 29-year-old left-hander, back in training for the past fortnight, has not visited the middle since Essex clinched the Specsavers County Championship title at Taunton last September. “It’s the longest since I was probably 15 that I haven’t picked up a bat,” he says.

“It felt a bit strange putting the gear on when we went back, but once you’ve faced a couple of balls you’re back into it. It’s amazing how quickly you pick it up again, how quickly your eyes pick up the ball and your feet move to it.

“Mind you, it takes me a bit longer than some of the more talented boys, I must say. Someone like Adam Wheater, Dan Lawrence or Tom Westley can just walk into a net and hit everything out of the middle straight away.”

Essex were midway through their pre-season training camp in Abu Dhabi when the coronavirus pandemic struck, with Browne saying: “To have put so much work in and then it doesn’t happen, that’s the frustrating bit.”

“You’ve trained really hard on your fitness for three or four months after Christmas and you’re good to go. Also, for us, we’d just won the title, we were on a roll and wanted to make hay while the sun’s shining, keep winning competitions. We felt like we could have won it again this year. But, yeah, it’s one of those things. The boys are really excited to get going.”

With a maximum of a dozen red-ball innings available, Browne has had to readjust his season’s target. He said: “Over the years my goal has always been to score 1,000 runs. It’ll be tough to do that this year! Obviously, you want to score hundreds and maybe something in the 300-400 range would be nice.

“What we’ve done quite well at Chelmsford the last few years is, because they’ve been results wickets, us batters have tried to pride ourselves on out-scoring the opposition and not looking too much at your own average. It’s more about what the average was for the game, if that makes sense.

“Anthony McGrath [the Head Coach] has done really well with instilling that into us. Rather than worrying, ‘Oh, I’m only averaging 20 at home’, try and see that you’re doing well compared to the average of the other top six or the opposition top six. It’s a better way of looking at it and puts a positive spin on things. I think if I can look at an average above 40 then I’d probably take that.”

Essex will travel to Canterbury to play Kent in a two-day behind-closed-doors warm-up match prior to the beginning of the 2020 domestic season.

The match is scheduled for 27-28 July and is expected to consist of a bowling day and a batting day per team, with both sides looking for match practice ahead of the Bob Willis Trophy fixtures.

Essex Cricket Head Coach, Anthony McGrath, said: “All the lads are looking forward the season starting and getting back out on the field again.

“We’ve been training for a few weeks now and the players are looking good, and this friendly against Kent will give the guys a chance to play in matchday scenarios against a tough opposition.

“It will be strange playing with no fans, especially as we’re lucky at Essex to have some of the best and most dedicated supporters in the country.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing at Chelmsford, up at Headingley or down at Taunton, you know the Essex fans will travel in big numbers to back the team. That support helped us get over the line on plenty of occasions last season, so we’re certainly going to miss them.”

Our latest Through The Essex Ages looked back at the 1980s and a squad which brought years of success to the Club following a first County Championship title in 1979.

We were joined by 6 legends of the Club who all played their part in creating a fantastic team which dominated County Cricket through the decade.

You can now watch and enjoy the episode alongside Ray East, John Lever, David Acfield, Derek Pringle, Graham Gooch and Ken McEwan, who joined us from his home in South Africa.

Our next Members’ ‘Through The Essex Ages’ Q&A takes us back to the 1990s as the Club continued the success from the previous decade.

The panel includes three players who were major parts of this success as we welcome Paul Prichard, Mark Ilott, Peter Such and Stuart Law to look back at another special period in the Club’s history.

The 1990s saw the Club secure a fifth and sixth County Championship title and this will be an opportunity to look back on the decade in more detail saw six major honours head to the Club during a ‘golden era’ and we’re delighted to get this group of legends back together for our Members and supporters to enjoy.

Thank you to Cloudfm who are supporting this series of Q&A events and to all the Members who logged on to join our panel last week for the 1980s.

‘Through The Essex Ages’ takes place every Tuesday at 6pm with a panel of esteemed guests each week. Members can join us live for free over the Zoom conferencing platform with a unique link emailed prior to each event. Please get in touch with the Club by email ([email protected]) if you are a Member but not receiving emails or experiencing difficulties logging on.

It’s that time of the week when you have the chance to test your Essex knowledge!

This week we’re looking at T20 cricket, and in particular our highest wicket partnerships. You’ve got 6 minutes this time and make sure you share your score with us afterwards via our social media channels on Twitter and Facebook.

Look out for our latest quiz each week, as well as a choice of new content available soon across the Essex Cricket platforms, including classic matches, interviews and competitions.

All 18 First-Class Counties have agreed to participate in the same competitive red-ball and white-ball competitions during this summer’s shortened men’s domestic season.

The season will commence with a four-day competition which will enable all 18 First-Class Counties to compete for the Bob Willis Trophy. This will be followed by a shortened Vitality Blast competition starting on 27 August.

ECB Managing Director of County Cricket, Neil Snowball, said: “The enforced break due to COVID-19 has provided a challenging period for the county game during which time the 18 First-Class Counties have been united with a common goal to get back to our core function of playing cricket.

“The commitment of the Chairs and Chief Executives of the First-Class Counties to work together to achieve that ambition has been resolute and we will remain in close discussion as we continue to assess risk factors that need to be mitigated in order to ensure the safety and welfare of their players, coaches and staff.

“We are all delighted that agreement has been reached across the game and we are now in a position to look forward to and prepare for a new men’s domestic season starting on August 1.”