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Chelmsford to host first day/night Championship match

The Essex County Ground will host a historic moment in County Championship during the 2017 as Essex welcome Middlesex for a day/night match in June.

Chelmsford was chosen along with nine other grounds to trial the match, which will all start on Monday 26 June and played with pink Dukes balls.

The announcement of a full round of floodlit four-day games breaks new ground for the County Championship, which has only featured one previous day/night match – a trial game between Kent and Glamorgan at Canterbury in 2011.

The move is designed to help broaden the audience for the four-day game and also give England players an opportunity to experience the conditions ahead of another slice of history later in the 2017 summer – Edgbaston hosting this country’s first ever day/night Test Match between England and West Indies (August 17-21).

It means that 10 of the 18 first-class counties will stage day/night fixtures with pink balls next summer, as West Indies will have their chance to prepare for the Investec Test Match at Edgbaston in a three-day match against Derbyshire from August 11-13.

“We were excited to announce a few weeks ago that Edgbaston will be staging an historic day/night Test, and it’s great that the counties, and the Specsavers County Championship, can also get involved,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive officer.

“It was important for us to arrange a full round of fixtures to give our England players the chance to experience the conditions. But just as we wanted to assess the impact of making Test cricket more accessible by changing the hours of play, the counties have really embraced the potential of Championship matches that stretch well into the evening when people have finished school or work.

“The early indications from Edgbaston are that day-night Test cricket is proving very popular, and hopefully it will be the same for the Specsavers County Championship now the fixtures are confirmed. There are some really attractive matches in the day/night round, and it will be fascinating to see how it works out.”

Watch this match along with all the Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup matches in 2017 by becoming a Members. Now on sale from just £160 for a full adult! More information – here.

 

County Championship & One-Day Cup fixtures released

Following the NatWest T20 Blast fixture release at 6pm, the full fixture list for the 2017 season is now available.

Chris Silverwood’s men will look to start the campaign well during the team’s foray in Division One and build on the Royal London One-Day Cup Quarter Final last season.

Essex will begin the Specsavers County Championship season by welcoming Lancashire to The Essex County Ground and will end the campaign with an exciting match against Yorkshire at Chelmsford.

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Ryan ten Doeschate will also lead his team at two picturesque opposition outgrounds with Essex facing Surrey at Guildford, beginning on 9 June, and travelling to Scarborough to face Yorkshire on 6 August.

Hampshire, Warwickshire, Middlesex and Somerset will be the other teams that make up Division One next season with some of the biggest counties in the country heading to the county next year.

The Eagles will also begin their Royal London One-Day Cup season with a home encounter against Hampshire.

Other enthralling prospects are welcoming Sussex to The E.C.G under lights and travelling to the Kia Oval to play local rivals Surrey.

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The Royal London One-Day Cup Final will take place on Saturday 1 July with The Eagles looking to improve on last year’s quarter-final appearance.

Further home games will take place against Gloucestershire and Middlesex while away games will be completed against Glamorgan, Somerset and Kent.

View the full fixtue list – here

Download the fixtures – here

Tickets will be available to purchase in the New Year but become an Essex Member in 2017 and take advantage of some great benefits. Available now online or by phone – 01245 254010.

 

Colchester Cricket Festival suspended for 2017

Essex County Cricket Club regret to announce that the Colchester Cricket Festival will not take place in 2017.

This does not signify the end of the Colchester Cricket Festival, and a decision will be made next year regarding this event during the 2018 season, which will largely depend on the fixture schedule.

The fixture schedule for 2017, compiled by the ECB, presents a three month period in the season where we have only one home Specsavers County Championship match taking place.

Club Chairman, John Faragher, expressed his disappointment in seeing the Festival suspended for the forthcoming season. However, he is confident that this decision has been made in the best interests of the Club’s Membership.

John said: “This was a very difficult decision to make, the Colchester Festival week has always been an integral part of the season, with players and Members always enjoying the experience of visiting Castle Park.

“However, the Club’s Committee decided that it was simply not acceptable to agree a fixture plan that would result in no Championship cricket at Chelmsford, for nearly three months in the middle of the summer. Going forward, we will review this decision and depending on the fixtures, hope to see Colchester back in the schedule for 2018”.

 

All Stars Cricket… The future of junior cricket

All Stars Cricket is a nationwide programme developed by the ECB and our Elite Coach Development team that aims to inspire 5 to 8 year olds to take up cricket and join your club!

All Stars Cricket enables children to acquire the skills to play the game and connects them to England cricket heroes.

Your club will be provided with everything you need to deliver an unique experience for kids and their parents.

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To find out more, register your interest and attend one of our information sessions in the New Year, which will be taking place in January and February!

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2017 NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures released

Essex Eagles will once again begin their NatWest T20 Blast season with an opening day fixture against rivals Surrey at The E.C.G.

The South Group will be made up of Essex, Surrey, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Kent, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Middlesex and will begin on Friday July 7 2017.

This years tournament will encompass all of July and August with Finals Day taking place on 2 September 2017 at Edgbaston.

Key fixtures to look out for are when Chris Silverwood’s men entertain Battle of the Bridge rivals Kent on 17 August and Middlesex travel to The E.C.G on 11 August.

The Eagles will also make exciting trips to Surrey on July 19 and round off the group stage with a trip to Sussex on 18 August.

Ashar Zaidi will also earmark July 27 as Essex Eagles travel to Middlesex where he famously scored 59 off 24 balls to seal a scintillating victory at Lord’s last year.

All in all the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast is set up to be another enthralling competition with The Eagles looking to build on reaching the quarter-final stages in 2016.

NatWest T20 Blast Ticket On Sale Dates:

Members can purchase tickets for the NatWest T20 Blast from Saturday 4 February (online) and Monday 6 February (all methods).

Season tickets and tickets will go on sale to ‘Over & Out!’ E-News subscribers on 1 March 2017.

Both will then go on general sale online on 18 March 2017 with tickets available to buy in all other methods on 20 March 2017.

Tickets Prices:

Tickets prices for all formats, including the Tourist match against West Indies will be available to view online from Monday 5 December, 10am.

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Youngsters set for Peshawar Zalmi Club World Cup

Three Essex Development cricketers will represent Team England early next year in the inaugural Peshawar Zalmi Club World Cup.

Peshawar Zalmi, who compete in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), announced last month that the club will be holding an international tournament with Peshawars from all over the world competing in the UAE in January, right before the start of the next PSL tournament.

Ten countries will be represented, including England. All the players selected for Team England are Peshawars from East London, including the three Essex Development cricketers, Zeeshan Khan, Rameez Rehman and Hamza Omar.

Khan said he was thrilled when he heard the news, “It was great feeling when I got selected and I feel really proud to be a part of this squad and represent Team England in the Peshawar Zalmi World Cup.”

He added, “Obviously my main goal will be to perform well there in Dubai because this is the great opportunity for me and for everyone who has been selected. I will be looking to work harder this winter to prepare myself well.”
For Rehman, selection was the realisation of a dream.

“I think everyone that plays cricket dreams to play for England,” he said. “So it’s a dream come true for me as it involves playing for Team England. My plans is to do the best I can for my team and hopefully get as far as we can in the tournament and come back winning the Club World Cup.”

Most of the other players on Team England play in the National Cricket League with Khan, Rehman and Omar. Six of them have also played in the Shepherd Neame Essex League: Usman Sahar (Wanstead & Woodford Wells), Irfan Sahar (Ilford), Mehad Khan (Wanstead), Waheed Khan (Wanstead), Sameem Shirzay (Wanstead) and Adil Ali (Ilford).

Performing well in the tournament comes with a special prize for the players. Peshewar Zalmi CEO Javed Afridi has arranged for the top players to train with the professional team during the PSL.

And Khan intends to put on the best performance that he can to impress the stars that will be arriving in Dubai for the PSL.

“It is a great chance to show our skills as there will be many big names and legends coming like Shahid Afridi, Darren Sammy, Javed Afridi and more,” Khan said.

Both Khan and Rehman expressed their gratitude towards Essex for helping them obtain the opportunity.

“Essex Development is a much higher league of cricket,” Rehman said. “This will help playing in big tournaments like this as I will be used to the intensity of the matches and training and won’t feel too much pressure playing.”

Khan added, “Essex really helped me to develop as a cricketer, the coaches were really great and supportive and I will look forward to joining Essex again next season if I get a chance.

“John Childs (former Essex Academy Director) really supported me and helped me to improve my spin bowling and batting. That training will definitely help me there in Dubai. Big thanks to East London Cricket Coordinator Arfan Akram for supporting and for introducing me to Essex, and also many thanks to Essex Head of Cricket Operations Dan Feist for supporting!”

Westley links up with England Lions in Dubai

Essex batsman Tom Westley has linked up with England Lions in Dubai in the past week looking to build on an impressive 2016 season.

The tour will include three 50-over matches against the United Arab Emirates at the ICC Academy and a three-day match against Afghanistan in Sharjah.

This winter’s tour will have a focus on both white ball and red ball cricket and Westley is certainly a man who can perform in all formats.

He scored 1217 Specsavers County Championship runs, 403 NatWest T20 Blast runs and 274 Royal London One-Day Cup runs throughout the season.

Westley’s off-spin has also become a more than useful asset which could easily be utilised on the dry pitches in the UAE.

2017 Fixtures released this week

Are you getting set for another entertaining summer of cricket? Find out Essex’s fixtures for the 2017 season this week as the dates for all three formats will be released!

Essex will be battling it out in Division One with the likes of Yorkshire, Middlesex and Warwickshire heading to the county for the Specsavers County Championship. The Royal London One-Day Cup will see Essex Eagles play 4 fixtures at home with a target to reach Lord’s for the competition’s finale.

Eagles supporter’s will be eagerly anticipating the NatWest T20 Blast fixtures with 7 certain sell-out fixtures at The E.C.G with the rivals Kent, Middlesex and Surrey amongst the teams visiting.

The 2017 NatWest T20 Blast fixtures will be released at 6pm on Thursday (24 November) with the Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup schedule available at midnight. These will be available via ‘Over & Out!’ e-news, https://http://essexcricket.org.uk/ and from the Club’s official Social Media accounts – Twitter | Facebook.

Sign up to ‘Over & Out!’ e-news to receive the fixtures straight to your inbox on Thursday. Sign up – here

 

2017 Membership On Sale Now

2017 Essex Cricket Membership is now on sale! There are a wide range of membership options available to purchase with something suited to everyone.

Having secured promotion to Division 1 last season, it is set to be another exciting season at The Essex County Ground with the top sides from around the country set to appear in Chelmsford. England Test players such as Joe Root & Jos Buttler among others are also expected to feature during the 2017 season.

With standard Adult Membership available from £160, including a wide range of benefits, why not purchase yours now and look forward to an action packed summer of cricket.

For more details including the different types of Membership available as well as pricing, please click here.