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June was a hectic month for Chris Silverwood’s team as Essex were battling on three fronts in the Specsavers County Championship, Royal London One-Day Cup and NatWest T20 Blast.

Glamorgan v Essex Eagles | NatWest T20 Blast

After a disappointing opening NatWest T20 Blast result against Surrey, Essex traveled to Cardiff looking to kick-start their campaign and get back on track.

Much of the talk before the game was about the arrival of Dale Steyn as overseas for Glamorgan but he struggled to make the impact he would of liked on debut. The hosts batted first but could only post 140-6 from their 20 overs. Aneurin Donald top-scored for the Welsh side with 51 as wily spells from David Masters and Ravi Bopara kept them down to a chase able target.

Essex were never in trouble in reply and knocked off the runs three wickets down after 16.2 overs. Jesse Ryder and Tom Westley scored 42 and 41 respectively before Dan Lawrence and Ryan ten Doeschate scored 24 and 30 to take Silverwood’s team over the line.

Somerset v Essex Eagles | NatWest T20 Blast

Essex stayed on the road and travelled down to Taunton two days later for the next round of fixtures in the NatWest T20 Blast.

Chris Gayle was playing his first game in front of his home crowd and he didn’t dissapoint the sell-out ground scoring 49 from 23 balls as Somerset comfortably chased the 178 target.

Westley and ten Doeschate scored 40 and 47 while Ashar Zaidi contributed with some lusty blows to score 31 and help Essex set their target. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as James Allenby and Lewis Gregory saw Somerset over the line.

Hampshire v Essex | Royal London One-Day Cup

The Royal London One-Day Cup began with a trip to the Rose Bowl and Essex ran out three wicket winners.

Hampshire set a target of 310-4 with Adam Wheater, Tom Alsop and Liam Dawson scoring 90, 83 and 70 apiece. Matt Quinn was the best bowler for the Eagles taking two of the four wickets.

Essex reached their target with three balls to spare thanks to a stunning hundred from Tom Westley and a run-a-ball 71 from Jesse Ryder. Ashar Zaidi and James Foster contributed some quickfire runs down the order to see Chris Silverwood’s men over the line.

Sussex Sharks v Essex Eagles | Royal London One-Day Cup

The road trip continued, this time with a journey further along the coast against Sussex Sharks in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

The Eagles made it two wins from two after chasing Sussex’s 271 largely thanks to a stunning 100 from Jesse Ryder. Ryan ten Doeschate also contributed 48 and Nick Browne 44 as Essex reached their target with an over to spare.

Ed Joyce had scored 73 and Luke Wright and Ross Taylor 50 apiece in Sussex’s innings but their 271 wasn’t enough.

Essex Eagles v Middlesex | NatWest T20 Blast

Chris Silverwood’s team returned to NatWest T20 Blast action welcoming Middlesex to The E.C.G.

Eoin Morgan scored 59 not out including some lusty blows at the death to help Middlesex post 173-8 from their 20 overs.

Ryan ten Doeschate did his best in Essex’s response scoring 58 not out but he did not receive the support he needed from elsewhere as Middlesex ran out 17 run winners.

Essex Eagles v Somerset | Royal London One-Day Cup

June 12 saw a thrilling game at The E.C.G as it was rain affected and ended in a tie.

Adam Hose scored 77 and James Allenby 68 as Somerset set a target of 179-8 from their 29 overs.

If it wasn’t for an unbelievable knock of 75 from 50 balls from James Foster, Essex would of had no chance but he managed to secure a tie.

Essex Eagles v Kent Spitfires | Royal London One-Day Cup

Essex continued their excellent form in the Royal London One-Day Cup by comfortably beating local rivals Kent by five wickets.

Matt Coles scored a scintillating 91 off 52 balls for the Canterbury side to help them reach a total of 285 for 8 before Essex knocked the runs off five wickets down.

Ravi Bopara led his side home with 74 not out whilst Jesse Ryder score 50, Nick Browne 49 and Ryan ten Doeschate 45.

Essex Eagles v Gloucestershire | NatWest T20 Blast

Chris Silverwood’s team changed competition again and welcomed Gloucestershire to Chelmsford for a NatWest T20 Blast match.

It was a dissapointing evening for Essex as their target of 153 for 8 was easily chased down in 16.5 overs two wickets down. Michael Klinger continued his dominance of Essex bowlers with 78 off 49 balls.

Essex v Leicestershire | Specsavers County Championship 

Essex returned to Specsavers County Championship action and suffered a disappointing four wicket loss to Leicestershire.

Ryan ten Doeschate’s team scored a lowly 268 in their first innings before Leicestershire could only respond with 243.

But it was the third innings of the match that was crucial as Essex could only score 133 all out and Leicestershire reached their 158 run target with the loss of six wickets.

Essex Eagles v Hampshire | NatWest T20 Blast

Essex continued their resurgence in the NatWest T20 Blast after a comfortable five wicket win against Hampshire.

The south-coast side batted first and posted a target of 135 for 8, largely thanks to 34 from Michael Carberry and 26 from Liam Dawson.

In response Ashar Zaidi continued his rich vein of form in T20 cricket smashing 52 off 32 balls to help Essex over the line five wickets down.

Surrey v Essex Eagles | NatWest T20 Blast

The game train rolled on as the next day Essex travelled to The Oval for a NatWest T20 Blast match against Surrey.

It was arguably one of The Eagles best performances of the season as they restricted Surrey to 117 for 9 before knocking off the runs two wickets down.

Jesse Ryder scored a solid 52 not out and Bopara scored 36 not out to lead their team to victory.

It’s been a big week out here in Australia, because of the Melbourne Cup – even over here in Perth, where I’m spending the winter playing for the Wanneroo Districts Cricket Club.

They did their own Melbourne Cup day at the Ascot course which is the main one in the Perth area, with all the races from Melbourne on a big screen. I went down there with a few of the Wanneroo guys and met up with the other English lads who are out here – Tom Moores, Tom Abell and Aneurin Donald on the Pathway, and also my Essex team-mate Callum Taylor who’s playing for Mount Lawley.

It’s best not to talk about how I did on the racing. Just a lot of money spent. Callum was luckier – he always seems to be pretty lucky on that sort of stuff. But I think he’d spent all his winnings by the end of the night as well.

It’s important to get the balance right out here – we’re here to learn, and for the sake of our cricket. But at the same time after such a hectic summer we need to chill out a bit as well – I’ve had some time at the beach, a bit of shopping, coffees in the city with the boys, that sort of thing.

Fortunately the cricket has been going better than the racing for me so far.

We’ve had four matches in the Western Australia Premier Cricket competition since I arrived last month. The first two were one-day games on the same weekend – I started off with 44 against Rockingham-Mandurah on the Saturday, with the bonus of taking four wickets with the ball, and then made 83 the next day when we lost to Perth CC.

The next weekend we played Melville and I made 140 – I was chuffed with that, obviously. They had a couple of familiar faces in their team, Angus Robson from Leicestershire and also Adam Voges, who got me out.

Then last weekend we started a two-day match against Bayswater-Morley. We bowled them out for 133, and although we lost a couple of quick wickets to their opening bowler Nathan Rimmington, we’ll start the second day this weekend on 83 for two – I’m 36 not out, so fingers crossed I can get a few more.

The standard is decent, as people say. Roughly county second team, but with some gun players thrown in from Shield cricket, Big Bash or even internationals.

Mitchell Johnson is part of our club at Wanneroo, and he’s come down and trained three times since I’ve been here. He does some work with the young bowlers and he’s getting himself ready for the Big Bash – I’ve faced him a couple of times in the nets which has been good, but he hasn’t bowled off his full run or anything like that. It’s been pretty cool to meet him though – he’s a lovely guy.

As well as playing for our clubs, the ECB have sorted us out to have some one-to-one coaching with a guy called Noddy Holder, who is a very well-respected coach over here. He’s worked with big names like Justin Langer and Mike Hussey, and he’s also a Wanneroo boy. I’ve had six sessions with him now and he’s a good lad – keeps things pretty simple, fine tuning really. He’s got his own cricket centre, Revolution Sports, with nets and also a gym which we’re signed into, so we train there as well.

I’ve been to Australia once before, playing for Geelong in Victoria a couple of years ago, but this is my first time in Perth and I’m loving it. Nowhere is further than 20 minutes away so I’ve seen plenty of the other English lads out here, especially Callum.

I was planning to go to Sydney this winter but Graham Thorpe, who I’ve worked with through my time with England Under-19s, rang me up late in the summer to say there was the chance to come to Perth with the other three guys – Tom, Tom and Nye – to combine club cricket with the coaching with Noddy. You don’t turn down chances like that.

It was a great way to end a really enjoyable year with Essex, having the full year in the team in all formats, getting a few hundreds, and being part of a promotion-winning team. I even took a few wickets in the white-ball stuff.

It’s exciting to think I’ll be going back to play Division One cricket in the Championship. It’s been talked about a lot for the last few years that Essex have been underachievers, and last year it was a case of ‘why don’t we really knuckle down and do it?’ Ryan ten Doeschate was a big influence on that as captain, getting a real team spirit which we’d maybe lacked in the past. I get on really well with Tendo.

I’ll be back there soon enough for another big season, but for the moment I’m loving it out here.