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Visiting captains will again be given the option of bowling first without a toss in both divisions of the Specsavers County Championship in 2017, after the ECB Board ratified a recommendation from the Cricket Committee to retain the playing condition for a second year.

The Cricket Committee – which included Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon, Leicestershire’s chief executive Wasim Khan and David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association – decided that it had succeeded in those objectives after studying a range of data comparing the 2016 season with what had gone before.

Key statistics included:

• 85% of matches went into a fourth day, compared to 74% in 2015 – the 2016 figure was the highest percentage since 2009;
• The average score for the second innings of a match was 343, well up from 290 in 2015, the highest in the last five years;
• A total of 10,094 overs of spin, compared to 8,643 in 2015 – the highest since 2011;
• A total of 843 wickets taken by spin in 2016, up from 752 in 2015;
• 50 out of 72 matches in Division One had a toss – meaning the visiting captain declined the option of bowling first without a toss.

Peter Wright, the chairman of the Cricket Committee, said: “In many ways the statistics merely reinforced the feeling we had been picking up around the game throughout the summer, that the experiment was working in beginning to rebalance the game.

“As we stressed when we introduced the new options for visiting captains, this was not all about spin. We wanted matches to last longer, and to become more thorough preparation for international cricket.

“That meant better, four-day pitches, which would mean bowlers had to work harder to take wickets, and would encourage a greater variety of bowling, whether spin in its various forms, genuine pace or reverse swing from more abrasive pitches.

“The significant increase in the number of matches that went into a fourth day therefore has to be welcomed, and the fact that the majority of visiting captains declined the option of bowling first is also a step in the right direction – especially when the statistics include a fair few from the early weeks of the season, when captains may have been conditioned to want to bowl first.”

Peter Such, the ECB’s Lead Spin Coach who was a leading advocate for the experiment, added: “Even after one season, I think we can already see that the change to the toss regulation has had a positive impact on spin bowling – from the number of overs bowled, and wickets taken.

“More encouraging has been the positive influence that some spinners had on the outcome of matches – spin contributed strongly to a number of wins and a number of young spin bowlers had the opportunity to bowl and learn from those much-needed matchplay overs.

“A number of these spin bowlers will be heading overseas on the various programmes under our International Pathway this winter to continue their development.

“I’m delighted that this positive and brave initiative is going to continue – it will take a while longer for the true impact to be seen in terms of further advancing spin bowling within our game.”

Essex CCC is delighted to announce that long-term partner Essex Auto Group has agreed to extend its partnership with the club and in the process become a Platinum Sponsor.

EAG has signed a three-year extension to its agreement which will see it partner with Essex CCC until 2019 at least.

The agreement will see EAG continue its sponsorship of the Essex Auto Group Graham Gooch Cricket Centre and digital communications with extensive branding around the ground.

Derek Bowden, Essex CCC Chief Executive, was thrilled to extend the partnership with EAG and said: “Essex Auto Group has been a valued partner of the club for many years and we are extremely pleased that it has been decided to extend and increase the partnership with our club. Hopefully going forward our relationship can continue to prosper and we see success for both parties.”

Philip Maskell, Chairman & M.D. of Essex Auto Group commented, “Essex Auto Group is delighted to continue its partnership with Essex Cricket Club with the recent agreement to extend our sponsorship for a further three years. Our profile and recognition has risen beyond our expectations.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with everyone connected with the club and our decision to extend to 2019 validates how partnerships can flourish when they collaborate, have mutual objectives and friendships develop.”

Apprentices continue to thrive on the Essex Cricket apprenticeship scheme with wide-ranging opportunities available.

The success of Essex not only lies on the pitch, with vast amounts of good work being done behind the scenes.

Club apprenticeships vary from sports coaching to business, and they lay the platform for young adults to go into higher education or jobs.

A number of the Essex first team squad went through the programme including Nick Browne and Aaron Beard.

Kelley Castle (Growth Apprentice), Bradley Donovan (Growth Apprentice) and Charlotte Read (Coach Core) are the latest three to be enrolled in the scheme.

Castle spoke to the official website and said: “The scheme is helping me achieve the qualifications to get into Loughborough University. I am currently doing a business administration apprenticeship and it is giving me the skills to achieve a university place.

“I am currently playing for Essex women and that was where I heard about the scheme. It is very laid-back and hopefully allows me to get into Loughborough. From there I am hoping to go on and play for England but if that doesn’t materialise then at least I have these skills to fall back on.”

Donovan added: “I have found the whole scheme really interesting and it has inspired me to pursue a career in coaching. I chose this scheme because I know the club and the set up here.

“I am involved in the disability team and I want to carry on with the wheelchair cricket section that me and Patrick Ward have set up. I want more clubs in Essex getting involved in disability sport and this scheme gives me the platform to achieve that.”

Read concluded: “The whole apprenticeship scheme is very flexible and enables me to balance my time between Volleyball England, Essex Cricket and college as well. I am putting into place the technical skills I have learnt on my college course into a practical environment and that can only be a good thing for me and those I am coaching.”

The ECB, the first-class counties and other key cricketing organisations including the new Kia Super League teams reaffirmed the game’s commitment to stay at the cutting edge of science and medicine at a two-day conference in Berkshire last week.

In an annual gathering that has become well-established over the last decade, the ECB have invited practitioners from around the game to convene and discuss best practice – this year including topics as varied as throwing and fast bowling to coping with bereavement and the importance of sleep.

Essex coaching staff in attendance included Physiotherapist Chris Clarke-Irons, Psychologist William Winstone and Strength and Conditioning coach Connor Browne.

“It’s as much about what the counties can learn from each other as from us, and we were delighted by the quality of presentations we received from counties this year,” said Raph Brandon, the ECB’s Head of Science and Medicine.

“We’ve honed in on the engine room of science and medicine in cricket. The game has every right to be proud of its record in innovation, and that is something we are determined to continue.

“At the end of a demanding summer it’s a big ask for people to commit to these two days, but we are convinced it’s a worthwhile exercise, and delivers benefits to counties, our England national teams and also this year the Kia Super League teams who were represented.”

Under three broad headings of development, innovation and monitoring and profiling, a total of around 100 delegates – who included doctors, psychologists, physios, strength and conditioning coaches, performance analysts, player development and welfare coaches, and nutritionists – were given the opportunity to pick and mix from a range of topics.

These included presentations on throwing performance and injury from Steve McCaig, one of the ECB’s physiotherapists who has also been working with several counties on a project relating to chronic pain.

Roy Barber, one of the ECB’s strength and conditioning specialists, shared his work on the physical characteristics of fast bowlers; Phil Scott, the England S&C coach, tackled power hitting; and Alex Tysoe, Surrey’s head physiotherapist who worked with the England Lions last winter, also addressed fast bowling, specifically the monitoring of the workload involved.

Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, provided an update on the Concussion and Helmet Review, and David Young, the ECB Lead for Performance Psychology, discussed a novel approach for helping players perform under pressure.

The Conference was launched by a presentation from Cheri D. Mah of the University of California’s Human Performance Center, addressing sleep as “The missing link in optimal performance”, drawing on the experiences of the Golden State Warriors guard Andre Igoudala, and the Olympic champion swimmer Erik Vendt.