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Will Buttleman was three years old when Sir Alastair Cook made his List A debut for Essex – 18 years on and he’s opening the Eagles’ batting with him in the Royal London Cup.

Chelmsford native Buttleman, 21, first remembers hearing about Cook, 36, after his double-century for Essex against Australia during the 2005 Ashes summer.

He then watched in awe from The Cloudfm County Ground stands whenever Cook returned from international duty, before rising through the county’s academy to eventually stroll out alongside him.

“I went to most T20s and 50-over games when I was younger and a bit of championship too when I was allowed outside of school,” Buttleman said. “I vividly remember watching him play. That’s why I find opening with him so cool.

“He’s had a lot of opening partners through his career so it is quite surreal and an honour. He is the best in the business and hopefully, we can have some big partnerships and I’ll learn a lot from him.

“We have opened together twice now so I am still getting used to it but batting for 20 or 30 overs with him would be a cool experience.”

Having a 22-yard view of one of the sport’s greats is one thing, but having his unmatched wealth of experience and advice on tap is another.

“I probably ask him too many questions!” Buttleman laughed. “I can ask him anything I want. It isn’t just about what he thinks but also things from people he’s been around throughout his career – he can talk about them and how they played.

“The mental side is his strength and that is probably the area I can most improve as well. I maybe lost a bit of concentration in the last game and I need to be hungrier. I need to concentrate on every ball, take them as they come and let it happen.

“I need to listen to ‘Cooky’ when I’m out there and see what he thinks. He is probably the best man ever to listen to about scoring big runs.”

Buttleman has had a breakthrough season at the Eagles, making his Vitality Blast debut, collecting a first professional fifty and now being entrusted at the top of the order in the 50-over competition.

His enterprising 23 against Middlesex, part of a half-century stand with Cook, hinted that he is on the cusp of making significant contributions.

“I feel like 50-overs is my best format. I feel it is a good opportunity to score big runs and to be able to do it in first-team cricket would be ideal,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said. “I’m training harder than ever. I’m doing extra hours and hitting as many balls as I can.

“I really want to cement my place in the team and win games of cricket. I’ve played a handful of games now and had a lot of starts and now I want to make some big scores to help the team.”

It has, however, been a frustrating season so far for Essex. They failed to reach Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship, thereby ending their defence of that title and the Bob Willis Trophy, while a lack of consistency saw them miss out on the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.

But having won their opening two Royal London Cup fixtures – plus only losing Dan Lawrence and Sam Cook for the competition – the Eagles have high hopes of claiming a fifth trophy in five seasons.

Buttleman said: “We want to keep winning. It is a big opportunity for us to get some silverware.

“We were really disappointed with our T20 competition. We had a lot of inexperience in our side but we felt there were 50-50 games which we should have won.

“We have a nice balance to our 50-over side, and the games so far have shown how much we have matured.”

The Royal London Cup makes its welcomed return to the domestic schedule on Thursday following a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Somerset are the defending champions after they defeated Hampshire at Lord’s in 2019 with Trent Bridge set to host the showpiece decider in August this year.

Here are all the details you need to know about this season’s 50-over white-ball competition.

When does the Royal London Cup start?

The tournament will begin on 22 July with Essex Eagles taking on Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in Group A.

What is the format of the competition this summer?

The 18 First-Class counties have been randomly drawn into two groups of nine teams.

Each county will play eight group-stage matches – four at home and four away – with the top three counties in each group progressing to the knockout stages.

The format for the knockout stages are:

• Quarter-finals – 14 August (hosted by second-placed counties)

• Group A Second-placed county v Group B Third-placed county

• Group B Second-placed county v Group A Third-placed county

• Semi-finals – 17 August (hosted by group winners)

• Group A winner v Quarter-final winner

• Group B winner v Quarter-final winner

The winners of the semi-final progress to the Royal London Cup final at Trent Bridge on 19 August.

Which counties are in each group?

• Group A: Essex, Worcestershire, Sussex, Middlesex, Kent, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire.

• Group B: Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Yorkshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset.

The groups for the Royal London Cup were randomly drawn. The order that they were drawn appears in the above list and has determined the home and away ties.

Example: The first team in the Group will play at home to the second, third, fourth and fifth teams drawn, and away to sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. This continues – another example is the team drawn seventh; this team will play at home to teams drawn eighth, ninth, first, second, and away to teams drawn third, fourth, fifth, sixth.

How can I watch and follow the competition?

All Essex Eagles home matches will be streamed lived via the Essex Cricket Matchzone found at essexcricket.org.uk or on the Club’s official Essex Cricket TV YouTube channel – here.

Our host counties for away games will also be streaming the games live and these can be found on the Essex Cricket Matchzone.

Can I buy tickets to the matches?

Tickets for all Essex Eagles home games in the Royal London Cup are on sale now and selling fast and the opening match at The Cloudfm County Ground against Middlesex on Sunday 25 July is now sold out.

The health and safety of anyone attending matches this summer will remain the priority of the ECB and the First-Class Counties.

We continue to work closely with Government, and other sports, as we plan ways we can safely welcome supporters back to venues across England and Wales this summer.

Should the attendance of supporters at a Royal London match be affected by COVID-19 restrictions, each host venue will have its own communicated ticket refund and rollback policy.

Hampshire v Essex Eagles

Royal London Cup
The Ageas Bowl
Thursday 22 July
11am start

Essex Eagles commence their Royal London Cup season on Thursday with a trip to the South Coast to face Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl, with the fixture scheduled to start at 11am.

Hopes of silverware for the Club this season now rest with the Royal London Cup, after two disappointing campaigns in both the LV= Insurance County Championship and Vitality Blast.

The 50-over tournament returns to the domestic calendar this season having been cancelled last year due to the restricted season brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Squad:

McGrath’s View:

Eagles Head Coach Anthony McGrath is delighted to see the return of 50-over cricket.

He said: “It’s a competition that I’ve always been delighted to be involved with and I know the players all enjoy it.

“It’s being played alongside The Hundred which means a number of players will be away from their sides but that offers other players the opportunity to come in and show what they can do.

“We are all disappointed that we now won’t be able to challenge for the County Championship title this year and equally, the T20 tournament proved hugely frustrating, so the 50-over competition offers us an opportunity to win a major trophy this year.

“The first challenge is of course to make the next stage but we want to finish top of our group because that would take us into the semi-final and a guaranteed home tie.

“So, we will be taking it very seriously and putting out our best available team.”

The Opposition:

Hampshire have several key players involved in cricket’s latest tournament and will be without D’Arcy Short, Mason Crane, Chris Wood, Liam Dawson and James Vince.

However, their involvement elsewhere does offer some young up-and-coming hopefuls their opportunity in the Royal London Cup with Hampshire expected to include highly promising quartet, all-rounder Scott Currie and batters Tom Prest, Fletcha Middleton and Tony Albert.

The two sides have met on 70 occasions in List A cricket with Essex successful in 32 matches, Hampshire triumphant in 35 whilst 3 matches ended as no results.

How to Watch:

There will be a Live Stream service from The Ageas Bowl which will be broadcasting ahead of play from 11am via the Essex Cricket Matchzone. The stream will also be available via the Hampshire Cricket YouTube Channel.

Access via the Essex Cricket Matchzone is available here.

Essex Eagles v Middlesex

Vitality Blast
The Cloudfm County Ground
Sunday 18 July
2pm start

Essex Eagles entertain Middlesex at The Cloudfm County Ground in their final Vitality Blast fixture in what has been a disappointing T20 campaign for the home side.

Defeat by Hampshire Hawks on Friday ensured that the Eagles were unable to reach the quarter-final stages of the competition for the second year in succession having won the trophy in 2019.

Their record this term in the tournament is 5 wins and 7 defeats, with 1 game washed out.

Middlesex too have struggled and are also only playing for pride on Sunday. They currently prop up the South Group with just 3 wins from their 13 matches.

Squad:

Harmer’s View:

Following the Eagles defeat by Hampshire Hawks on Friday, skipper Simon Harmer pulled no punches in his assessment of the latest defeat and the Eagles T20 season overall.

He said: “We put ourselves into a strong position in the match but couldn’t see it through which is very disappointing.

“It’s been a disappointing competition for us from start to finish.

“There were glimmers of hope there for us but I think as a whole, we haven’t been good enough. Our skills haven’t been good enough and so we have only ourselves to blame. we need to find ways to get better, there are lots of opportunities flying around but it just hasn’t been our tournament.

“Yes, it’s a tough group but we can look back and reflect that we could and should have been achieving a lot better than we have. It’s something that we will discuss in-depth later.

“Meanwhile, we have our final game on Sunday and even though the competition is over for ourselves, we have to go into that game with Middlesex with the right attitude and put on a professional performance.”

Opposition:

Middlesex will be without top-scorer Stephen Eskinazi on Sunday who suffered a torn groin muscle this week when batting against Leicestershire in the County Championship whilst Eoin Morgan is away leading England in their T20 series with Pakistan.

However wicket-keeper batsman John Simpson returns to the side having played in all 3 of England ODI’s against Pakistan.

Paceman Steven Finn captains a side that has plenty of bowling options. Seamer Tom Helm, also a member of the England ODI squad v Pakistan, is joined by Blake Cullen, Daryl Mitchell, Martin Andersson whilst the visitors could also field Nathan Sowter, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Luke Hollman to present a three-man spin attack.

In their latest match when playing against Kent Spitfires on Friday night, Middlesex suffered a heavy defeat when they were bowled out for 80 after their opponents had scored 157-8. Top-scorer for the beaten side was last man Mujeeb Ur Rahman who contributed 13 whilst the only other batsmen to post double figures were Varun Chopra and Helm, who both scored 12.

Head to Head:

Despite the lowly positions of the teams, there was an exciting clash when they met at Lord’s last month. Stephen Eskinazi carried his bat for 102 out of 183-2, but Dan Lawrence (59), Michael Pepper (43) and Jimmy Neesham (30) appeared to have put the Eagles on the road to a comfortable victory.

At the start of the 18th over, they needed 16 with 7 wickets in hand. Then with the total on 170-3, the innings imploded as the Eagles lost 5 wickets in 10 balls for 9 runs as nerves took over.

But skipper Simon Harmer remained clear-headed and struck the winning boundary from the only ball he faced to see the Eagles to victory off the final scheduled delivery of the match and with 2 wickets to spare.

How to Watch:

There will be a Live Stream service from The Cloudfm County Ground which will be broadcasting ahead of play from 2pm via Essex Cricket Matchzone. The stream will also be available via the Essex Cricket YouTube Channel.

Access via the Essex Cricket Matchzone is available here.

Essex return to red-ball action when they meet Derbyshire at Derby in an LV= Insurance County Championship contest that commences on Sunday.

It is their 10th and final match in their qualifying group as they seek to finish with a top-two placing. That would secure a place in Division One for the remaining four matches of the season enabling them to challenge for the Championship title.

They are currently in fourth place with 118 points, 19 behind leaders Nottinghamshire and 13 adrift of second-place Warwickshire. Durham are third with 122 points. Elsewhere in this round of matches, Durham meet Notts and Worcestershire entertain Warwickshire.

With Anthony McGrath temporarily drafted into the England coaching set-up for the series with Pakistan, Assistant Head Coach & Bowling Coach Andre Nel takes charge of a squad that includes New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham.

The 30-year-old Kiwi, who was signed for the Vitality Blast competition, has agreed to extend his stay at Chelmsford and replaces Peter Siddle as one of the two Essex Overseas players.

Dan Lawrence misses the Derbyshire match having been called into the England squad for the Pakistan series.

Lawrence currently tops the Essex batting averages with 495 runs at an average of 55, although the most productive is Tom Westley with 573 runs at 44.07.

Chief wicket-takers for Essex are Simon Harmer with 38 wickets at an average of 25.78 and Sam Cook with 32 victims at 18.90.

Squad:

Hear from Nel:

Andre Nel takes charge of the side whilst Head Coach Anthony McGrath continues his temporary role with the England caching set-up.

Nel said: “We have to win but again, we have to take care of every session and if we do those things well, then we will put ourselves in a position to win the game.

“We can’t look too far ahead, we have to win and then see what happens elsewhere.”

The former South Africa international fast bowler reflected on his change of role within the Club, albeit only until McGrath’s return later this month.

“It’s different and it’s a crucial time of the season and for me, hopefully, it’s an opportunity for me to stand up and show what I can do,” he stated.

“I’m delighted for Mags, he really deserves his chance. I’ll never be like him, he’s a unique person, he’s brilliant but although I’ll do things my way, nothing will really change because he has set up a brilliant foundation for everyone to work on.

“All I’m doing is stepping in and hopefully do the best I can with the support of the players and other coaches.

“You never know with Essex and with this side, when it comes down to the crunch, they normally step up quite big, so hopefully we can do that.”

Injury/Absentees News:

Dan Lawrence will miss this match having been named in the England squad for the ODI series with Pakistan.

Opposition:

Derbyshire, who are destined to finish at the foot of the group in the qualifying stages, are still seeking their first win of the season in the competition.

They have 63 points for their 9 matches and face an Essex team looking to repeat their success earlier in the season when the teams clashed at Chelmsford.

That game in mid-May was particularly memorable because of a stunning performance by Simon Harmer who took 9/80 in Derbyshire’s first innings followed by 3/122 in their second. Essex had amassed 412-3 from 76 overs when they declared after Dan Lawrence had scored an unbeaten 152 supported by 106 from Tom Westley and half-centuries from openers Nick Browne and Alastair Cook. The visitors could only manage 146 in their first innings before posting 251 second time around to be beaten by an innings and 15 runs.

Despite a difficult season for Derbyshire, all-rounder Matt Critchley has impressed with 712 runs at 44.87 and 21 wickets at 38.42. Experienced Wayne Madsen has contributed 514 runs followed by wicket-keeper Harvey Hosein with 359 runs.

With the ball, pacemen Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Ben Aitchison have 21 and 20 wickets respectively to their credit to provide chief support to Critchley.

One to Watch:

Leg-spinner Matt Critchley is currently Derbyshire’s most successful player both with the bat and ball in what has been a difficult season for the Club.

Born in Preston, he moved away from his native Lancashire in search of more opportunities and as an 18-year-old, he became Derbyshire’s youngest centurion in just his second first-class game.

Now 24, he was the County’s Player of the Year last season and heads their batting and bowling charts this time around and recently took on the captaincy of their Vitality Blast side.

Head-to-Head:

The teams last met at Derby in the Couty Championship in 2016 when Essex recorded a comprehensive success winning by an innings and 62 runs. Nick Browne posted an unbeaten 229, Tom Westley scored 72, Ryan ten Doeschate 60 and debutant Paul Walter 47 as the visitors reached 530-9 before declaring.

Derbyshire were dismissed for 165 with Graham Napier claiming 4/28 and Walter 3/44. The hosts did put up more of a fight in their second innings with former Essex opener Billy Godleman scoring 100 out of 303 all out as Napier again proved chief wicket-taker with 4/56.

In the 182 Championship clashes thus far, Essex have secured 79 victories and 72 draws.

Potential Milestones:

Simon Harmer needs 7 more wickets to reach 300 first-class wickets for the Club.

Adam Wheater requires 5 more dismissals to reach 150 first-class dismissals for Essex. He currently has 133 catches and 12 stumpings.

Ryan ten Doeschate requires a further 159 runs to reach 10,000 first-class career runs for Essex.

How To Watch:

Our Live Stream service will be available across all four days of this game from 11am, which also includes player stats, scorecards and clips throughout the day. Access via the Essex Cricket Matchzone is available here.

We’re excited to announce that sports fan engagement platform, IQONIQ has been named as the Club’s shirt sponsor for the Royal London Cup.

IQONIQ has recently partnered with Essex County Cricket Club and will sponsor the front of the 2021 shirt.

The Team will be looking to add to their recent limited-overs success by winning their first 50-over competition since the 2008 Friends Provident Trophy.

Kazim Atilla, CEO and Founder of IQONIQ said: “We’re delighted to have secured Essex County Cricket Club as our first cricket partner. The Club’s success over the past five years made them the standout choice and we hope that their success continues in the 2021 Royal London Cup.”

Cloudfm is continuing their support of the Club by sponsoring the shirt back and collars.

Jeff Dewing, CEO and Co-Founder of Cloudfm said: “At Cloudfm we care deeply about the success and longevity of Essex County Cricket Club. We’re incredibly proud to have naming rights of The Cloudfm County Ground and that we now feature on every shirt used in the 2021 season shows our commitment to this great Club.”

Darrell Fox, Essex County Cricket Club’s Commercial Manager said: “We’d like to thank IQONIQ for joining the team. We’re incredibly excited about what they’ll bring to the Club and we hope that their support off the pitch can aid the team’s success on it.”

“Cloudfm have been exceptionally generous in their support of the Club, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Jeff and the team understand exactly what it means to be fans of Essex County Cricket Club and are heavily invested in our long-term success.”

The Eagles Royal London Cup campaign gets underway with an away match against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl on Thursday 22 July. The Team’s first home fixture is against Middlesex on Sunday 25 July, with the first ball being bowled at 11am.

The Graham Gooch Scholarship, part of the Essex Cricket Foundation, has donated £3,300 to the Professional Cricketers’ Trust in order to fund a motorised scooter and stairlift for former Kent and England man Alan ‘Iggy’ Igglesden.

The generous donation was funded by the Chelmsford-based Graham Gooch Scholarship which was founded by legendary former England captain Gooch, who was both a teammate and adversary of Igglesden during his playing career.

Rivalries have been set aside ahead of the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ in the Vitality Blast on Friday evening, as charity from Essex has shown its support for a character who is loved and respected across the game in Iggy.

Iggy and wife Liz revealed their family’s heartbreaking yet inspirational story to the Professional Cricketers’ Trust at the beginning of May, which led to an outpouring of support from the entire cricket family.

Iggy, whose 305 professional appearances between 1986-98 included seven for his country, has lived with an inoperable brain tumour for over 22 years, and his health problems were compounded when he suffered two major strokes in 2018 and 2020.

The 56-year-old is therefore reliant on a scooter and chairlift to enable movement both within and outside of his home in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

The £3,300 donation from the Graham Gooch Scholarship adds to the over £20,000 raised from the #5ferIggy campaign, which was a part of the national 5k May challenge.

The money raised will go towards the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, which supports PCA members and their immediate families when they have fallen on hard times, just like Iggy.

Graham Gooch commented: “The Graham Gooch Scholarship and Essex Cricket Foundation are pleased to be able to donate to help out Alan Igglesden, a great servant of Kent and England cricket.

“Essex v Kent is always a big rivalry in cricket, and I had many great tussles with Alan, but in his hour of need, we are really happy to be of some small assistance to him.”

Liz Igglesden, said: “We are so overwhelmed by the help, donations and messages. Iggy’s life is now literally powered by the love and loyalty of the cricket family. The donation from the Graham Gooch Scholarship is so generous, we are lost for words. We raised a glass to him on Father’s Day when Iggy had an outing on the scooter. I can’t begin to explain the power of these two simple machines on our lives; all three of us.”

Professional Cricketers’ Trust President, David Graveney, said: “Iggy’s story touched hearts across the cricket family, so a huge thanks to all of those who have donated, including the Graham Gooch Scholarship and Essex Cricket Foundation whose significant contribution has made a big difference.

“Fundraising for the Professional Cricketers’ Trust has been challenging in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the money raised is much-needed for what is a small charity.”

It was 13 years ago this week when Graham Naper re-wrote the record books.

When 5,500 fans packed into the Chelmsford ground on a balmy evening on June 24th, 2008 to watch Essex meet Sussex in the Twenty20 Cup, they could not have imagined that they would be about to witness a spectacular world-breaking salvo of sixes from the bat of Graham Napier.

It was a life-changing innings for a game-changer. As the popular Essex Eagles all-rounder strode to the crease, neither would he have any idea of what was about to occur.

“It was the launch pad of my career at a time when I didn’t really know where my cricket was going,” he readily admitted. “It set me on track to where I wanted to be.”

Batting at number 3, he scored 152 not out from just 58 balls during which he set new world record figures by launching 16 sixes, many like Exocet missiles, whilst his innings was the highest-ever score in domestic T20 cricket. It was also the most runs (136) scored in boundaries in an individual T20 innings.

“I remember that I started off a bit scratchy, I got off the mark with a couple of runs and then I saw an early opportunity to chance my arm and the ball went out of the ground for six,” he recalled. “At that point, I remember thinking, ‘Let’s go for it.’

“There were a couple of overs when the bowlers lost it a bit and I was just seeing how far I could hit the ball,” he continued. “When you are batting at the Hayes Close End, you’ve always got the river to aim for! It was brutal innings and you make the best of those times.”

His century arrived from 44 balls and 15 balls later, he was celebrating his hundred. The next 50 runs came at even greater pace with just 13 more deliveries required to reach his to 150, achieved with the 16th six of his spectacular innings that also included 10 fours.

His assault allowed the Eagles to reach 252 for 3 at the close of their innings before dismissing the Sharks for 114.

And Napier’s blitzkrieg innings brought the offer of an IPL (Indian Premier League) contract with Mumbai Indians. It was a commitment that was to change his life.
The 152 opened the door for me,” he acknowledged. “It got me into world headlines and led to opportunities to play in the IPL and other places.
He fondly recalls two of the particular maximum blows of that mind-blowing assault.

“My third six, a straight drive off Dwayne Smith was my favourite shot of the innings,” he said. “I was beginning to get my eye in and with a fine leg up and deep square-leg in front of square, I knew he couldn’t bowl too short. I aimed straight and the ball soared over the ropes. This six took the least effort but it was the best-timed.

“Then the final six, a pull shot off James Kirtley to reach my 150. At this point, I felt I had climbed Everest; I was on top of the world.”

The compelling cricketer, who made his senior debut for Essex in 1997, was an effective and fine exponent of the game across all three formats. He played 172 first-class matches for Essex and accumulated 5,225 runs and took 468 wickets. His 219 List A appearances for the county brought 251 wickets and almost 2,400 runs whilst 109 T20 matches produced 123 wickets and 995 runs but at the end of the 2016 season, the Colchester-born player took the decision to retire.

“I wanted to go out when I was still turning in acceptable performances,” he insisted.

Now his time is spent as a cricket coach at RHS School in Ipswich but he hopes that his master classes for Essex on the cricket field will be fondly appreciated by all who saw him play.

“I’d like people to remember me as someone that played with a smile, enjoyed the game, and entertained,” he concluded.
He certainly did that!