Leyton Orient and Essex Cricket joined forces to bring the local community together to enjoy, celebrate and play cricket at The Breyer Group Stadium – The home of Leyton, on Wednesday 23rd May. The event was part of the countdown to Waltham Forest being the first London Borough of Culture 2019, England and Wales hosting the Cricket World Cup 2019 and the recently launched South Asian Cricket Action Plan.
The event saw local primary and secondary schools taking part in games before a showcase Women’s match and an all age tournament. Feroze Khushi (from Leyton) and Matt Coles joined in the day’s events.
Local Primary Schools Pupils opened the festival with 60 Year 4 boys and Girls taking part in a mini tournament, followed by Secondary School students, with 60 Year 7 boys and girls participating. Also 50 visually impaired students from Joseph Clarke School played an adapted version of the game. Diploma in Sport students from Leyton Orient Trust College Study Programme supported the event by being umpires for the day.
Pupil, Davies Lane Primary School, said: “This is the first tournament I’ve played in, I was a bit nervous at first but when I realised I could hit the ball I enjoyed it.”
Sean, PE Teacher, Holy Family Catholic School said, “The team we’ve brought with us today haven’t really got any experience of playing cricket, so it is a good opportunity to get them some exposure to the game, learn from professionals and to understand more about the game. I think they’ve really enjoyed today and have learnt a bit about a sport that otherwise they wouldn’t have the opportunity to play.”
The Tornado Tape Ball World Cup took place from the afternoon in to the evening with six local adult teams taking part. There was also a showcase women’s match.
Danny Macklin, CEO, Leyton Orient Football Club said: “We were absolutely delighted host cricket at the home of Leyton Orient and bringing it back to Leyton. It is great that the charities associated with Leyton Orient and Essex Cricket came together to put on what was a brilliant and memorable occasion for all involved. It brought together the local community to celebrate everything that is great about Cricket.”
Eagles Head Coach Anthony McGrath is urging his side to return to winning ways when they face Somerset at The Cloudfm County Ground on Friday in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The Eagles have lost their last two matches in the competition and currently lie in sixth place but only one win behind second place Somerset who have recorded two victories from their three matches.
Hampshire’s success on Wednesday against the Eagles took them to the top of the South Group with maximum points from their three matches but McGrath was far from happy with his side’s performance.
“Yes, I was particularly disappointed with the defeat and I’ve let the players know that,” he admitted. “You have to say well played to Hampshire but I felt we contributed to our own downfall.
“In fact, it was probably the first time this season that I’ve been really dissatisfied with our overall levels of performance and I’m looking for a big reaction against Somerset.
“Looking back to the Hampshire game, we came up short in our batting, we had a number of batters who made good individual contributions but we needed one of those to go on and play a substantial innings and that didn’t happen on what was an excellent batting wicket.
“Our bowlers sent down too many poor balls which took any pressure of the opposition batters and in the field, we need to be far more aggressive; we were conceding too many singles within the inner ring.
“So all in all, it was a bad day for us but the games come thick and fast and there’s no point in sitting around licking our wounds, we have to go out and put those setbacks behind us. But these players are an honest bunch and I’m looking for a positive reaction.
“We knew that to start the competition with three away matches would be difficult but now we have three home matches in succession. Looking at the league table, you can see how tight the league is at present and if we can win those next three games, then we are right back in contention but we need to kick-start with a win on Friday.
“We played some good cricket against Middlesex when we won our opening match in the competition and now we need to return to that level of form. I know that we are a better side than we showed against in the defeats to Gloucestershire and Hampshire.”
A number of players have been sidelined recently with injuries although some are nearing a return to first team availability.
“A couple have been playing for the second team this week so we’ll wait for an up-to-date-progress report on them plus an assessment on the walking wounded from our physio before we name our squad,” McGrath explained.
“But the encouraging news is that we are expecting one or two at least to be back in our squad very soon and that will freshen things up.”
27 Ryan ten Doeschate (C)
25 Ravi Bopara
6 Varun Chopra
1 Matt Coles
16 Sam Cook
7 James Foster (WK)
11 Simon Harmer
28 Dan Lawrence
19 Michael Pepper (WK)
29 Shane Snater
67 Callum Taylor
13 Neil Wagner
21 Tom Westley
31 Adam Wheater (WK)
99 Ashar Zaidi
The Eagles could be set to introduce a new face into their line-up when they face Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl in the Royal London One-Day Cup tomorrow.
Anthony McGrath will select from a 13-man squad that includes Zimbabwe-born bowler Shane Snater, who now plays international cricket for the Netherlands.
At 22 years of age, the right-armer has claimed 12 wickets in three first-class matches, including two five-wicket hauls, plus 7 wickets in 10 List A games, with best figures of 3 for 30 against Zimbabwe.
All-rounder Callum Taylor is also named in the party as Jamie Porter is given a rest, whilst young paceman Aaron Beard is due to get overs under his belt for the Second XI.
Ryan ten Doeschate is looking for an improved performance on Wednesday, particularly from the batting unit, as the Eagles look to get back to winning ways down on the South Coast.
The Eagles skipper saw his side beaten by Gloucestershire on Sunday when, four wickets fell in the space of 33 balls after a promising opening partnership had laid the foundations for a score in excess of 300.
In the end, the visitors were left to settle for a total of 287 for 7, but were beaten as Gloucestershire reached their target with 11 balls and four wickets to spare.
“We didn’t bat well, we lost four quick wickets after the first powerplay when some of our batters lost their wickets cheaply,” ten Doeschate admitted.
“We weren’t at our best and didn’t deserve to win. People are allowed to make mistakes as they are human, but it is about how we learn from them going forward. Overall, we were a bit off the pace and we certainly need to be better as a batting unit if we are to do well against Hampshire.”
Head Coach Anthony McGrath endorsed ten Doeschate’s views. “We were probably 30 runs short of what we would have liked to have scored after our openers put on 70 odd runs,” he said.
“Now we need to focus on getting everything right for the Hampshire game. We knew starting this competition with three away games would be tough and with only eight matches in the qualifying group, you don’t want to be playing catch-up. You can’t afford a slow start and it’s really important to get the points on the board as soon as you can.
“The 50 over competition is a format that we’ve done well in over the past couple of years and we want to continue that. We played some fantastic cricket last year and the standards we can achieve are evident so we need to rediscover that touch quickly.”
Injuries have restricted the choice of selection thus far but the positive news is that a number of players are close to returning.
“Paul Walter, Matt Quinn and Matt Coles are all close to being available for selection and that will give us the opportunity to refresh our bowling unit,” the Eagles Head coach stated.
“Meanwhile, we have to pick ourselves up after Sunday’s game and look to record our second win in the competition which would set us up nicely because we then have three home matches in succession.”
Eagles squad:
Ryan ten Doeschate (27) Captain
Ravi Bopara (25)
Varun Chopra (6)
Sam Cook (16)
James Foster (7)
Simon Harmer (11)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Shane Snater (29)
Callum Taylor (67)
Neil Wagner (13)
Tom Westley (21)
Adam Wheater (31)
Ashar Zaidi (99)
Neil Wagner will resume his Essex career on Thursday, as he takes the field for the first time this summer when the Eagles begin their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.
Anthony McGrath has named a 13-man squad for the opening match against Middlesex at Radlett, with the New Zealand opening bowler due to lead the attack.
The left-armer is chomping at the bit to get going, having arrived back in the UK a couple of weeks ago to prepare for his upcoming stint.
“It’s great to be back and see so many familiar faces in the dressing room and around the Club,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to spending time with the guys and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and trying to contribute in whichever way possible to help continue the success we enjoyed last year.”
Wagner has taken over from Australian Peter Siddle, who helped Essex win two of the five County Championship matches during his brief tenure. He will be with the Club until the end of July and will be available for all three formats starting with the upcoming 50 over campaign.
Wagner took 14 wickets in seven matches last year in the Royal London Cup including two four-wicket hauls against Hampshire and Glamorgan.
“I think we played some exceptional cricket in the 50 over format last year and thoroughly deserved to win our place in the semi-final, but then we got on the wrong end of what was a really special game,” he reflected.
“Hopefully we can go one step further this time around.”
The Eagles stormed through the Group stages winning seven of their eight matches and only lost their 100 per cent record when Glamorgan won a nail-biter by just one run. That storming run of success earned the Eagles a home tie with Notts Outlaws in the semi-final but the Eagles were eventually beaten by five wickets.
Ryan ten Doeschate believes the time has come for the Eagles to reach a Cup final at Lord’s once again.
“We showed that we are a good one-day side last year when we had an exceptional run through the group stage and were just one more win away from a finals appearance,” the Essex captain reflected. “It was back in 2008 when we last won the 50 over competition and so it’s about time we experienced a Lord’s final once again.”
The Eagles again play their eight group matches in succession as they put their claims to retain their County Championship title on temporary hold and ten Doeschate admits that the switch to white ball cricket could be a blessing.
“We scored plenty of runs in this format last year and our batters haven’t scored as many as they would have liked so far this season in the Championship so the 50-over competition could give them the opportunity to find their form,” he explained.
“It gives us a good opportunity to focus on a different competition and put the Championship behind us for a while, although it was great to sign off from that tranche of matches with a win agonist Worcestershire.
“We are going into the one-day matches with a lot of confidence, particularly after that win over Worcestershire, but we know that the matches in this format are going to be tough. There are a lot of good sides in our group starting with Middlesex on Thursday and we will have to be right at the top of our game if we are to start the competition with a victory.”
Essex Eagles squad:
Ryan ten Doeschate (27) Captain
James Foster (7) Wicket-keeper
Aaron Beard (14)
Ravi Bopara (25)
Varun Chopra (6)
Sam Cook (16)
Simon Harmer (11)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Jamie Porter (44)
Neil Wagner (13)
Tom Westley (21)
Adam Wheater (31)
Ashar Zaidi (99)
Essex County Cricket Club are delighted to announce Official Trainingwear Sponsor, Seetec Skills, have signed a three-year contract extension to their partnership.
Seetec are one of the main sponsors of the Club, and have shown a commitment to the County Champions until 2021.
The relationships between the two organisations sees Seetec recruiting and supporting groups of young people to take their first career steps in hospitality as they undertake 150-hour work placements at the Club. Alongside that, Seetec see their branding across all trainingwear and training facilities around the ground.
Darrell Fox, Essex Cricket Commercial Manager, said: “This is another important partnership secured for the Club moving forward.
“Seetec have really bought into what we are trying to achieve here, and they are an integral part of our ongoing success. We are delighted they have agreed to continue as our Official Trainingwear Sponsor, and hope the partnership can continue to flourish over the next four years.
“We thank Seetec for their continued support, and look forward to welcoming them back to Chelmsford over the course of the 2018 season.”
Ryan ten Doeschate believes Essex can use their shock defeat by Yorkshire to kick-start their defence of the Specsavers County Championship title, starting today at Worcester.
Essex suffered their first red-ball loss in 20 months over the Bank Holiday week, and that after bowling Yorkshire out for 50 inside the first session of the game.
The Essex captain said: “Mags [head coach Anthony McGrath] made the point to the guys that teams are allowed to be better than us. We’re not always going to be on top of our game and you do lose and you do make mistakes. That’s the best way we can look at that game – just reiterate how good we have been in the last few years. But sometimes cricket is tough and you come out on the wrong side of it.
“I think we were pretty good in dealing with the fall-out from the game. We were very honest about where we weren’t very good. We probably weren’t good enough for one session and that cost us. That’s the way it goes in this division.
“If you think how often we were ‘on’ last year, and I think to win championships you can only afford to be ‘off’ a few times. To be ‘off’ for that evening session on the first day probably cost us the game.”
Ten Doeschate suffered only his fourth Championship defeat in 34 at the helm. He said: “The Yorkshire game was particularly disappointing because I felt we had a lot of opportunities to really nail the game. But I’ve got no issues if someone outplays us, as Yorkshire did, or if we’re not quite ‘on’ it, but we’re trying our best to make the game in our favour. I can handle losing and bad performances.”
The mood in the camp remains upbeat. “Even after the game we sat down and had a good chat, and a few beers in the changing room. Mags is big on keeping a team spirit high and certainly we won’t be derailed by one defeat or from what we want to do. Absolutely not. There has been no change in our psyche. We look forward to another challenge against Worcestershire.”
Essex sit sixth in the table, 30 points off leaders Nottinghamshire. But ten Doeschate said: “There’s still more than two-thirds of the season left where we can pick up points. So we need to be even better than we’ve been in the past, but everything is still possible at the moment.
“Look, if we get a win this week then it’s been a pretty good start. Two wins, two draws and a loss would be a pretty good start out of five. But also if I cast my mind back to last year, we started slowly and the one-day cup came at a good time and allowed guys to settle in and freed the batters up.
“We were certainly better after June last year. You can make whatever you want out of it, but in this particular case there has been a lack of cricket this season and maybe that’s about to change now. This is a big game for us. The wicket looks pretty good and we’re going to have to work hard for anything. But the boys are desperate to put things right.”
Essex v Yorkshire Specsavers County Championship | The Cloudfm County Ground
Friday 4 – Monday 7 May, 11am starts
Essex team | Nick Browne (10), Alastair Cook (26), Tom Westley (21), Dan Lawrence (28), Ravi Bopara (25), Ryan ten Doeschate* (27), James Foster + (7), Simon Harmer (11), Peter Siddle (64), Jamie Porter (44), Sam Cook (11).
Yorkshire team | Adam Lyth (9), Harry Brook , Cheteshwar Pujara (27), Joe Root (66), Gary Ballance* (19), Jonny Bairstow + (21), Jack Leaning (34), Tim Bresnan (16), Steven Patterson (17), Jack Brooks (70), Ben Coad (10).
Umpires | Richard Kettleborough & Steve O’Shaughnessy
Toss | Yorkshire, who elected to bat
Day Three | Close of Play Report
Champions Essex suffered their first defeat in 19 matches after Yorkshire pulled off an amazing 91 runs victory in their clash at The Cloudfm County Ground, the match lasting less than seven sessions.
When the final day’s play commenced, Essex were 97 for 4, still requiring another 141 for victory but they were bowled out for 146.
Dan Lawrence and Ryan ten Doeschate did inspire hope as they carried the overnight score to 114 but then the innings totally fell apart as four wickets fell on that total in the space of 23 balls.
Paceman Ben Coad put the home side into free fall by removing ten Doeschate and James Foster in the same over, the former being nailed in front of his stumps leg before wicket while Foster was caught behind three balls later.
Simon Harmer went the same way as ten Doeschate again to Coad before Steven Patterson, who destroyed the Essex top-order yesterday, claimed his fifth wicket of the innings by bowling Lawrence for 32 to end the batsman’s two and a quarter hour stay.
The disintegration continued as Jamie Porter became the fifth lbw victim of the innings when the total had moved onto 126.
Peter Siddle did bring some light relief as he struck 4 boundaries in an entertaining 24 but then Tim Bresnan trapped him lbw to bring the curtain down on a dramatic game.
While it was an incredible triumph by Yorkshire after they had been rolled over for just 50 before lunch on the opening day, it has to be admitted that their opponents contributed to their own downfall with some ill-judged batting.
Alastair Cook, Tom Westley, Nick Browne and Ravi Bopara contributed a combined tally of 52 runs between them in eight innings.
The only real backbone with the bat came from Lawrence, with efforts of 48 and 32 and to a lesser extent from ten Doeschate (18 and 34) and the pair shared in a fifth wicket stand of 59 in the second innings. It was the home side’s highest stand in the match.
Patterson returned career-best figures of 6 for 40 as Essex capitulated a second time while Coad returned 3 for 36.
Essex, whose last defeat Championship defeat was in the Second Division at the hands of Glamorgan in September 2016, had to settle for just 3 points whilst a jubilant Yorkshire side returned north with 19 points.
Day Two | Match Highlights
Day Two Reaction | Ryan ten Doeschate
Day Two | Close of Play Report
Essex were left facing a testing task to fashion victory as Yorkshire continued their amazing recovery in the Specsavers County Championship Division One clash at The Cloudfm County Ground.
Faced with what seemed a modest 238 runs target, they reached 97 for 4 by the close after the top-order was demolished by paceman Steven Patterson.
Essex were seemingly about to take control as Alastair Cook and Nick Browne took the total to 34.
But they were plunged into trouble when Patterson removed them both, along with Tom Westley and Ravi Bopara in a five over spell, costing ten runs.
Before Patterson made his telling impact, however, the openers had enjoyed moments of brief fortune.
Browne survived a caught and bowled chance to Jack Brooks whilst still seeking to get off the mark while Cook as reprieved by Jack Leaning as he failed to accept a low slip catch at third slip offered against Ben Coad.
Patterson was to ensure that those two lapses did not prove costly.
Cook with the help of a couple of fine cover driven boundaries had moved to 26 when he was bowled whilst Westley was trapped lbw in the same over – his third successive duck.
Twenty-one runs and six overs later, Browne and Bopara departed in the space of three deliveries.
Browne who had never really looked totally comfortable was bowled for 10 while Bopara was caught by Harry Brook diving at backward point although he waited for the umpires to confirm the catch.
That left Essex in all sorts of trouble at 56 for 4 before Dan Lawrence and Ryan ten Doeschate revived their fortunes with an unbroken partnership worth 42 runs.
Lawrence will resume on 22 and his skipper on 27 with the county needing a further 141 runs to claim a victory in what has proved an absorbing match.
From 161 for 2 overnight, Yorkshire carried their second innings total to 329 with 19 year-old Harry Brook leading the way.
Resuming on 57 at the start of the day’s play, he went on to record his maiden first-class century and had reached 124 from 187 balls before he left the scene of battle.
His wonderful effort included 13 fours and a six and was eventually brought to an end when he drove off-spinner Simon Harmer to long-on.
Brook shared in two substantial partnerships – 94 with Cheteshwar Pujara (41) for the third wicket and 86 with Joe Root (35) for the fourth.
Pujara was bowled by Peter Siddle and that was to prove the only success for the title-holders Essex’s only success in the morning session.
The first wicket of the afternoon period came when Bopara disarranged the stumps of Root to start a fightback that saw four wickets picked off while 14 runs were added.
Siddle was to emerge as the county’s most successful bowler with 4 for 65 and a match haul of 8 for 72, while Jamie Porter played a key part in wrapping up the innings with 3 for 89.
Day One | Match Highlights
Day One | Close of Play Report
Essex found themselves on the end of a fine Yorkshire fightback during an absorbing first day of the County Championship match at The Cloudfm County Ground.
The visitors, who won the toss, were left licking their wounds after being bowled out for 50, their lowest total since 1973.
But they hit back by dismissing Essex for 142 and although that represented a healthy lead, they cleared the arrears of 92 for the loss of only one wicket before ending the day on 161 for 2.
After winning the toss, Yorkshire were left shell-shocked as they were bowled out before lunch in only 18.4 overs.
The initial damage was caused by 20 year-old Sam Cook who maintained a superb line and length on a pitch which gave him far less help than the scorecard indicated.
He picked up four wickets for eight runs in only 22 deliveries and amongst his victims was England skipper Joe Root, dismissed first ball as Alastair Cook accepted a chance at first slip.
The later carnage was enacted by Peter Siddle who returned 4 for 7 from his 3.4 overs, his successes including Gary Ballance , the only Yorkshire batsman to record double figures with 22.
In between, the Australian’s deeds, Cook picked up his fifth wicket, that of Tim Bresnan to end with 5 for 28. He also picked up a five wicket haul against Yorkshire at Chelmsford in the final match of last season.
Essex were soon left struggling when they replied, losing their first three wickets for 12, including that of Alastair Cook for a duck.
He was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow off Jack Brooks for a duck and the same bowler then removed Tom Westley, also for a duck.
Dan Lawrence though proved resilient helping himself to seven boundaries in his 48 to help Essex to pass Yorkshire’s total without further loss.
He eventually departed leg before to Bresnan and it was left to Simon Harmer to carry Essex to their final total before he was out for 36, putting up a simple catch to mid-on that provided Ben Coad with his third success.
His wickets came at a cost of 27, Bresnan and Brooks also claimed three wickets apiece at a cost of 26 and 63 respectively.
Bairstow was pushed up the order to open the innings when Yorkshire went in again and he responded with a typical aggressive 50 from 44 balls that included six fours in addition to a straight driven six at the expense of Cook.
Those runs came in an opening stand of 77 with Adam Lyth before he was bowled by Siddle.
Lyth, on 27, followed just after the arrears were cleared, as Harmer pulled off a juggling catch at second slip completing the catch at the third attempt.
Harry Brook and Cheteshwar Pujara, however, scored freely and looked untroubled as they carried the visitors to a close of play lead of 69 runs.
By then, Brook had completed a maiden first-class half-century with the help of seven fours and a six from 46 balls.
He will resume in the morning on 57 with Pujara 22 not out.
Day One | Tea Report
After 12 wickets fell in the morning, the clatter of wickets continued in the post-lunch session as 8 more fell to leave both sides having completed their first innings by tea.
Nick Browne was bowled by Ben Coad with only two runs added to the lunch score to leave Essex in serious trouble at 12 for 3.
But chiefly through the efforts of Dan Lawrence and the dogged determination of Ravi Bopara (celebrating his 33rd birthday), a recovery of sorts enabled the county to move past 50 and gain a first innings lead.
It was not long after though that wickets began to fall in rapid succession once more starting with Bopara edging Steven Patterson to Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip with the total on 58.
Bopara’s share of a 46 run partnership was nine and then five overs later, Lawrence followed him back to the pavilion. The 20 year-old top-scored with 48 unleashing some punishing drives in his tally of seven boundaries.
It was Tim Bresnan who removed him lbw with the score on 72, and the same bowler claimed two more scalps before the total moved into three figures.
James Foster was bowled and Ryan ten Doeschate fell leg before wicket for 18, only the third batsman to have reached double figures by that stage of the game.
Simon Harmer and Peter Siddle struck a few aggressive blows while adding, in the context of the game, a valuable 27 runs to carry the total to 120.
Then two wickets fell in successive overs. Siddle drove Brooks to Gary Ballance at mid-off for 145 before Jamie Porter became the sixth lbw victim of the match to give Coad his second wicket.
With Harmer leading the way, 21 runs were added for the final wicket with Sam Cook.
It carried Essex to an all out total of 142 and a lead of 92 with the final wicket falling when Harmer put up a simple catch to Bresnan at mid-on after making 36 that contained 4 boundaries.
Coad, Brooks and Bresnan each claimed three wickets at a cost of 27, 63 and 26 respectively.
Day One | Lunch Report
Twenty-year old Sam Cook and Australian Peter Siddle produced devastating spells of pace bowling as Essex bowled out Yorkshire for only 50 on the opening day of the Division One County Championship match at The Cloudfm County Ground.
Only 18.4 overs were required as the visitors, who had won the toss, were left completely shell-shocked by the champions slumping to their lowest total since 1973.
Cook did the early damage on his way to 5 for 28 from nine overs. He bowled unchanged in gathering his second five wicket haul against the Tykes returning 5 for 20 when the counties met at Chelmsford last season.
Siddle mopped up the last pockets of resistance with 4 for 7 in only 3.4 overs as the innings was brought to a close 24 minutes before Lunch.
That left enough time for Yorkshire to hit back and remove Alastair Cook and Tom Westley for ducks as the home side arrived at the break on 10 for 2. Nick Browne has 6 and Dan Lawrence is 4 not out.
Gary Ballance and Jack Leaning managed to take the total onto 41 before the arrival of Siddle brought about the sixth wicket to fall in an astonishing session and a further disintegration of the innings.
He trapped Leaning lbw, had Steven Patterson caught behind and Jack Brooks and Ballance caught at third slip by Browne.
In between Tim Bresnan fell lbw to provide Cook with his fifth success.
But any feeling of smugness for the home side evaporated with the loss of their first two wickets with only 2 runs on the board.
Brooks saw to that as Alastair Cook was snapped up behind by Bairstow and Tom Westley had his middle stump uprooted by the same bowler.
But Browne and Lawrence survived the final few minutes of a sensational morning that saw 12 wickets go down for 60 runs.
Ravi Bopara resisted the opportunity of the early birthday present of a first-class century when he could have selfishly opted for an early-evening thrash at the Ageas Bowl.
Bopara, who reaches the grand old age of 33 on Friday, could have batted on for the remaining 13 balls of the match at Hampshire and raised his bat for the 28th time in red-ball cricket. But he refused the chance of cheap runs and opted to honour the declaration when Essex reached 300 and secured their third batting point from the weather-wrecked draw.
With 16 runs required to reach three-figures, captain Ryan ten Doeschate left it up to Bopara whether he wanted to carry on in the middle. The Essex all-rounder said: “When I looked up at the dressing room when we reached 300, Tendo indicated, ‘Do you want to go for your hundred?’
“I didn’t want to score a hundred in that situation where the target had been achieved before the overs were finished. I didn’t want to go, ‘You know what, I’ll slog the last two overs and hopefully get to a hundred’. It’s not the way I want to do it. Every hundred you score in first-class cricket is a big deal.
“I would have backed myself to get the extra 16 runs with the 12 balls remaining. But those runs wouldn’t have felt like a graft. In a proper game, those last 16 runs would be hard work. I just wanted to help the team get to 300, that was the most important thing. That was the focus and what the whole of that innings was about – not me getting a hundred – and we achieved that.”
It must have been tempting. Bopara has scored just one red-ball ton in nearly four years: the 192 compiled against Warwickshire in last year’s surge to the Specsavers County Championship title. “I wasn’t fazed whether I got a hundred or not. I know I’m going to score hundreds. I know they’re coming; they’re round the corner. I’ll get a few this year. And not only this year, but in the years to come for Essex.”
Essex play Yorkshire at The Cloudfm County Ground on Friday with the memory of the four-day wash-out at Headingley fresh in the mind. “Headingley was a loss,” Bopara insisted. “Five points was not good for us, especially being defending champions. So we’ve got a bit of work to do. We’re sitting fourth in the table having played a game extra than some of the other teams.
“But it’s very early days. We have just one point less than we had after three games last year. We came good from around this time last year. I feel it starting to happen again. The batters are in a good place, Jamie’s still bowling really well, Harmer’s still bowling really well, and we’re back here this week at Chelmsford, which is a little fortress for us at the moment.”
Not only is it Bopara’s birthday on Day One of the match but he will also reach the milestone of 200 first-class career appearances. “That’s a lovely achievement,” he said. “I thought I’d have played more than 200, but there was a period where I was playing for England and missed a few games.”
Bopara is playing throughout the year. During the winter he helped Rangpur Riders to the Bangladesh Premier League title and Karachi Kings to the last four in the Pakistan Super League. In between he played in the Hong Kong T20 as well as playing in the final of the Sharjah T10 tournament for Punjabi Legends. Bopara is a fan of the shortest short-format game.
“White-ball cricket is moving fast and if you don’t keep up with it you’ll be left behind. You can’t just sit it out and think you can come back and catch up. You need to keep playing.
“Nothing rivals football, but T10 puts it on a level where it’s just 90 minutes’ play. Speaking as a cricketer I think it’s a perfect length for a game. It’s fast, it’s furious, there’s lots and lots of boundaries, every over is a death over. As a bowler you know you could easily go for six sixes because you’ve got proper batsmen against you. People can go for 25 an over and they’re shrugging their shoulders like it’s normal. It’s great for the whole family.”
Alastair Cook is back in the 13-man Essex squad and the opener is due to make his first appearance of the domestic season in the County Championship clash with Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl starting on Friday.
Head Coach Anthony McGrath is naturally delighted to have the England left-hander back with the title holders, who arrive in Southampton holding joint second place in the Championship table with the South Coast County.
“We know how important ‘Cookie’ proved to be for us last year and he is always very keen to come back and play for Essex which is great for us,” he said. “We know all about his quality and how much he enjoys being around the dressing room as well.
“Hopefully, he can score a few runs which obviously helps us but also helps his form ahead of the Test series between England and Pakistan.
“People in the media are talking about his lack of form at the moment and I guess at International level, you are always going to be under pressure if you don’t score for a few innings even if you’ve got a record as good as Alastair Cook. It goes with the territory and he is aware of that, but we know what a wonderful player he is and we are absolutely delighted to have him for the next three games.”
After their opening fixture in this year’s Championship was completely washed out, Essex got their season off to a fine start with a 31 run success over Lancashire, the only team that they had been unable to beat on at least one occasion in the competition in 2017.
Now they face a Hampshire side over whom they recorded the “double” last year, including a sensational win down at Southampton where Essex won by 108 ruins after being forced to follow-on.
“We turned in one of our best performances with bat and ball when we beat Hampshire convincingly at Chelmsford last season and then the game down at their place was amazing,” the Essex Head Coach continued.
“We had already won the league by then and maybe mentally, we weren’t quite on our game and we gave ourselves a lot to do. But as on so many occasions, we fought back and posted a decent total on the last day and bowled them out for 76 to win by just over 100 runs with young pace bowler Sam Cook taking 5-18.
“That was Sam’s first 5-for and he will have good memories of that. We have included him in the squad for Friday’s game and are hoping that he will be available for selection following the finger injury he sustained whilst practising ahead of our game with Lancashire last week. We’ll see how things have progressed before we make a final decision.
“I think we showed some very good qualities in that win over Lancashire even though we weren’t fully at our best. They are a very good team who are going to beat sides throughout the season and so it was nice to get that win on the board.
“Now we turn to the task of facing Hampshire and we know we are in for another tough four days, but we are ready for the challenge and really looking forward to it.”
Squad:
Ryan ten Doeschate (27) Captain
James Foster (7) Wicket-keeper
Aaron Beard (14)
Ravi Bopara (25)
Nick Browne (10)
Varun Chopra (6)
Alastair Cook (26)
Sam Cook (16)
Simon Harmer (11)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Jamie Porter (44)
Peter Siddle (64)
Tom Westley (21)
Tom Westley has the trophy, caps and scars to show for a rollercoaster year. It somehow fits the narrative that the late September afternoon when Essex were presented with the golden Specsavers County Championship goblet should be the day England announced his omission from the winter Ashes party.
“It was probably my greatest year in cricket,” Westley says. “It all happened at once. To play for England was a boyhood dream come true. But it was obviously bitterly disappointing getting dropped [by England] at the end of the summer.”
Worse was to follow. On the first day of the first match on the consolation Lions tour to Australia, Westley suffered a break to the middle finger of his left hand that brought his winter plans to a grinding halt.
“It was actually fielding,” says the batsman. “I was fielding on the boundary and I dropped a high ball late in the day. I didn’t realise how serious the finger was at the time. We thought it might just be a dislocation and there was talk of me batting later on that evening.
“Scans went back and forth from England and Brisbane and next thing I knew I was on the plane home and having surgery two days afterwards. It was actually more severe than initially thought. I’ve now got three pins in my finger and it’s still quite swollen.”
There was a silver lining amid the gloom. “I suppose it is good in a way that it happened early in the tour because if it had happened after Christmas I wouldn’t be playing now. It happened pre-Christmas, so end of January, beginning of February, I was able to go out to South Africa and do a bit of work with Gary Kirsten in Cape Town, which I found hugely beneficial.”
Kirsten, the former Proteas opener, took on a player who had endured five successive single-figure scores for England in the summer, and who Wisden critiqued: “Analysts noted Westley’s tendency – well-known on the county circuit – to play round his front pad. He aimed straighter after that, but at the expense of his leg-side game, and looked half the batsman, repeatedly falling lbw.”
Westley admits: “There were things that had crept into my game over the last 18 months, so we tinkered with that so I could produce a fuller face [of the bat], which is something he picked up on.
“He actually said at the end of the time I spent with him that he couldn’t see any noticeable flaws in my game. In that sense it was good to work with someone new and chat about my batting. Sometimes you don’t have the time to make a few changes, drastic changes even, you’re just chipping away. So it was quite a productive winter.”
As fate would have it, Westley comes face to face at Southampton this week with his successor – and predecessor several times removed – in the England no.3 slot in the Hampshire captain James Vince. Comparisons are likely to be made.
“I understand that people are obviously going to talk about how we get on, and I suppose from the media aspect it adds a bit of spice to the game,” Westley, 29, says. “But I think I’ve been good for a number of years now, and not looked sideways at what other people are doing.
“For me personally, it is just another game of cricket for Essex, one in which I hope we can repeat what happened down there last year when we had an amazing comeback and won. The decision about selection is out of my hands.”
Speaking of hands, Westley is comfortable again with bat in glove, and has a first-class sixty and a couple of forties in the scorebook already; fielding with a swollen digit is another matter. “I’ve taken myself out of the slips for the time being because I don’t want the finger to flare up, or anything more sinister happen to it. I’ve been guesting at mid-on for a while. My target for the season used to be to take as many catches as I could, but it looks as if that’s going to be out the window!”
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