Selection Time

The start of the 2011 county championship season is just hours away now and always on the supporters mind is the selection of the team for match one vs Kent at Chelmsford.

It's almost certain to predict the first 9 names on the team sheet -

Godleman

Cook

Mickleburgh

Bopara

Walker

Pettini

Foster *+

Phillips

Masters

With Ryan 'Tendo' ten Doeschate and Owais Shah at the IPL and Tom Westley at uni, the batting selections are a formality with the bonus of having Cookie and Ravi around for the start of the season and without Westley to provide some off-spinners Tim Phillips will surely play to cover this part of the bowling attack.

Thus the final two positions will come down to a choice of 2 from 4 seamers - 

Chambers

Napier

Wright

Topley

It would appear that although Graham Napier has recovered from his back injury, he's still not quite ready yet to return to championship action and with no overseas player (news suggests an overseas opening test bowler will make championship match two at Lord's vs Middlesex) the task of picking two players is now between just three men.

Maurice Chambers is surely a must and although has only just recovered from injury himself during the winter is the quickest of the bowlers on the staff and can ruffle a few Kent feathers.

So we're left a choice of fellow blogger Chris Wright and young 17 year old left-arm seamer Reece Topley.  Although I'm a huge fan of Wrighty he hasn't yet hit the straps with only two wickets in three championship style pre-season matches whilst Topley impressed yours truely at Fenners last week and has captured three wickets in each of the matches at Fenners and on tour vs Warwickshire.

It might be a gamble to go with Topley - after all at 17 he'd be restricted in the number of overs he can bowl in a spell/day and of course he's young and raw but being a left-armer swing bowler who keeps the ball pitched up and bowls wicket to wicket for me it's a gamble worth taking.

Essex Batsman Struggle at Fenners

Saturday 2nd April saw the start of the 2011 county cricket season and what better way to commence another English season then at the delightful Fenners ground as Essex took on Cambridge MCCU in a 3-day university match.

For me it was a first trip to Fenners - a pleasant 45 minute journey from Kings Cross to Cambridge on the train then a simple 15 minute walk to the ground right in the heart of the city.  A picturesque ground that has it's well known pavilion with bench seating at one end in front of a university building, two rows of bench seats at the other end plus along one side of the pitch in front of student accommodation that overlooks the ground whilst the opposite side has room for car parking and viewing much like at Derby - there's also plenty of room to sit on the grass around the perimeter with no advertising boards.

Fenners pavilion

As often in these uni vs county matches it is the county side that tend to bat first and although the hosts won the toss Essex indeed had first dig.

A strong Eagles side saw Alastair Cook open with Billy Godleman and in the Cambridge sun a pleasantly good crowd was in force to witness day 1 of the new season.

Cambridge's opening bowlers of Peter Turnbull and Robert Woolley impressed all day with accurate seam bowling and after progressing relatively comfortably to 26-0 inside the 8th over Godleman pushed forward to give the cover fielder a simple catch to depart for 10.

It was a perfect 10 for Turnbull just 2 overs later as he induced a genuine edge from Cookies bat pushing forward which was well taken by Ackland at slip to leave Essex 33-2.

Ravi Bopara came in at number 4 but didn't show his fluent self and got out to a poor shot when pulling a long-hop off change bowler McCluskie straight down the throat of the deep square leg fielder for just 14 in partnership of 47 with Jaik Mickleburgh - a shot that Ravi will need to cut out if he wants to regain his England test place.

Now whilst Cook/Bopara scored just 24 between them, a lad who I rate very highly Jaik Mickleburgh continued to show great maturity in the number 3 position and having dominated his partnership with Bopara moved to an elegant 50 with 8 driven fours until Woolley returned from the pavilion end just before lunch to trap Jaik lbw in the crease and leave the visitors 116-4.

Matt Walker had moved fairly swiftly to 22 at the luncheon but to the last ball of the first over after lunch was trapped in front to give the impressive Turnbull a 3rd wicket - Walks seemed to suggest he hit the ball but it was almost certainly pad first.

At 122-5 Essex captains past and present got together to start the recovery with a 6th wicket stand of 84 in 25 overs with watchful defence and the occasionally driven boundary which included a beautifully straight driven six by captain former.

For Mark Pettini this is a big season and the first full year without any captaincy worries since 2006 - whilst my preference would be for Mark to still be at the helm as he is a very good captain with a good cricketing brain, he can now concentrate on re-produce the batting form that we saw when he first burst into the Essex side and so far Mark has started the new season well with runs on tour in Barbardos plus the Worcestershire friendly and 48 in the first innings at Fenners until he was pinned lbw on the back pad to the dangerous Woolley with Essex having just passed the 200 mark.  You can see Mark has worked hard on his batting with a new more relaxed and comfortable stance - praise there for Graham Gooch.

After Pettini fell so did current skipper James Foster just 3 runs later as Woolley got one to come back and cartwheel Fozzy's off-stump for 33.

But as Turnbull and Woolley tired and were replaced, the late order batters of Tim Phillips, Chris Wright and Maurice Chambers combined to collectively add 102 enabling Foster to declare the first innings at 311-8 after Phillips had reached his 50 having hit 6 crisp fours in the process - Wrighty timed the ball nicely for 25 and Chambers was also unbeaten on 12.

The outstanding pace duo of Turnbull and Woolley shared 7 of the 8 wickets to fall with Welsh born Turnbull collecting 4-40 and Manchester lad Woolley 3-61.

That left exactly an hour for the Essex bowlers to make inroad into the home sides batting line-up, however, on a rather placid pitch Cambridge MCCU were able to finish the day on 29-0 without any alarm whatsoever.

My day in Cambridge was over but as the match continued for 2 further days, ultimately a draw was the inevitable result with Essex unable to make early breakthroughs on day 2 and it's credit to Cambridge that they prevented the Eagles from pushing for a win.

In fact with Cambridge MCCU reaching lunch on day 2 at 140-1 the situation looked rather desperate - only 3 wickets a-piece for the impressive Reece Topley (3-48) and Bopara (3-45) kept the students at bay as they eventually declared their first innings on 283-7 - just 28 runs behind Essex.

With Essex's strike pair of Wright and Chambers collecting just 1 wicket between them in 49 overs in the match and coach Paul Grayson still on the look-out for an overseas bowler to start the county championship season, Topley junior has done his cause no harm with superb figures at Fenners and must surely at least be in contention to play Kent on Friday.  A tall left-arm swing bowler who bowls straight and keeps the ball pitched-up is someone we've been crying out for since the days of Lever and then Ilott.

That left Essex just 2 overs to bat at the end of day 2 but where the Eagles couldn't prize a late wicket on day 1, Peter Turnbull could for the hosts as he trapped Billy Godleman lbw for 0 as Essex finished the 2 overs without score.

The final day saw Essex regain respectability as Cook hit 120, Wright 77 having batted as night-watchman, Bopara 74 and Walker 36 meaning Billy aside, those who failed first innings were able to gain some valuable crease time in the 2nd innings.

When Foster declared at 326-6, the game was only going to end one way and disappointingly in the 14 overs that remained Essex's seam bowlers were again unable to find a wicket as Cambridge finished on 26-0.

After 3 days of intersting cricket, there's much for some of Essex's players and the coach to think about before the start of county championship season vs Kent on Friday - my thoughts on the selection posers later this week...

Overseas or not to overseas?

So with a deal apparently done with Aussie quick Peter Siddle to join Essex for the first half of the 2011 county season, Siddle has sadly had to pull out for personal reasons leaving Essex to either find another overseas pro to fill the void or go against it and stick with the players currently on the staff.

Rumour has it The Eagles are now after New Zealand’s 22 year old star swing bowler Tim Southee and if this is to be the case it would appear a very smart move.

Southee first came to prominence on his test debut vs England where he took 5-55 before smashing 77 off 40 balls in albeit a losing cause to burst onto the international scene.

Whilst Southee hasn’t gone on to set the test arena alight, the Northern Districts bowler has taken 35 wickets in 13 test matches @ 42.54 with an economy of a decent 3.4 runs as over, however, it’s in the Twenty20 scene that Southee has excelled with 22 T20I wickets in 19 matches @ 25.90 and at just 8.5 runs per over – in domestic T20 his record is even better with 48 wickets in 39 matches @ 23.39 going at 8 per over.

With the bat, Southee averages just 16.55 at first class level (21.38 in tests) but with 3 half centuries it’s clear there is talent especially to clear the ropes.

For me, Southee would be a very good signing having been talked about on the official Essex cricket forums as a potential Eagles player for some time now and his right-arm swing bowling would no doubt be very useful in April/May English conditions – the fact the New Zealand conditions are very similar to the UK would make Southee a very worthwhile signing.

With the county also keen to return to T20 finals day and finally get their hands on the silverware, Southee would come into his own judging by his T20I and domestic T20 stats in New Zealand and would complement the attack very nicely – a miserly David Masters with a wicket taking Tim Southee at the other end would give The Eagles a superb new ball pairing that should pressure straight away on the opposition batsman.

If a deal is to be done it would have to be quick with Southee currently still at the world cup although even if New Zealand get to the final it would still leave a week before the start of the county championship season and should hopefully provide time for Southee to arrive for the first match vs Kent.

But what if Southee isn’t the man, what if ECCC are unable to find a suitable overseas replacement?  Should Eagles fans be concerned?  Whilst the batting is shored up with Cook and Bopara at our early season disposal, the bowling would look very good should Southee or ANOther not be recruited.  Of course Essex could go down the loan route as they did successfully with Andy Carter last season but with a fit Graham Napier, Maurice Chambers and of course fellow blogger Chris Wright, there should be enough seam bowling cover for 8 championship matches in the first two months of the new season.

County Structure From 2012

Today The ECB finally announced the structure of county cricket from the 2012 season.

The good news is the county championship will remain in it's current format and the T20 competition will revert back to 10 group games per county instead of 16.  The CB40 tournament has yet to be decided on and an independent review will take place before a decision is made in an ECB board meeting in May.  It appears the only suggestion other than keeping the ludicrous 3 groups of 7 teams which sees only 1 county sure to qualify from each group is to revert to the well liked FP Trophy format of previous seasons with 4 groups of 5 teams and a quarter-final stage meaning 2 teams from each group are able to progress.

Whilst the decisions made won't come as a surprise, it's a welcome relief to know the county championship will remain unchanged - the success of the England side in retaining The Ashes shows that 2 division cricket works and is enjoyed by members and supporters.

There's no doubt also that the T20 event is bloated and with games likely to be played on a weekly basis we should see quality rather than quantity and likewise the paying public will be more willing to part with their cash on a weekly or bi-weekly basis rather than twice or thrice a week.  Although Essex County Cricket Club will be one of a small number of counties unhappy at this, the ECB have "agreed a package of financial measures to ensure that counties will not suffer adverse economic impact from the reduction in the amount of one-day cricket" - I guess that means the Sky tv money is being put to use...

As for the CB40, a disappointing factor that won't change is making the competition a 50 over-a-side event once more.  Whilst I enjoy the 40 over format, 50 overs gives you a fascinating game as we've seen over the years plus during the current world cup and it would of course bring the county game back on a par with the international scene.

As it is, if I had the choice I'd prefer to see the 4 groups of 5 teams with a quarter-final stage restored because it would reduce the amount of meaningless games and with an insistence on playing the T20 during June and July, I guess you could see the CB40 split again with 4 group games per county played during April and May and the final 4 group matches and the knockout stages played in August and September.

Of course, if it were up to me I'd have the following county structure:

* County Championship - current 2 divisions/16 game format played Weds-Sat

* T20 - 3 regional groups of 6 counties/10 game format played mainly on Sundays

* CB40 - early season 40 overs played in April/May in old Pro40 league format with 2 divisions of 9 counties played on Sundays

* 50 Overs - old NatWest/FP Trophy 50 overs knockout re-introduced in August/September with a Lord's final guaranteeing late season one-day cricket on Sundays

We can but dream...

Welcome to Essex Cricket Blog!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Essex Cricket Blog.

As a huge Essex cricket supporter, I've started this blog to post my thoughts and feelings on the club and it's progress during the English county cricket season and will be bringing you opinions, match reports and news as The Eagles challenge for silverware in the three domestic competitions.

Please feel free to comment on my posts and offer suggestions because most of all I hope all my readers enjoy the blog.

TTFN