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.
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| 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...
