MATCH PREVIEW: Essex v Lancashire
Lancashire, led by centurion Josh Bohannon, produced an impressive rearguard batting display on Sunday’s fourth day to secure an opening round draw against champions Surrey at Emirates Old Trafford.
Essex v Lancashire
LV= Insurance County Championship, Division One
The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford
Thursday April 13 - Sunday April 16, 2023 (11am)
Now they head to Chelmsford looking to build on that foundation with a second successive win at that venue after last September’s remarkable two-day win when the highest total of the match was 131.
Jimmy Anderson is hoping to begin an Ashes summer by facing his great mate and long-time England Test colleague, Sir Alastair Cook.
Essex won their opening round fixture against Middlesex at Lord’s last week, by 97 runs. That was a low-scoring affair, but not to the extent of the Lancashire game last September.
They posted 266 in the first innings, bowled Middlesex out for 170 in reply and controlled the game from there.
Opponents:
Essex are a county with a rich recent history when it comes to four-day cricket, winning county cricket’s top prize three out of fours years from 2017; twice Championship winners and also Bob Willis Trophy champions.
However, they have not really challenged for the title in the last two seasons, finishing fourth in Division One last summer.
They are captained and coached by two former England internationals. Batter Tom Westley is their captain, while Anthony McGrath is their coach.
They have plenty of experience in their team in the form of overseas spinner Simon Harmer and England legend Sir Alastair Cook amongst others, while Sam Cook is one of the most highly-rated young seamers in England and batter Dan Lawrence is hoping for a good start to the summer to push himself into Ashes contention, and a first-innings 105 at Lord’s was the ideal way to start.
The Chelmsford side signed New Zealand all-rounder Doug Bracewell on a 10-game Championship spell when Australian Will Sutherland was ruled out injured. Seamer and lower order batter Bracewell supplements Harmer’s high-quality off-spin and is expected to debut in this fixture.
Netherlands international seamer Shane Snater - he gives it a whack down the order with the bat as well - is also a dangerous customer and was their player of the year last year.
Supplementing Lawrence’s century, new ball seamer Jamie Porter shone at Lord’s with 6-35 in the first innings and 3-34 in the second.
Opposing player to watch:
Late last summer, England Lions seamer Sam Cook claimed his 200th first-class wicket in record-breaking fashion during a win over Yorkshire at Headingley.
He became the first English bowler in more than half a century to bring up the double hundred at an average under 20, achieving a feat last secured by Derbyshire's Alan Ward in 1971.
Aged 25, Little Chef, as he is known at Chelmsford - Sir Alastair is just Chef, is a skilful rather than pacy new ball bowler who will no doubt be seen as an heir to Jimmy Anderson’s throne when the Lancashire legend finally decides to hang up his bowling boots.
Cook, who toured Sri Lanka with the Lions earlier this year, has a first-class career best of 7/23 to his name. He claimed four wickets in the match against Middlesex.
Previous meeting:
The penultimate round of last season’s Championship saw Lancashire win a quite remarkable fixture at Chelmsford, by 38 runs inside two days.
Less than 130 overs were bowled in a contest which didn’t see a team total above 131 and no batter reached 50.
Lancashire, having elected to bat, were bowled out for 131 before restricting their visitors to 107 in reply on day one - Tom Bailey claimed 5-36 with the new ball.
Day One ended with Lancashire 25-6 second time around, and Shane Snater finished with 6-10 to bowl the visitors out for 73, helping ensure his side were chasing a target of only 98.
However, George Balderson proved the match-winner with a stunning hat-trick, started by the wicket of Sir Alastair Cook bowled, to bowled Essex out for just 59.
Balderson finished with 5-14 from seven overs, while Will Williams claimed 4-24 from 8.2.
What they said:
Lancashire fans could see a fair bit of Jimmy Anderson in the LV= Insurance County Championship this summer, despite his Ashes commitments.
Anderson is set to return to county action at Chelmsford this week as he bids to get Lancashire up and running in Division One before leaving to begin’s England home Test programme against Ireland at Lord’s on June 1.
England’s Ashes series then wraps up on July 31.
"The way the fixtures are laid out, I could potentially play four games at the start,” said Anderson.
“I'll play (rounds) two and three and then we have a week off and play four and five. Then we're into the Blast, which I won't be featuring in. Exclusive!”
“After the Ashes, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to feature at the end. Hopefully we'll still be in a position by then to challenge to win the Championship. A lot of that depends on how we start over the next few weeks.
"I love coming back here, yeah. For me, I've not played a lot for Lancashire because I've played so much for England.
“Every time I come back here, I want to do well and make sure I make an impact because I feel I owe a lot to the club because of where they got me to.”
On Lancashire’s chances of silverware in 2023, Anderson added: "I feel like last year we were so close in all competitions. To be consistent in the way we were was great but frustrating. This year, the lads want to go that one step further.
"You really get the feeling there's a hunger for it.
"We've strengthened really well through the two overseas players we've brought in (Colin de Grandhomme and Daryl Mitchell). They add to the squad nicely.
"We're in a great position to put ourselves in those positions again. But nothing's a given. We have to put in the same hard work as last year.”
Josh Bohannon made 108 and shared 163 for the third wicket with Steven Croft (56 not out) on Sunday.
He said: “We take a lot of positives from that second innings moving forwards.
“Essex are another great attack. There are a lot of good bowlers around on the county circuit now, and everything’s a challenge. No first-class runs are easy.
“But it’s a challenge we’re ready for.”
How’s Stat:
Last season’s Championship match at Chelmsford saw just 750 balls bowled across a little over four sessions.
But that’s nothing on the shortest ever Championship match, between Middlesex and Somerset at Lord’s in 1899. That lasted only 350 balls as Middlesex won by an innings and seven runs inside two days.
Somerset made 35 first innings before Middlesex replied with 86. They then bowled their visitors out for 44 second time around.
Albert Trott, who played Test cricket for both England and Australia, claimed 11 wickets in the match.
2023 Membership
Never Miss a Moment and join the Red Rose Family to unlock endless experiences.
We have NEW options to suit supporters of all types, and a range of new exclusive benefits.