MATCH PREVIEW: Essex v Lancashire
Lancashire are heading to Chelmsford to face the league leaders and the only team to win a match across the first two rounds of the Championship - across either division.
Essex v Lancashire
Vitality County Championship, Division One
Friday April 19 - Monday April 22, 2024, 11am
The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford
Some excellent batting on flat pitches against the Kookaburra ball, plus plenty of rain, has meant that both tables have a strange old look about them.
Every county has drawn two games from two, bar Essex and Nottinghamshire.
In round one, Essex beat Notts at Trent Bridge, owing much to 10 wickets in the match for England seam bowling hopeful Sam Cook. Last week, Essex drew a high-scoring home clash with Kent.
Lancashire have played some excellent cricket in drawing their first two games at home to champions Surrey and, most recently, away to Hampshire.
Captain Keaton Jennings has produced the standout performance so far with a brilliant 172 at the top of the order at Hampshire, while George Bell hit an excellent 99 - his career best first-class score to date.
A win on the ground which has recently had its ends renamed after legends Graham Gooch and Sir Alastair Cook would represent an extremely encouraging start to the summer, thank you very much.
Opposition:
Early pacesetters Essex have been one of English cricket’s most consistent forces in recent times.
They won the Championship title in 2017 and 2019 added to the shortened Bob Willis Trophy in 2020. Coach Anthony McGrath and co also won the Vitality Blast in 2019.
No longer have they got linchpin batting duo Sir Alastair Cook and Dan Lawrence, the former retired and the latter having gone to Surrey. But they are likely to still be a force this summer, as their early position at the Division One summit indicates.
South Africans Dean Elgar and Simon Harmer, the latter an Essex legend, fulfil their overseas spots, while wicketkeeper-batter Jordan Cox has signed from Kent. He is unlikely to take the gloves in this fixture.
Captained by Tom Westley, Essex are spearheaded by new ball duo Jamie Porter and Sam Cook, though the latter missed last week’s high-scoring draw against Kent at Chelmsford through injury.
Towering all-rounder Paul Walter also suffered a badly bruised toe in that match and didn’t bowl in either innings.
Opposing player to watch:
With almost 250 first-class matches and just shy of 16,800 runs to his name - 5,347 of those in 86 Tests for South Africa - in Dean Elgar, Essex may have found the ideal replacement for Sir Alastair Cook at the top of their order.
Elgar signed a three-year overseas deal with Essex in early January, a week after retiring from international cricket. In his penultimate Test over Christmas, he scored a match-winning 185 against India at Centurion.
Elgar is a determined left-hander who was captain of his country up until retirement.
He has previous county experience to his name with Somerset and Surrey, in fact winning the Championship title with the latter in 2018 when he played half a season, scoring 387 runs in seven matches.
The 36-year-old has started this summer well, with scores of 80 and 120 in two matches.
Previous meeting:
Lancashire and Essex played out an early-season draw at Chelmsford before the two counties reconvened at Blackpool’s Stanley Park in mid-July.
Unfortunately, for Lancashire, they suffered defeat - their only reverse of the season in four-day cricket.
In fairness, it was a thriller, both teams enjoying periods of success. Ultimately, the Red Rose just left themselves too much to do having conceded a first-innings lead of 137.
Captain Tom Westley hit a fine 135 after a heavily weather-affected first day. Essex posted 282 all out, including an excellent 6-59 from Tom Bailey.
However, his opposite number, Essex’s new ball seamer Sam Cook, claimed four wickets as Lancashire were struck down for 145 in reply on day two.
England’s Dan Lawrence matched his captain’s first-innings score, but much quicker off 125 balls to set up a declaration of 292-8 at the start of day four
Lancashire’s target of 430 in a day was certainly not out of the equation given the modern way of batting, and they gave it a go, knowing that they realistically needed a win to keep their title hopes alive following a series of draws.
At 155-1 in the 35th over, it was a definite possibility. Luke Wells made 75 and Josh Bohannon 68.
From there, Essex chipped away at the wickets. New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell finished with three, as did Lancashire-born leg-spinner Matt Critchley.
Rob Jones hit a superb middle order 111, and with him still there at 359-6 in the 84th over, the Red Rose were dreaming. Unfortunately Tom Hartley was the first of three wickets to fall for 17 runs, ending the contest - and Jones fell in the penultimate over to hand Essex a 46-run success.
What they said:
George Bell returns to a place which is quite close to his heart this weekend.
The 21-year-old Mancunian, fresh from an excellent 99 against Hampshire, is in line to make his third career Championship appearance at Chelmsford.
The wicketkeeper-batter made his first-class debut there in late 2022, scoring 16 and 24 in a two-day win which saw no total above 131. Make no mistake, his were valuable contributions from the middle order.
He then scored back-to-back half centuries in last season’s April draw at Chelmsford, where he also scored a Test century for England Under 19s against Sri Lanka in 2022, a month before that aforementioned first-class debut.
“It’s a good ground for me,” he said.
“I’ve played well there in the past, so hopefully that can continue. I’ve got fond memories of the place, and it will be nice getting back there.”
Captain Keaton Jennings used the word “heartbreak” to describe Bell missing out on a maiden century at Hampshire. But he also heaped praise on the youngster and backed him to reach the magical milestone sooner rather than later.
“If he keeps batting like that, he will get loads of runs in his career, I’ve absolutely no doubt,” said Jennings.
“I’m really happy for him. I wish he’d have got one more run, but it’s not to be.
“But I suppose with that downside, there will be a whole lot of learning that has come out of it. He will learn the handling of that negative with the score.
“It’s so easy to focus on the one run he didn’t get as opposed to the 99 he did. He just needs to keep going.”
How’s Stat!
No side has been bowled out for fewer by Lancashire than Essex’s 20 all out in the second innings of the 2013 Championship clash at Chelmsford.
Lancashire won the Division Two title that summer, and this was a bowling display of champions as they secured an innings and 105-run win inside three days.
In an incredible bowling performance, Glen Chapple took 5-9 and Kyle Hogg 4-11.