By doing a weekly round up of the whole County Championship for the last few years, I haven’t had the chance to write in detail about my team, Essex, I’ve written a yearly write up previously, but this year, just as we go into the really cold times, I’m going to go about it in a monthly way, with a round up of each match, with photos added in for good measure.
Middlesex v Essex
Essex started their season at Lord’s and I managed just a day, Day 2 on April 7th – and what a day it was! That’ll show in my photos, but first a round up of the whole game.
Toby Roland-Jones won the toss and put Essex in to bat, I somehow knew this would be the last year for Sir Alastair Cook, you’ll be able to tell that by the number of photos I took of him over the Summer! But for this match I wasn’t there in time, his was the 1st wicket to fall, he was out for 16 in the 8th over and Nick Browne followed him in the next for 22. Tom Westley, who had a great 2023 with the bat and Dan Lawrence put on 121 for the 3rd wicket, Westley made 48 from 129 balls and Lawrence went on to score 105 from 204 balls. Dan gives great celebration photos and I’m very glad I was there to capture his leap into the air! Matt Critchley scored a useful 55 from 104 balls. At the opposite end of the spectrum I also captured Shane Snater’s Golden Duck – sorry Shane! Essex batted for 93.1 overs and scored 266, just the 1 batting bonus point, in spite of 3 decent innings. Toby Roland-Jones took 7 for 61 in his 27.1 overs.
Middlesex had a horror start to their first innings and were 4 for 4, with none of those 4 runs coming from the bat! Jamie Porter took the first 3 wickets for no runs, before giving Sam Cook a sniff, he then took the 5th and his 4th wicket in just the 11th over. Middlesex were 20 fro 5 at that point. New signing Ryan Higgins and keeper John Simpson rebuilt the Middlesex innings, putting on 127 for the 6th wicket. Higgins made 70 from 127 balls and Simpson 63 from 183 balls. They went from 157 for 7 to 170 all out. Jamie Porter took 6 for 35 in his 15 overs as Middlesex were bolwed out in 63.3 overs.
I was at a rugby match on Day 3 but watching from afar, Matt Critchley’s was the key Essex innings he scored 53 from 80 balls as Essex were bowled out for 211 in 63.2 overs. Tim Murtagh to0ok 4 for 44 in his 15 overs.
Middlesex’s 2nd innings lasted a little longer but they were bowled out in 83 overs for 210, Porter took 3 for 34 and Cook 3 for 31. Essex won by 97 runs.
Essex v Lancashire
No photos for this one sadly, I was up in Scotland visiting family for this one.
Keaton Jennings won the toss for Lancashire and elected to bat. Jennings was the 2nd wicket to fall after his fellow opener Luke Wells was out in the 3rd over. Lancashire were 12 for 2, Porter hadf Well caught by Adam Rossington and Cook and Rossington combined for Jennings. Lancashire lost wickets steadily before Keeper George Bell stood firm, scoring 60 from 109 balls. They were bowled out fro 207 in 64.5 overs. Sam Cook took 5 for 42 in his 17.5 overs.
Essex lasted a little longer than Lancashire, 68.2 overs, they were bowled out for 219, Matt Critchley top scored with 78 from 154 balls. One James Anderson took 4 fro 70 in his 22 overs.
Lancashire’s 2nd innings went rather better for them, with Jennings falling just short of his century, he scored 96 from 201 balls, Bell added 56 from 113 balls as Lancashire declared on 351 for 7 in 85 overs.
Essex lost 4 wickets to see the day out, Tom Westley scored 43 from 120 balls and Critchley was 35* from 87 balls. The match was Drawn.
Kent v Essex
Nanny duties meant I missed this one too! ANd I love watching the battle between these 2 teams, how lockdown changed priorities! This was a one innings only match, due to the weather and it produced some big scores.
Tom Westley won the toss for Essex and elected to bat. Nick Browne scored 159 from 299 balls and Tom Westley 148 from 185 balls. Michael Pepper scored a rapid 52 from 52 balls as Essex declared on 451 for 5 in 97.4 overs! Maximum batting points!
Zajk Crawley was the star of the Kent innings, he scored 170 from 183 balls hitting 27 Fours as he went! That must’ve been some innings to witness! Kent made 342 for 7 in their 78 overs. The match was only ever going to be a Draw.
As an aside Surrey didn’t play over these 4 days.
365 Sporting Days 