Essex County Cricket Club

Honours

First XI honours

• County Championship (8) – 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 2017, 2019 :Division Two (2) – 2002, 2016
• Sunday/Pro 40 League (5) – 1981, 1984, 1985, 2005, 2006 :Division Two (1) – 2008
• Refuge Assurance Cup (1) - 1989
• Gillette/NatWest/C&G/Friends Provident Trophy (3) – 1985, 1997, 2008
• Twenty20 Cup (1) - 2019
• Benson & Hedges Cup (2) – 1979, 1998
• Bob Willis Trophy (1) – 2020

Second XI honours

• Second XI Championship (1) – 1973; shared (0) -
• Second XI Trophy (0) –
• Minor Counties Championship (0) – ; shared (0) -

Earliest cricket in Essex

It is almost certain that cricket reached Essex by the 16th century and that it developed during the 17th century with inter-parish matches being played. The first definite mention of cricket in connection with the county is a highly controversial match in 1724 between Chingford and Mr Edwin Stead's XI, which is recorded in The Dawn of Cricket by H. T. Waghorn. The venue is unknown but, if it was at Chingford, it is also the earliest reference to cricket being played in Essex as well as by an Essex team. The game echoed an earlier one in 1718 as the Chingford team refused to play to a finish when Stead's team had the advantage. A court case followed and, as in 1718, it was ordered to be played out, presumably so that all wagers could be fulfilled. Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case, and he ordered them to play it out on Dartford Brent, though it is not known if this was the original venue. The game was completed in 1726.

The earliest reference to Essex in a team name is dated July 1732, when a combined Essex & Hertfordshire team played against London. In July 1737, there was London v Essex at the Artillery Ground, London winning by 45 runs. In a return game at Ilford on 1 August 1737, Essex won by 7 runs. References are then occasional until 1785 when the Hornchurch Cricket Club became prominent. Hornchurch had a strong team that was arguably representative of Essex as a county, and the sources differ among themselves on that point as both Essex and Hornchurch were used as the team name. Essex played in important matches until 1794, after which the county abruptly disappeared from the records for a long time. An Essex club was formed to play some minor matches in 1860. They held an Annual General Meeting in 1861, but there are no further references until 1876.

Club history

Essex County Cricket Club was formed on 14 January 1876 at a meeting in the Shire Hall, Chelmsford. The new club had minor status initially, and played its inaugural first-class match on 14, 15 & 16 May 1894 against Leicestershire at Leyton. It was also Leicestershire's inaugural first-class match, and they won by 68 runs. Essex failed to win any of their inter-county matches that season.

Essex, Leicestershire, and Warwickshire joined the County Championship in 1895. In Essex's first match, James Burns scored 114 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston—the first century for Essex in first-class cricket. George Frederick Higgins scored their second century in the same match, putting on 205 with Burns for the fourth wicket. The club made a high score of 692 against Somerset with the veteran Bunny Lucas scoring 145, but the most notable feat was by Walter Mead who took 17/119 against Hampshire at Southampton.

Essex improved rapidly from 1895, so that by 1897 they were in the running for the Championship, only losing it when Surrey beat them at Leyton. They fell off after this despite beating a fine Australian team on a dubious pitch in 1899, never finishing higher than sixth between 1899 and 1932. Their batting on Leyton's excellent pitches was generally good with the "Essex Twins" of Perrin and McGahey and the sound and skilful Jack Russell, but the bowling depended too much on Mead, Buckenham and later Douglas and when available Louden.

With the decline of these players, Essex fell to some of their lowest levels ever during the late 1920s. Their bowlers conceded over 40 runs a wicket in 1928 – about the highest ever with uncovered pitches. The emergence of Jack O'Connor, Stan Nichols and when available, the amateur fast bowlers Ken Farnes and Hopper Read, though, made Essex during the 1930s a dangerous if inconsistent side. They finished as high as fourth in 1933, and owing to their pace bowling maintained almost as high a standard up to the outbreak of war. The batting, however, tended to depend too much upon O'Connor and a number of amateurs who were rarely available, and Essex lost too many games to break the North's stronghold on the Championship.

After World War II Essex fell off, taking their first wooden spoon in 1950. During this period it was left to Trevor Bailey to do all the pace bowling, and he was often unavailable due to Test calls, whilst spinner Peter Smith was frequently overbowled until he retired in 1951 – thus a strong batting line-up led by Bailey and Doug Insole could seldom win games. Not until 1957 did Essex come back into the top half of the table, but Bailey and Barry Knight never had support of sufficient class to permit them to reach the top of the table, even when Robin Hobbs became England's last successful leg-spinner late in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, with overseas players now permitted, Essex were able to gradually strengthen their team to achieve much more than they ever had before. This decade saw the advent of Graham Gooch, one of England's finest opening batsmen, even though he began his Test career with a pair against Australia in 1975. He didn't return to the England team until 1978, but after a slow start began to assert his dominance over Test bowlers as he had on the county scene. Dedicated to training, he forced his burly physique through a tough regime to prolong his career long after some of his contemporaries had retired.

Along with Gooch, county captain and England batsman Keith Fletcher built a powerful eleven in the late 1970s that dominated domestic cricket from 1979 to 1992, when Essex won six of thirteen County Championship titles. The bowling in the first half of this period was borne by tireless left arm seamer John Lever and spinner and prankster Ray East. The South African Ken McEwan and Fletcher were the best batsmen after Gooch. As Lever declined, England all rounder Derek Pringle and fast bowler Neil Foster took over, whilst John Childs crossed from Gloucestershire to take over as the chief spinner.

In the 1990s, Essex had more internationals, including Nasser Hussain, who captained England in several series. Bowlers Mark Ilott and Peter Such earned caps, as well as wicket keeper James Foster. Ashley Cowan toured the West Indies in 1997/98 without playing an international match. Essex were also able to sign England fast bowlers Darren Gough and Alex Tudor, after they left Yorkshire and Surrey respectively.

Led by all-rounder Ronnie Irani Essex won the National League Division 1 title in 2005, their first major title in eight years.

In 2006, Essex successfully defended their National League title in the newly rebranded Pro40 format by the narrowest of margins, having tied for the title on points. The club missed out on promotion in the County Championship only on the last day of the season, losing to Leicestershire while their rivals Worcestershire beat Northamptonshire. In that season's Twenty20 Cup Essex beat Yorkshire to reach the semi-finals at Trent Bridge, where they were beaten by eventual tournament winners Leicestershire. Essex also had Twenty20 success in the first floodlit Twenty20 Tournament, held between the four teams with permanent floodlights, in a series of 2 legged matches. Essex beat Derbyshire 1–0, after the first leg was washed out, and they won the second leg convincingly.

Essex were promoted back to Division One for the 2010 season. Essex won the County Championship in 2017 and 2019, and won the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020. Essex won the 2019 T20 Blast, beating Worcestershire Rapids in the final. Captain and player of the match Simon Harmer hit the winning runs and took 3-16.

Home grounds

The club currently plays all its home games at Chelmsford – Colchester's cricket festival has been suspended since the 2017 season.

• County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford
• Lower Castle Park, Colchester

Players

Current squad

• No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
• denotes players with international caps.
• denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.

Essex players with international caps

Essex county cricketers who have during their career also represented their national team in Test cricket, One Day International cricket or Twenty20 International cricket. England

• England Ronnie Irani
• England Graham Gooch
• England Keith Fletcher
• England Jack Russell
• England Stan Nichols
• England Ravi Bopara
• England Nasser Hussain
• England Alastair Cook
• England Barry Knight
• England James Foster
• England Neil Foster
• England Nick Knight
• England Darren Gough
• England Paul Grayson
• England Adam Hollioake
• England Mark Ilott
• England Alex Tudor
• England Jason Gallian
• England John Lever
• England Walter Mead
• England Claude Buckenham
• England Jack O'Connor
• England Johnny Douglas
• England Frederick Fane
• England Charlie McGahey
• England Paul Gibb
• England Mike Denness
• England Aftab Habib
• England John Stephenson
• England Jim Laker
• England Derek Pringle
• England Martin Saggers
• England Peter Such
• England Owais Shah
• England Sajid Mahmood
• England Reece Topley
• England Monty Panesar
• England Tymal Mills
• England Ben Foakes
• England Trevor Bailey
• England John Childs
• England Doug Insole
• England Peter Smith
• England Ken Farnes
• England Neil Williams
• England Sailor Young
• England Hopper Read
• England Tom Westley
• England Dan Lawrence
• England Robin Hobbs
• England Jordan Cox
• England Liam Dawson
• England Sam Cook

India

• IND Harbhajan Singh
• IND Murali Vijay
• IND Gautam Gambhir
• IND Khaleel Ahmed Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Tamim Iqbal

Australia

• AUS Mark Waugh
• AUS Andy Bichel
• AUS Bruce Francis
• AUS Michael Kasprowicz
• AUS Stuart Law
• AUS Allan Border
• AUS Merv Hughes
• AUS Bryce McGain
• AUS Rob Quiney
• AUS Shaun Tait
• AUS Peter Siddle
• AUS Adam Zampa
• AUS Daniel Sams
• AUS Beau Webster

Pakistan

• Pakistan Mohammad Akram
• Pakistan Mohammad Amir
• Pakistan Danish Kaneria
• Pakistan Saleem Malik
• Pakistan Wahab Riaz
• Pakistan Sadiq Mohammad

Netherlands

• Netherlands Ryan ten Doeschate
• Netherlands Shane Snater

Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Andy Flower
• Zimbabwe Grant Flower

South Africa

• South Africa Hashim Amla
• South Africa Simon Harmer
• South Africa Dean Elgar
• South Africa Lee Irvine
• South Africa Dale Steyn
• South Africa André Nel
• South Africa Lonwabo Tsotsobe
• South Africa Alviro Petersen
• South Africa Charl Willoughby
• South Africa Eathan Bosch

West Indies

• BAR Keith Boyce
• BAR Bertie Clarke
• Dominica Norbert Phillip
• Trinidad and Tobago Dwayne Bravo

New Zealand

• NZ Andre Adams
• NZ Chris Martin
• NZ Tim Southee
• NZ Scott Styris
• NZ James Franklin
• NZ Hamish Rutherford
• NZ Jesse Ryder
• NZ Neil Wagner
• NZ Jimmy Neesham
• NZ Doug Bracewell

Sri Lanka

• SL Kasun Rajitha

Scotland

• SCO Mackenzie Jones

Ireland

• Ireland Curtis Campher

Records

Most first-class runs for Essex

Qualification – 20,000 runs

Most first-class wickets for Essex

Qualification – 1,000 wickets

References

Bibliography

References

1. (11 January 1861). "The Essex County Cricket Club". Chelmsford Chronicle.
2. "Essex v Leicestershire". CricketArchive.
3. Pardon, Sydney H.; '''John Wisden's Cricketers’ Almanac'''; Thirty-Fifth Edition (1898); pp. 45 and 56
4. ^ Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; pp. 55–58 {{ISBN. 072701868X
5. Wynne-Thomas, Peter. (1983). "The Hamlyn AZ of Cricket Records". The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.
6. (12 November 2009). "Essex 'patient' on player search". BBC Sport.
7. "County Championship Division One Table - 2017". ESPN.
8. "County Championship Division One Table - 2019". ESPN.
9. (27 September 2020). "Bob Willis Trophy final: Essex draw with Somerset but take inaugural title". BBC Sport.
10. (21 September 2019). "T20 Blast final: Essex Eagles beat Worcestershire Rapids to win title for first time". BBC Sport.
11. (29 November 2018). "Colchester Cricket Festival suspended again next season".
12. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com.
13. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com.