Tendo and Toppers impress

Tendo and Toppers shine amid the gloom

Essex's match with the Sri Lankans may have ended with a damp draw amid the dark clouds and rain but it certainly had some bright moments.

Ryan ten Doeschate recorded his highest score for Essex with 164 off 174 balls, showing the Flying Dutchman is in good nick as the next phase of Friends Life t20 games start again tomorrow with an away match again at Surrey at The Oval.

Also impressive (again) was Reece Topley, the young fast bowler who's made such an impression this season. The 17-year-old took four wickets for just 23 runs off 13.4 overs in Sri Lanka's first innings and struck twice again in his eight overs in their second innings before play was abandoned.

Despite his young age and only a handful of games, Toppers is causing quite a stir at the County Ground and is highly rated by the coaches there. His appearances so far this season have been limited by his school commitments. Roll on the summer holidays so he can turn out more regularly for Essex.

Brearley on Cook

The plaudits contine to oome in for Alastair Cook. Hot on the heels of his MBE comes insightful praise from one of England's finest ever captains, Mike Brearley. In a piece in today's Observer, Brearley identifies the qualities that make Cook such an impressive cricketer, qualities that don't always grab the headlines. Read it here

No maidens for Surrey game

Essex head for The Oval tomorrow night hoping to complete a London double after last week's defeat of Middlesex at Lord's. The game was going to be the first to feature "walk-on girls" accompanying batsmen to the wicket to "add a touch of glamour" but the idea was abandoned by Surrey's marketing team after an outcry by supporters. Hopefully the game will be exciting enough without the need for such gimmicks.

Honours and daddy hundreds

Cook's honour

Just a quickie today to say huzzah and hurrah for Alastair Cook for receiving an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

The Essex and England was rewarded for his amazing achievements on the Ashes tour over the winter as were England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower (formerly of Essex) who both got OBEs.

With his brilliant run of form, the England One Day captaincy and now this gong, Cooky must have banished all the doubts about him last summer. What a difference a year makes.

Daddy hundred for Tendo

After a tough day in the field yesterday, Essex looked to be in real trouble in the tourist match against Sri Lanka at Chelmsford today. The Sri Lankans posted 337 for nine and in response Essex were soon reduced to 24 for three with Godleman, Pettini and Bopara all falling cheaply.

Enter Ryan ten Doeschate. The Dutchman showed his class in a 195 run stand with Tom Westley before the latter fell for a close-but-no-cigar 99. Tendo went on to score 164 off just 174 balls, smashing 24 fours and a six along the way.

But when the Dutch all-rounder went with the score on 320, the innings crumbled with the last four wickets tumbling for just four runs to leave Essex on 328 for nine at the end of the day.

With just a day to go, a draw looks a certainty unless both sides agree to chase a result. But a good day for Tendo, unlike Ravi Bopara who would have hoped to rediscovered his batting touch against the tourists and impressed the selectors.

The People's Republic of Chelmsford

I wrote a piece for the Essex Chronicle and Brentwood Gazette on the 'twelfth man' effect of Fortress Chelmsford this week which those nice chaps on the sports desk were kind enough to use... you can read it here

Shah shines, hope for Ravi and Cooky's stats

After a prolonged hiatus, it’s back to the blog as the cricket season reaches its most exciting phase.

We’re two Tests into an intriguing series with Sri Lanka and there's the exciting prospect of the world's best Test side, India, coming to these shores later this summer.

Essex face the Sri Lankans in a tour match starting today, a good chance to take stock of the season so far as well as rest some players who have been toiling away for weeks with few breaks.

Shah shows his class

In the domestic game, the Friends Life t20 has whirred into action with all its accompanying thrills and spills. Four games in and Essex's tally is two losses and two defeats.

They looked in great nick against Gloucestershirer last Friday at Fortress Chelmsford. Bouncing back after a comprehensive defeat to Sussex the night before in Hove, the Eagles amassed a mighty 204 for four with Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, Ryan ten Doeschate and Scott Styrus all in good form with the bat.

If Gloucestershire were poor with the ball (even the great Murali was out of sorts), they were even worse with the bat and at one stage were four for three in reply. The writing was on the wall and they struggled on to 82 all out, losing by a huge 122 runs.

Sussex again proved Essex's undoing this week, laying siege to the hosts at Fortress Chelmsford, scoring heavily in their first 10 overs and then restricting Essex in the first half of their innings to ease to a 17 run win.

So Essex really needed to win last night at Lord's against Middlesex and they did so in style... despite the odd wobble. Middlesex's 150 for five looked a decent if gettable total but after losing Bopara and Pettini in the first two overs, the stage was set for Owais Shah's triumphant return to his former club.

In an innings of controlled aggression, Shah hit 78 not out off 50 balls to guide Essex to a five wicket win with two overs to spare. Great stuff from the former Middlesex man who no doubt felt he had a point to prove and did so in style, holding the Essex innings together after those early wickets.

Gus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket, was in the commentary box for the game for Radio Five Live Sports Extra and seemed to have only begrudging praise for Shah's match-winning innings. Shah will have been fired up for the game by the manner of his departure from Middlesex last year - he found out his contract was not being renewed via a local newspaper rather than the club.

Still, Middlesex's lost is Essex's gain and Shah looks a class act with former Essex man Alex Tudor, also on the Five Live commentary last night, saying he could still see him breaking back into the England team.


Ravi's progress

On the subject of the England team, I managed to grab a chat with national selector Geoff Miller this week. He's part of a cricket night coming to the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch later this month along with Aggers, Mike Gatting and cricket writer and broadcaster Ralph Dellor.

I asked Geoff about Essex's England men, Alistair Cook and Ravi Bopara, and he was effusive in his praise of the former, saying how highly he was rated by the England management, especially after his magnificent Ashes series over the winter.

On the Ravi front, Miller said the batting all-rounder was still a part of his plans but needed to be more consistent. The encouraging news for RavBop was thatthe national selector believes he brings something different to the Test team with his bowling, something that Eoin Morgan, the current number six, obviously doesn't offer.

Ravi is one of the few regular Essex first team players to face Sri Lanka over the next three days. After a couple of iffy weeks with the bat he'll be looking to show the selectors what he can do again - and what better way to do it then against a touring Test side?

Essex are giving some of their younger bowlers a game against the tourists and I also asked Miller if he'd had a chance to see much of Maurice Chambers and Reece Topley in action.

He said he thought Chambers had a lot of potential but needed to turn that potential into results now and described 17-year-old Topley as "an exciting propspect" who he'll be keeping an eye on.

Also in the Essex squad against Sri Lanka are Max Osbourne and Tymal Mills, two academy players who look to be very promising, as well as Tom Craddock, a 21-year-old spinner signed on a trial basis from the Unicorns after impressing in CB40 games against Essex. It looks like the Sri Lanka game could be a good chance to see some Essex stars of the future.

Cooking the books

Alastair Cook has developed a knack for re-writing the record books recently. His exploits Down Under in the Ashes (766 and all that) and since then have had the cricket geeks busily flicking through their facts and figures and some interesting stats have emerged.

Cook's average in his last 10 Test innings is a shade over 122 as opposed to the rather more modest 22.6 he was averaging in the 10 Tests before that. It shows just how much he's turned things round after his indifferent summer last year.Upping your average by a 100 is not bad going!

Cook is now at number eight in the all-time list of England's century makers with 18 tons, just one behind his captain Andrew Strauss and four behind the number one, Wally Hammond.

Abd un the list of top 10 centurions before the age of 27, Cook is only behind Sachin Tendulkar. Not bad for a lad that learned his trade at Maldon Cricket Club.

Fozzy's Big Dash

Finally, don't forget James Foster's Big Bash next Saturday, June 18, a t20 match between an Essex side and an All Star XI that will include the likes of Mutiah Muralitharan, Darren Gough, Monty Panesar, Luke Wright and Phil Defreitas. It's a great chance to support the Essex captain during his benefit year as well as see some top players in action. Details here

You can also support Fozzy by buying his beer! The Golden Fleece in Chelmsford is stocking this special ale by Brentwood Brewing Company and the skipper made a mad dash from the County Ground to the pub the other Friday (after helping Essex draw their Championship game with Middlesex) to launch Fozzy's Beer. It's on tap at the Fleece now and is a rather fruity little number!

Under leaden skies...

Collapso cricket

The sun may be shining but it's hard to see any silver linings in the dark clouds that have engulfed Essex's start to the season.

Two comprehensive championships defeats to Kent and Middlesex have resulted from batting collapses.

At Lord's, Essex were bowled out twice in one day last Friday, having to follow on after a first innings total of just 115.

They offered a little more resistence in their second innings, making 215, but Middlesex wrapped up the game within the hour on the third day under the watchful gaze of Old Father Time.

Few batsmen came out of the game with much credit but Tom Westley managed 36 and 59 in those low totals while Jaik Mickleburgh got 41 in the second innings.

Having suggested before the season that it was the bowling rather than the batting that needed bolstering, it's been a surprise to see a line-up that boasts experienced hands like Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, James Foster and Matt Walker capitulate so cheaply four times this season.

What's been even more galling amidst this batting chaos has been seeing Essex old boys like Varuna Chopra, Will Jefferson and James Middlebrook amassing runs for their counties.

It seems likely that former captain Mark Pettini will return to the team to stiffen the batting and no doubt he'll feel he has a point to prove after being left out of the first two games.

The one silver lining in these dark days has been the emergence of Reece Topley as bowler to be reckoned with. In Middlesex's first innings he took five wickets to go with his similar haul in Kent's second innings at Chelmsford.

With South African bowler Lonwabo 'Lopsy' Tsotsobe now with the team, Paul Grayson's side will want to stop the rot and chalk up their first win of the seasson... but this won't be an easy prospect away to early Division Two leaders Northamptonshire.

But I think Essex are due a bit of both luck and form. The top order must be itching to notch up some runs and with two young left arm pace bowlers in Lopsy and Toppers in the attack alongside the ever-reliable David Masters, I reckon it'll be third time lucky for Fozzie's men in this year's Championship game.

Our man in the commentary box

Essex cricket fans should get down to the Cramphorn Theatre, Chelmsford tomorrow night (Thursday) for comedian Miles Jupp's show Fibber in the Heat. It's the story of how he decided after the final day of that wonderful Ashes series at the Oval in 2005 that he wanted to become a cricket correspondent... and promptly set about doing so by pretending he was one!

Jupp regales the tales of mishaps and misadventures as he gets press accreditation for England's tour of India and find out that being a cricket fan and a cricket commentator are two very different things.

When I intervied Jupp he said the whole thing was a mixture of comedy and awkward moments and it made him realise how hard cricket correspondents have to work. In short, he says, it's much better to be a fan!

You can read my interview here and I'll be going along to the show tomorrow so will post my thoughts on it afterwards.

Top stuff from Toppers in topsy-turvey opener

Top of the class

In years to come it'll be a question in the sports round of pub quizzes across the
country: Which cricketer got a five-for and a pair on his first class county debut?
Reece Topley, Essex's newest county cap, bears that distinctive honour.
The 17-year-old made quite a mark on his Championship bow, taking a wicket in his first over, bagging 5 for 46 in Kent's second innings and completing the dubious accolade of being out for nought in both innings.
While he'll be disappointed that Essex lost, young Toppers can be very pleased with his contribution to this match.A product of the Essex Academy, the teenager has only just broken up from school for the Easter holidays - it shows how highly rated he is by the Essex management that he was thrown in the deep end against Kent, ahead of an experienced pro like Chris Wright.
Topley has pedigree of course. He's the son of former Essex paceman and Zimbabwe coach Don Topley, himself a Kent native whose brother Peter played for the Garden of England side.
A 6ft 7in left-armer who swings the ball into the right-handed batsman, you can imagine young Topley being a handful... indeed, experienced Kent batters like Rob Key, Joe Denly and Geraint Jones certaintly did.
After a topsy-turvy game in which Essex had chances to take control, Topley must be a shoo-in for the next Championship game against Middlesex at Lord's starting Thursday where he's likely to line-up alongside new South African signing Lonwabo Tsotsobe, another left-armed pace bowler.
What games he plays after the Middlesex match very much depends on what he can fit around school, but one thing's for sure - he's got top marks for Essex so far.

Here we go again

Blues skies, blazing sun, after the gloom of last week, the cricket season starts today on this glorious spring morning. There is nothing quite like the anticipation of a new domestic cricket season and the promise of sunny days spent watching the glorious game unfold in all its modern variations

Perhaps more than most sports, cricket is bound with its own past, with a sense of nostalgia about halcyon days and endless summers. But the reality of the new season is times are tougher than ever for counties and that a good campaign can help swell the coffers of clubs that might otherwise struggle financially.


Bouncebackability

After relegation from the first division of the LV= County Championship, Essex will want (like Alan Partridge) to bounce back and they start their Division Two campaign today with a home match against Kent. Paul Grayson’s side will want to put down a marker for the season early on, a statement of intent. They’re one of the favourites to get promotion so they'll be keen to get off to a winning start.

The Cook report

Essex warmed up for today’s County Championship opener with a jolly outing to Cambridge for a university match at Fenner’s earlier in the week. A useful loosener for bowlers and batters, it saw Alastair Cook show he was still in good nick after his run fest in the Ashes during the winter. After that amassing of 766 runs against Ricky Ponting’s team Down Under, Cook bagged a second innings century against Cambridge and at Essex’s press day on Tuesday said he still had the same hunger to score runs, whether it be for his county or country.

Some cricketers find it hard to motivate themselves when they go back to the shires after international duty, but Cook seems to be like his mentor and coach, Graham Gooch - he loves to score runs, preferably ‘daddy hundreds’ as Gooch calls them. Unlike the rest of the England team who are, by all accounts, exhausted after spending the whole winter away, Cook is raring to go.

In fact he’s so keen, he underwent a rather unusual training regime while his England team-mates were getting a tonking in the One Day Series in Australia. On frost-bitten mornings in January, Cook and Mark Pettini would be up before 6am to undergo "The Triangle" under Gooch’s supervision at his home in Fryerning. This involves running a triangular route through the woods with a sack of bricks on your back with Gooch on his bike making sure you keep up the pace. Extraordinary stuff.

It would seem Cook is also motivated by not being picked for England’s One Day side. The rest from cricket may have done him good but he admitted he was disappointed not to be part of the squad for the ODIs in Australia or the World Cup. But England’s loss is Essex’s gain so it’ll good to have him around for the first couple of months of the season before the Tests against Sri Lanka and India.

A lot has been written about Cook’s achievements over the winter but surely there can be no greater accolade than being the cover star of the latest edition of the cricket bible, Wisden.

Ravi steps up

Hats off too to Ravi Bopara, not only for being Essex’s newly appointed vice-captain but also for turning down £100,000 to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Rajasthan Royals, preferring instead to turn out for his county and try to establish himself back in the England set-up.

Ravi has a bit of a reputation for being disorganised and admitted himself this week to being a bit dopey sometimes. But Graham Gooch rates him as the most talented batsman he’s worked with so the vice-captaincy could give RavBop the right focus and motivation to really concentrate on his cricket.

New blood

With a few comings and goings in the close season along with Ryan ten Doeschate and Essex newbie Owais Shah being away on IPL duty for the next few weeks, it’ll be interesting to see if some of Essex’s younger players can assert themselves in the side.

Paul Grayson has named a 12 man squad for the Kent encounter which includes up-and-coming players like Jaik Mickleburgh, Tom Westley and 17-year-old fast bowler Reece (son of Don) Topley. Topley impressed in the match against Cambridge, his debut first class appearance, taking 3 for 48 in the drawn match. Could Topley and Maurice Chambers make for a potent young strike bowling partnership for the future?

Meanwhile, Essex have just confirmed the signing of South African bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe on a short term contract. A left arm paceman, Lonwabo has just climbed up the ICC ODI rankings to number six after the World Cup. He's expected to join the Essex team for their second Championship game against Middlesex next Thursday.

Tsotsobe will be with Essex until the start of the T20 campaign when Scott Styris returns to the county fold.

Indian adventure

Not only is it the start of the domestic cricket season today, the IPL returns as well. The fourth series of the lucrative franchise comes hot on the heels of India winning the World Cup on home turf so no doubt cricket fever will be at an all-time high in the Sub-Continent.

So while their county colleagues face Kent, Ryan ten Doeschate and Owais Shah will be embarking on Indian adventures in the IPL.

Tendo is making his debut in the competition, playing for David Hasselhoff’s Kolkata Knight Riders alongside the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Brad Haddin, Yusuf Pathan, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis while Shah will be playing for his third IPL team, new franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala, along with Mahel Jayawardene, WS Laxman, Muttiah Muralitharan and Brendon McCullum.

How exciting it must be turning out alongside those great players in packed stadiums... and a bit of a contrast to the opening salvos of the county season with its breezy days and half empty grounds.

Tendo’s Knight Riders play Chennai Super Kings today while Shah’s Tuskers face Royal Challengers Bangalore tomorrow… and the good news is you can watch the games live on ITV4 and at www.itv.com

There’s just no escaping cricket today! Hooray!

Season's greetings

Here we go again...

Leaden skies, a keen breeze, the smell of rain in the air... it can only mean one thing. The cricket season is about to start again, although you may think it never really ended.

Internationally, it certainly didn't with England's cricketers heading Down Under for the Ashes and an interminable ODI series followed by the World Cup in the Indian Sub-Continent (which has been brilliant if a bit long-winded).

But the domestic season starts next week so up and down the country preparations are being made. Grass is being cut, pitches are being rolled, bats and pads are being dusted off.

Essex face old rivals Kent in their first Championship game of the season, starting next Friday, April 8 at the County Ground.

James Foster's men have just completed a two day warm-up match against Worcestershire on home turf and then head to Fenners for a three day encounter with Cambridge MCCU before things begin in earnest against their Estuarine neighbours.

Essex coach Paul Grayson has already made it clear that promotion back to Division One of the LV Championship is a priority for the season and the team will also hope to continue their good form of recent years in one day competitions.

Grayson has been looking to strengthen the squad over the winter and the signing of Owais Shah will be a welcome boost to the batting line-up while the return of New Zealander Scott Styris for the Friends Provident t20 competition will bolster an already strong one day team.

Where Essex seem to lack a little at the moment is in the bowling department. In the Championship last season they had trouble knocking teams over twice and with Danish Kaneria now out of the picture, they need a bowler with real menace.

Aussie quick Peter Siddle was set to join Essex for the start of the season, due to play eight Championship games as well as a large chunk of t20 and Clydesdale Bank 50 matches. But Siddle has now pulled out and Essex's back-up option, Kiwi Tim Southee, has signed up for the IPL meaning the county are a week away from the start of the season without an overseas signing.

The club are desperately trying to find a strike bowler to lead the attack so it'll be interesting to see who, if anyone, they can find in the next few days. It would seem Andre 'Gunther' Nel is out of the question.

All hail Murali

It's the Cricket World Cup final tomorrow. of course, and it promises to be a brilliant climax to an enjoyable tournament as India take on Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

Both teams have played brilliant cricket at times during the last few weeks and it looks to be an intriguing encounter and hard to call who will win. I shall certainly be tuning into Test Match Special in the morning for what is all set up to be a classic.

Most notably, it will be the last time two greats of the modern game face each other. Master of spin Muttiah Muralitharan, the world's leading wicket-taker, and Sachin Tendulkar, the world's best batsman, go head to head as they both near the end of their careers.

For Murali, it's his last international game for Sri Lanka and he couldn't ask for a bigger stage for his last hurrah. A warm, humble man, he's been befuddling batsmen for years with his wild eyes, extraordinary action and mastery of the art of spin.

There's a great piece on Murali by The Guardian's Mike Selvey here which salutes not only his achievements but his qualities as a man.

Although he won't be touring England with Sri Lanka this summer, there's still a chance to catch Murali in action in the coming weeks. He'll be playing in t20 matches for Gloucestershire Gladiators so I'll be heading down to watch him play when they come to Essex on Friday, June 3. I've never seen the great man bowl, so this could be my last chance.

Non-stop cricket

As the Championship season starts, so does this year's IPL. I remember playing a game at school called non-stop cricket where the bowling and batting just continued on a rolling basis and that's how it must feel for a lot of the top players these days.

The unrelenting schedule of touring and playing abroad can certainly take its toll and we've seen how it can adversely effect individuals.

Essex's Ryan ten Doeschate has signed up for this year's IPL and before he jetted off to India he told the Essex Chronicle's David Arnold about how tough it can be when you're on the road all the time.

Tendo has had a brilliant year for Essex and various teams in Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Australia as well as starring for the Netherlands in the World Cup. His fantastic form has earned him a IPL call-up but he admits he's found the constant travelling and living out of a suitcase can be demoralising at times.

You can read David's excellent interview with Tendo here

I'm looking forward to watching the IPL and hopefully will be able to catch Tendo in action for the Kolkata Knight Riders (I wonder if David Hasselhoff is involved?) during ITV's coverage of the tournament.

But what's really whetting my cricket appetite is getting down to the County Ground in Essex to smell the freshly cut grass and hear the sweet thack of willow on leather.

I can't wait.