Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when it was promoted to first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895, since then the team has played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. Essex currently play all their home games at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. The club has formerly used other venues throughout the county including Lower Castle Park in Colchester, Valentines Park in Ilford,

Leyton Cricket Ground Leyton Cricket Ground (formerly known as the County Ground or the Lyttelton Ground) is a cricket ground in Leyton, London. The ground was the headquarters and main home match venue of Essex County Cricket Club from 1886 until 1933, and was als ...

, the Gidea Park Sports Ground in Romford, and Garon Park and Southchurch Park, both in Southend. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles.

Honours

First XI honours

* County Championship (8) – 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 2017, 2019 :''Division Two'' (3) – 2002, 2016, 2021 * 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 Henry Thomas Waghorn (11 April 1842 – 30 January 1930), was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: ''The Dawn of Cricket'' and Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730 - 1773 ...

. 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 Mr 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. We know that Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case and that 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 a team called Essex is in July 1732 when a combined Essex & Herts team played against the London Cricket Club. 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. This club had a strong team that was representative of Essex as a county. However, the sources differed among themselves re whether the team should be called Essex or Hornchurch. But there is no doubt that Essex was a First-Class county from 1785 until 1794, after which the county strangely and abruptly disappeared from the records for a long time. An Essex CCC was formed and held fixtures in 1860 and held an Annual General Meeting in 1861, but no further reference is seen until 1876.

Club history

Essex CCC were formed on 14 January 1876 at a meeting in the Shire Hall, Chelmsford. The new club did not become First-Class until 1894, playing its inaugural first-class match on 14, 15 & 16 May 1894 against Leicestershire CCC at Leyton. It was the initial First-Class match played by either club, and Essex failed to win a match against any other county. In 1895, both of these clubs and Warwickshire CCC joined the County Championship. In the club's first championship match, of their first championship season,

James Burns James Burns may refer to: Business * James Burns (Australian shipowner) (1846–1923), Australian businessman * James Burns (Canadian businessman) (1921–2019), Canadian businessman * James Burns (merchant), Glasgow-born merchant of the 17th centu ...

scored 114 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and this was the first century for Essex in First-Class cricket. George Frederick Higgins scored the second championship century for Essex 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 CCC at Southampton. Essex1897 RedLillywhite1898

Essex improved rapidly from 1895, so that by 1897 they were in the running for the Championship, only losing it when

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

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 Buckenham is a small village in the English county of Norfolk situated on the northern bank of the River Yare around south-east of Norwich. History Buckenham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for Bucca's homestea ...

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 Morris Stanley Nichols (6 October 1900 – 26 January 1961) was the leading all-rounder in English cricket for much of the 1930s. Career In his youth primarily a football goalkeeper who played for some time with Queen's Park Rangers, Nicho ...

and when available, the

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

fast bowlers Ken Farnes and

Hopper Read Holcombe Douglas "Hopper" Read (28 January 1910 – 5 January 2000) was an English cricketer who played in one Test cricket, Test in 1935. Biography Read, who received his nickname from the eccentric leap in his long run-up was regarded as the ...

, 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 Robin Nicholas Stuart Hobbs (born 8 May 1942) is a former English cricketer, who played in seven Tests for England from 1967 to 1971. He played first-class cricket for both Essex and Glamorgan. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, remarked, "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 Raymond Eric East (born 20 June 1947, in Manningtree) is an English former cricketer who played for Essex County Cricket Club. One of the most popular characters to play county cricket in recent times, East is remembered as much for his on fie ...

. The South African

Ken McEwan Kenneth Scott McEwan (born 16 July 1952 at Bedford, Eastern Cape, Bedford, South Africa), is a former cricketer who played principally for Eastern Province cricket team, Eastern Province and Essex County Cricket Club, Essex. A right-handed middl ...

and Fletcher were the best batsmen after Gooch. As Lever declined, England all rounder

Derek Pringle Derek Raymond Pringle (born 18 September 1958) is an English former Test and One Day International cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist. Life and career Pringle was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His father Donald Pringle, who ha ...

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 Ashley Cowan (born 7 May 1975) is a former English cricketer; his career spanned from 1995 to 2005. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played for Essex throughout the whole of his career between 1995 and his be ...

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 Alex Jeremy Tudor (born 23 October 1977) is an English former professional cricketer who spent two spells with Surrey County Cricket Club as well as playing for Essex. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He was awarded th ...

, after they left Yorkshire and

respectively. Led by all-rounder Ronnie Irani Essex won the National League Division 1 title in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, 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 Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

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 was promoted back to Division one for the 2010 season. Essex won the County Championship in 2017 and 2019

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 A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

cricket or Twenty20 International cricket. England * Ronnie Irani * Graham Gooch * Keith Fletcher * Jack Russell *

* Ravi Bopara * Nasser Hussain * Alastair Cook * Barry Knight * James Foster * Neil Foster * Nick Knight * Darren Gough * Paul Grayson * Adam Hollioake * Mark Ilott *

* Jason Gallian * John Lever * Walter Mead * Claude Buckenham * Jack O'Connor * Johnny Douglas * Frederick Fane * Charlie McGahey * Paul Gibb * Mike Denness * Aftab Habib * John Stephenson * Jim Laker *

* Martin Saggers * Peter Such * Owais Shah *

Sajid Mahmood Sajid Iqbal Mahmood ( Urdu: ساجد اقبال محمود, ''Sājid Iqbāl Maḥmūd''; born 21 December 1981) is a former English cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler who played international c ...

Reece Topley Reece James William Topley (born 21 February 1994) is an English international cricketer who plays for the England cricket team in Limited overs cricket, white ball cricket as a left-arm fast medium bowler. He plays for Surrey County Cricket Clu ...

* Monty Panesar * Tymal Mills *

Ben Foakes Benjamin Thomas Foakes (born 15 February 1993) is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents Surrey, having previously played for Essex. Foakes made his Te ...

* Trevor Bailey * John Childs * Doug Insole * Peter Smith * Ken Farnes * Neil Williams * Sailor Young *

* Tom Westley * Dan Lawrence India * Harbhajan Singh * Murali Vijay * Gautam Gambhir Bangladesh * Tamim Iqbal Australia * Mark Waugh * Andy Bichel *

Bruce Francis Bruce Colin Francis (born 18 February 1948) is a former Australian cricketer who played three Test matches on the Australian tour of England in 1972. Francis was a hard-hitting opening batsman, who played for New South Wales from 1968–69 to ...

Michael Kasprowicz Michael Scott Kasprowicz (born 10 February 1972) is a former Australian international cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He represented Queensland and played in the English county scene at first clas ...

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* Allan Border *

Merv Hughes Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born 23 November 1961) is a former Australian cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he represented Australia national cricket team, Australia in 53 Test cricket, Test matches between 1985 and 1994, taking 212 wickets. He pla ...

* Bryce McGain * Robert Quiney * Shaun Tait * Peter Siddle * Adam Zampa *

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Pakistan * Mohammad Akram * Mohammad Amir * Danish Kaneria * Saleem Malik * Wahab Riaz * Sadiq Mohammad Netherlands * Ryan ten Doeschate * Shane Snater Zimbabwe * Andy Flower * Grant Flower South Africa * Hashim Amla * Simon Harmer *

Lee Irvine Brian Lee Irvine (born 9 March 1944 in Durban, South Africa) is a former cricketer who played four Tests for South Africa in 1969–70 in the last Test series played by South Africa before official sporting links were broken over the apartheid ...

* Dale Steyn *

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* Alviro Petersen * Charl Willoughby West Indies * Keith Boyce *

Bertie Clarke Carlos Bertram Clarke (7 April 1918 – 14 October 1993) was a West Indian international cricketer who played in three Test matches in 1939. During the war when three-day cricket was an impossibility due to the demands of labour for the mili ...

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* Dwayne Bravo New Zealand *

Andre Adams Andre Ryan Adams (born 17 July 1975) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer of Caribbean descent. He played internatonal Cricket for New Zealand and is noted for playing in New Zealand's first T20I against Australia in 2005 where ...

* Chris Martin * Tim Southee *

Scott Styris Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...

* James Franklin * Hamish Rutherford * Jesse Ryder *

Neil Wagner Neil Wagner (born 13 March 1986) is a South African-born New Zealand Test cricketer who plays for New Zealand and Northern Districts cricket teams. He played for Northerns until 2007/08 and Otago between 2008 and 2018. Early career Wagner ...

* Jimmy Neesham

Records

Most first-class runs for Essex
Qualification – 20,000 runs Most first-class wickets for Essex
Qualification – 1,000 wickets

References

External links

Essex CCC websiteEssex CCC official shop
{{English first-class cricket clubs Cricket clubs established in 1876 English first-class cricket teams History of Essex 1876 establishments in England * Sports clubs in Essex Sport in Chelmsford