Essex boys rule the roost
Last year, their title-winning charge in the final season of the National League competition was trampled by the Ashes bandwagon.
But this year, Essex re-asserted their status as one of the finest one-day teams in county cricket by winning the inaugural Pro40 competition.
Their key formula for success 鈥 which could perhaps set a blueprint for teams across league, county and even international cricket 鈥 is to stuff the team with all-rounders.
Veteran Zimbabwean Grant Flower, the scorer of six Test centuries, ended up so far down the batting order that he never got a bat in the three matches he played.
Instead, his economical spin-bowling 鈥 on occasions Essex used three spinners 鈥 was brought into play.
With a batting line-up that has no tail, a position of, say, 50-4 after 15 overs is merely a minor setback.
So Essex have confidence to keep hitting big shots and rarely feel 鈥渟coreboard pressure鈥 the way other teams do.
Flower鈥檚 brother Andy was the batting mainstay, but Darren Gough 鈥 relishing the opportunity to bat at three 鈥 clubbed an early half-century to sit second in the batting averages.
The leading wicket-taker in the competition was World Cup winner Andy Bichel, an intelligent overseas signing by Essex, but the left-arm spin of Tim Phillips was a major factor.
Phillips emerged from a bruising Twenty20 Cup semi-final to take 12 wickets of his own 鈥 and with an economy rate of 4.03 was vital to the team鈥檚 cause.
And let us not forget James Foster. By not including him in either of their Australia touring parties, the selectors have decided he is not one of the best four wicket-keepers in England.
But just five days before those squads were named, Foster hit 67 off 62 balls against Lancashire in a televised floodlit match and then took two stumpings 鈥 one an absolute corker.
OK - time, belatedly, to declare an interest. As an Essex fan myself, it is interesting to speculate on what might happen now for the club.
We have a chance of gaining promotion into Division One of the Championship. But any sustained run there really depends on unearthing some homergrown quality fast bowlers.
We have seen fleeting glimpses of two - Jahid Ahmed and Mervyn Westfield - and the focus is definitely on youngsters at Essex.
"One of our key objectives at Essex County Cricket Club is to attain success on the field and that elevates everyone involved," said chief executive David East.
"But we must also not lose sight of working towards developing young players and preserving the game in the county for the future."
Well said - but it sums up the dilemma neatly. Ronnie Irani, the Flower brothers and Gough... Will they all be reporting for pre-season nets next March?
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100% agree with everything youve said, essex bat all the way down, bowl well with the likes of bichel, gough (when fit) phillips etc. and there fielding is outstanding (barring irani!)
i agree that flooding the team with all-rounders has gone a long way to essex succesfully retaining the domestic one day league...but isnt it strange how many so called....experts, maintain that englands one day squad should be made up of basically there test team. maybe this would work, but seeing as englands one day team isnt exactly setting the world alight...maybe it would be worth testing the 'essex formula'
would it be worth testing a team like...
loye
benning
bell / strauss
pietersen
flintoff
maddy
collingwood
yardy / dalrymple
read / prior
phillips
anderson / cork / bruce
if one bowler is proving expensive, theres always other alternatives and a score of 50-4 wouldnt be a disaster...
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Essex's success in Pro 40 has been well deserved but it's hard to see them keeping their success going in the coming seasons.
They rely too strongly on players approaching the twilights of their careers in much the same way as Sussex do.
As a Sussex fan - and I daresay some Essex supporters feel this way as well - I'd be more concerned about where the club is in three years' time though of course the success both clubs have experienced this season has been fantastic.
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I wonder if Ian (an Essex fan by any chance?) remembers that Englands recent terrible run of pne-day form is nothing in comparison to the late 1990s of Fleming, Ealham, Croft, Austen, Ali Brown, Douggie Brown etc when we were just as bad at one day international cricket. Unlike then, we are now one of the best Test teams so why is it unreasonable to expect these players to also hack it at the one dayers? The fact they don't is because they play too much Test cricket now making it much harder to raise their game for the less intense one day game.
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It's good to see the Essex side having some fun and winning. However, a side based around a lot of senior players is not going to hang around and do it a second time. Notts have just learned that lesson pretty brutally in the County Championship. They should avoid relegation thanks to that win over a completely dispirited Middlesex side, but not renovating this season was not a bright move.
The Pro-40 format (like the C&G) won't have won many fans. Despite saying that it is aimed at the new fans from 20-20, it seems to exist mainly to be televised to a minority audience (how many families are going to turn up for a Wednesday day-night match?) However, some silverware is some silverware and, as a Gloucestershire fan, the Division 2 title and some money in the bank is ok by me. :-)
Despite everything, the last day provided the drama that the rest of the competition has singularly lacked. It has been played in a Sunday, when people can actually attend and has had promotion, relegation and title drama. What's more, there is a season finale play-off next week as a winner-takes-all cup final, something that the 3-up, 3-down County Chamionship could have imitated.
Lancashire's blazing triumph condemned Glamorgan. Essex sneaked the title. Promotion favourites Surrey had one of the worst days imaginable, not only crashing to a quite apalling defeat, but seeing Hampshire somehow induce a Yorkshire collapse just as a miraculous salvation seemed to be arriving. Worcestershire, well-beaten by Surrey the day before saw how their rivals then fell apart and gift-wrapped them an unexpected promotion. It was quite an amazing afternoon of twists and turns.
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As an Essex fan I'm pleased with the Pro 40 win although I don't think it matches last year's comprehensive Totes Sport League victory. This is mostly due to the nature of the competition, eight games and no reciprocal home and away format is not a proper league. Northants, for example, have cause for complaint as they only lost out by virtue of their defeat to Essex at fortress Chelmsford. Other teams were effectively put out of the competition by the weather.
20/20 has its place but I don't want to see it take over completely and County Cricket needs credible one day competitions. I would prefer to see a proper 16 game two division 40 over league with a 50 over knockout. I think 40 overs is a specator friendly format. OK its not played internationally but County Cricket deserves to be more than an elongated England practice session.
As for Essex we have some good youngsters. Foster, who seems to have been around for ever is only 26. Pettini, Bopara and Phillips will only get better and the key danger will be losing some of them to England. I am sure most of the aforementioned old crocks will be around next year and, if they can keep going long enough to bring on the next crop of youngsters then Essex will continue to prosper. I certainly wouldn't bet against a three-peat next year.
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Colin (and Oliver):
Any theories as to why James Foster, like Jon Batty, has been completely ignored despite excellent form? Foster was very unlucky to lose the gloves to Alec Stewart the way that he did and rumour has it that he was Rod Marsh's preferred 'keeper, even above Chris Read.
It looks like Foster's chance of a recall may have gone with a new generation of youngsters beginning to enter the frame.
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Well, if the old pros like Ronnie Irani, Flowers brothers and Darren Gough do report for pre-season nets next March and with the emergence of promising youngsters, who knows Essex might be a force to reckon with in the next season too.
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They're better than Middlesex that's for sure. :-(
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Talking of Essex players ignored by England I fail to understand why Alistair Cook was only selected twice for England in the one day internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistain. This was despite the poor batting form shown by England. He achieved one of the higher averages of the squad in these two game of 40 and a SR of 86.95.
The success of Essex in one day games has obviously rubbed off on Alistair as he was easily top of the C&G batting averages this year with a 148 batting average and a SR of 104.22.
If he wasn't to be selected even with this form, and we all know his tremendous start in test cricket, maybe it is a pity he was not released to play for Essex. This would both have greatly helped the team, but also given Alistair practice and a chance to proof himself for the world cup.
However, on second thoughts, if he isn't selected now for england one dayers maybe he never will be!
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That's a good point about Cook. I feel certainly he has a future in ODIs because he is such a talented player. It's important to get the balance right between hitters and accumulators but once we do then Cook should have a long-term berth.
I suspect he would be better off away from the carnage of the Champions Trophy, VB Series and World Cup.
After all that we can start afresh with AN Cook opening the batting!
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Surely the sucess based on a balance of talented youngsters mixed in with a few experienced veterans is a model that all counties should adopt. What Essex have been very good at is identifying and signing players with experience and ability who enhance the team. Why should this approach not be successful for many years to come, after all, I'm sure that there are many more players reaching the end of their careers who would enhance the teams of other counties.
One thing that Essex have been very good at however is using the rules on EU players as well as finding long lost British grandparents for the Flower bothers.
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Essex one of the finest teams in one day cricket ? Well, it just goes to show how narrow the line is between success and failure - Durham relegated from Pro 40 Division One after thrashing Essex in the final game of the season.
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