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County Championship Preview: Essex v Somerset
THE MATCH
Somerset travel to the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, Chelmsford to take on Essex in Division One of the Rothesay County Championship.
Day one of this fixture is tomorrow (Wednesday September 24th).
Tickets for this match are still available:
Somerset are currently third in the table with 175 points from 13 matches whilst Essex are sixth with 150 points from the same number of fixtures.
SCHEDULED HOURS OF PLAY:
Morning session: 10:30am to 12:30pm
Afternoon session: 1:10pm to 3:10pm
Evening session: 3:30pm to 5:30pm
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
You can keep up to date using the dedicated Match Centre on this website which will feature a live stream of the action courtesy of Essex CCC.
In-play updates will also appear on our X feed (formerly Twitter).
In addition to this, a report on the day’s play along with quotes will be posted on this website.
THE OPPOSITION
ESSEX
Captain: Tom Westley
Director of Cricket: Chris Silverwood
2024 finish: Fourth
2025 highest run-scorer: Tom Westley (821)
2025 highest wicket-taker: Jamie Porter (42)
TEAM NEWS
Somerset are without Tom Abell (concussion), Alfie Ogborne (back) and JT Langridge (side).
Here is the Somerset squad for this match:
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
On the eve of the fixture, Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr said: “We want to end the season on a high. We’ve played some really good cricket this year and we want to finish as high up the table as possible and take some momentum into next year. We want to win every game that we play and the more often you achieve that the more often it becomes the norm. That creates good habits, so we need to make sure that we are mentally and physically where we need to be this week.
“It’s the last game of the season, so we’ll be giving it our all in order to take as much positive energy as we can into next summer.
“Essex are a strong side and they’ve still got a lot to play for. We know they’re a strong team but we’ll be doing everything that we can over the four days in order to get the right result.”
CLASSIC MATCH
We go back to 1995 for the classic First Class match between the two sides.
The fixture was held at Southchurch Park, Southend-on-Sea and Somerset claimed the win by seven-wickets thanks to a big score from Peter Bowler and an impressive all round display from Mushtaq Ahmed
Somerset Captain, Andy Hayhurst won the toss and elected to bat first.
Bowler and Mark Lathwell (42) shared an opening stand of 71 before Bowler and his captain added 202, a Somerset record for the second wicket against Essex.
By the close of day one, the visitors had advanced to 304 for two, with Bowler on 159 not out.
Bowler was eventually dismissed for 196 on day two as Somerset posted a total of 421 all out.
Despite half centuries from Mark Waugh and Paul Pritchard, the hosts were dismissed for just 186. Mushtaq Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four for 74.
Somerset enforced the follow on and Essex fared rather better second time around. Waugh made 173 as his side scored 372 all out, Mushtaq Ahmed again taking four wickets.
Somerset slipped to 54 for three but Mushtaq Ahmed top scored with 62 not out from just 41 balls to help his side to a comprehensive victory.
WPA PREDICTIONS LEAGUE
So, you think you know your cricket do you? Here’s your chance to prove it!
Powered by WPA Health Insurance, the new game allows you to score points on every Somerset matchday.
Collect points throughout the year for correct predictions and make your way up the leaderboard to prove that you are the font of all cricketing knowledge!
The top Scorers for each competition will receive a prize.
Watch. Predict. Win!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
If you are planning to attend the match, all the information you need can be found on the official Essex CCC Website.
