Essex CCC

[EliotNes]

That is a big loss

[Thor]

Doing it for the cash no doubt, a final pay day they call it

[F*ck The Poor & Fat]

Doing it for the cash no doubt, a final pay day they call it

I’m sure that is the reason. Nearing the end of a great career and wants to bump up his earnings whilst he can. Shame, always liked him as a player and he will be a loss to Essex. Money talks and Bopara walks.

[Thor]

It’s hard to begrudge him that as he’s a long time retired as a sportsmen.

[Lovejoy]

This was always a possibility, Bopara was very coy about his future after Essex won the Championship. He implied he wanted to play more white ball cricket and that is where the money is. I am surprised he has gone to another county as he is a local lad perhaps Essex would not offer him the playing terms he wanted. In the same article it is reported that Matt Coles has left Essex, I think his contract must be up. He came from Kent as a useful bowler and destructive lower order batsman, unfortunately he didn't seem to settle away from his home county. It will be interesting to see if he returns there or perhaps to the county he was loaned out to.

[Lovejoy]

Bopara failed to agree a new contract.

https://www.essexcricket.org.uk/2019/10 ... ave-essex/

Better news - Ryan ten Doeschate Signs Contract Extension

https://www.essexcricket.org.uk/2019/10 ... extension/

[F*ck The Poor & Fat]

Nice send off by Essex. Classy

[Top of the JES]

He's got two season left at most. He will be off around the world chasing chasing the money playing white ball cricket and will probably play fewer and fewer red ball games could be an expensive signing for Sussex but wish him well.

Essex need a stellar signing to replace him but our record of bringing in domestic signings in recent years isn't great, Coles has been a complete waste of a contract.

[Lovejoy]

The Essex chairman has stated that there is a string of very good young players at Essex and they will be breaking into the first team soon. Sam Cook was one and we saw Aron Nijjar in the first team at the end of the season.

[Adz]

Doing it for the cash no doubt, a final pay day they call it

A bit more to it than that. He wasn't happy batting lower down the order in the T20 as it curtailed his chances of contracts in the big global T20 tournaments. I think he's hoping for a good season at sussex and then he'll get the final pay day from IPL, big bash, etc. If Essex offered him the chance to bat higher up he would have stayed

[Lovejoy]

Cheats never prosper.

Somerset docked 24 points for 'poor' pitch against Essex.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50466256

[Adz]

Best pitch is such a vague term. Best for whom? Fast bowler, spin bowler, batsman, crowd?

[cymruO]

Seem to remember Somerset sating that they were going to prepare a spinner's paradise of a pitch. They intended it to be unplayable and hoped, by batting first deterioration would quickly set in and they'd only need to bat once. The irony is that if there had been another 20 minutes of play on that final day Essex would have won - they only needed 18 more runs with 9 wickets remaining.

[Top of the JES]

Seem to remember Somerset sating that they were going to prepare a spinner's paradise of a pitch. They intended it to be unplayable and hoped, by batting first deterioration would quickly set in and they'd only need to bat once. The irony is that if there had been another 20 minutes of play on that final day Essex would have won - they only needed 18 more runs with 9 wickets remaining.

I posted on here that they would get done for a dodgy pitch after about an hour on the first day, It obviously had been prepared to be a result wicket in favour of Somersets chances ,if it hadn't have rained so much it would have been over in two days. Shame really because I like Somerset and would like to see them win the county championship but not at the expense of so obviously bending the rules. Still they start next season on minus Twelve points with another deduction of Twelve points suspended in case of further pitch issues.

Still waiting for Essex to strengthen the squad for next year at least one batter and an all rounder would be good. We may have some good youngsters coming through but we need to balance it out with experience.

[Thor]

Prepared pitches has always happened we all know that much. It just seems that this was so blatantly biased towards Somerset making it very unfair. Why the game is still being played then with our weather is beyond me.

[Top of the JES]

A good pitch should have a bit of help for the seamers early on and then be good for batting for a couple of days before offering help for the spinners on day Three. Despite all the rain Somerset hadn't watered the pitch and it was very dry, indifferent bounce from the off and turned on day one, they deserved to be docked points.

The length of the season is ridiculous and may get worse next season with the stupid "Hundred" competition that nobody really wants apart from the players selected in the auction and the ECB.

[EliotNes]

Don’t be too ‘holier than thou’. We got docked points for a supposedly bad pitch at Southend in the 80’s. It cost us the Championship. However there has always been sense of injustice at the club as the chairman of the pitch adjudication committee was chairman of Worcs who were the team that most benefited as they ended up champions.

[Top of the JES]

What's "holier than thou" about stating the facts. ECBs findings not mine.

No team should do it every does to an extent but this was in your face blatant and a bit desperate tbh.

[Lovejoy]

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa will re-join Essex Eagles for a third T20 Blast campaign in a row in 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50895997

[Top of the JES]

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa will re-join Essex Eagles for a third T20 Blast campaign in a row in 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50895997

He bowled well when I saw him last season, we need a top class middle order batter for the season but we can't compete with Notts, Middlesex and Surrey financially so I guess we'll get an up and coming Indian or a Pakistani who we have barely heard of and hopefully strike it lucky.

[EliotNes]

Like we recruited Mohammed Amir?

[Lovejoy]

Peter Siddle appears to be the overseas player for next season, I guess it will depend on if and when he plays for Australia. So it would seem that they prefer a bowler to a batsman. Mohammed Amir has a shady past but he has always performed well for Essex.

[Top of the JES]

Like we recruited Mohammed Amir?

Amir is an excellent bowler but he's not a batter though is he, who was the last decent top line batter we recruited for a season or even half a season. We need to replace Bopara and as much as we have some decent youngsters the middle order is crying out for a top line batter.

[Top of the JES]

Peter Siddle appears to be the overseas player for next season, I guess it will depend on if and when he plays for Australia. So it would seem that they prefer a bowler to a batsman. Mohammed Amir has a shady past but he has always performed well for Essex.

Sidle is a good signing did great last season . We could well end up with a kolpak South African, our batting looks thin.

[Lovejoy]

Great news!

Off-spinner Simon Harmer has extended his contract with county champions Essex until the end of the 2022 season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50916774