A rare evening post, but I have Australia v New Zealand to inspire me.
I give willow.tv a great deal of slagging, but I have to say: it is better than nothing.
Tonight: Essex County Cricket Club.
The club was formed in 1876, made its first class debut in 1894, and won its first Championship in 1979. (Note: all of these clubs had to wait so many years for their first County Championship. First of all: holy cow their poor fans and second of all: who the hell was winning all the titles? I have a feeling I will find the answer to that sooner or later.)
Essex won five more County Championships in the 80s and 90s, their last in 1992 (the year Durham made its first debut, interestingly enough.)
They have also won eight one day cups, a nice haul for its long suffering fans, for sure.
According to their wiki page, they have three home grounds, but I believe their main ground is the County Ground in Chelmsford:
While heir most attractive home ground is in Colchester, the Garon Park Castle Ground:
And, well, I cannot find a great deal of info on their third ground. (I get lazy during these evening posts.)
None of the three grounds has hosted a test, of course, but the County Ground, whose naming rights are now owned by Ford Motor Company, did host ODIs during the 1999 World Cup.
Here’s a better photo I found on its Wiki page:
Notable players? That’s easy: Graham Gooch played for Essex, scoring over 30,000 in his time with the County (1973-1997.) He also captained England and is their leading test scorer ever (8,900), and he currently is his home country’s batting coach.
Currently the squad features the dreamy Alastair Cook, as well as other internationals such as Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate (he of the Mashonaland Eagles.)
Looking at ten Doeschate’s Wiki page tells me that he has played for the following cricket sides other than Essex: the Kolkata Knight Riders (Indian domestic), the Tasmanian Tigers (Australian domestic), the Canterbury Wizards (New Zealand domestic), the Mashonaland Eagles (Zimbabwean domestic, of course), and the Dutch national team (despite the fact that he was born in South Africa.)
Ryan ten Doeschate: modern day cricket mercenary.
And that’s Essex.
Back on the pitch: Australia are 27/2 (sorry, I mean, 2/27) after New Zealand were 295 all out before lunch. Ponting is on 14 off of 17, and Australia are in desperate need of runs.
And now there is a ball inspection break, so a good time to sign off. Until next time.
Limited Overs 