v unicorns, 8th may.

match report to come soon.

v glamorgan dragons, 6th may.

essex won the toss and james foster put glamorgan into bat. glamorgan's forty overs was completed with scoring 222 for seven wickets. sadly, hours of driving rain in cardiff meant the match had to be abandoned.
the main talking point of the match was the sensational hattrick from graham napier, recently returning from eleven months out of the game, dismissing rees, allenby and walters in quick sucession.
captain petersen made a slow 88 before coming napier's fourth victim. masters picked up the wicket of the impressive wagg and the last two wickets were chaotic run outs, argubably caused by petersen.

all eyes were on new england one day captain, alastair cook but it was napier who grabbed all the headlines. hopefully on sunday, we'll get to see cook scoring some runs at bury st edmunds, against the unicorns.

v lancashire lightning, 2nd may

even the most optmisitic essex fan probably didn't predict the nature of monday's game against lancs. yet another division one side which batting performance paled in comparison to the eagles'. after bowling lancashire out for 190, with tsotsobe taking four wickets: victory seemed likely but one thing essex are known for is being predictably unpredictable - remembering lancashire have a good bowling attack which should not be underestimated. however even lancashire's star bowlers could not halt another wonderful essex batting performance. after cook being dismissed for a not so impressive seventeen, there was a lot of pressure on ravi bopara to come in and score runs: he did not disappoint. 32-2 wasnt the most promising position but bopara and foster ensured essex won without ever breaking sweat. bopara adding 75 not out to his three wickets taken earlier on that afternoon.

i previously stated that i do not think bopara should make the england test side against sri lanka in late may, due to his poor batting performances. ever since then, he has scored a century against glamorgan in the county championship and two half centuries in the forty over format of the game, with the added bonus of wickets! do i think this should change my mind about whether he plays for england on the 26th may? i still prefer to watch morgan bat, i find him more consistent: bopara is in and out the team constantly, for a variety of reasons. however, this proves what a hard task the england selectors have. bopara and morgan obviously arent the only players who are in contention for a place but i believe these are the two that wll divide the selectors.

v nottinghamshire outlaws, 1st may.

a fantastic start by essex to their 2011 campaign, which saw them beat division one champions notts by seven wickets. thanks to both sides, it was a wonderfully entertaining game that delighted the crowd at the county ground. england hopeful alex hales top scored for notts with 116 from 101 balls, which helped set a competitive target of 288 for essex, thanks to a valuable contribution from samit patel also.
alastair cook was four away from his century when bowled out by luke fletcher but a lot of the damage had already been done as his partnership with england team-mate ravi bopara was littered with boundaries, carrying on from cook's opening wicket partnership with pettini. after bopara was dismissed for fifty, there was a slight worry that further wickets could fall quickly but a fantastic innings from walker and captain, foster saw essex safely home, with an over to spare. towards the end of the game, the essex innings turned into a t20 game - boundaries galore, scoring 103 runs in 10 overs.

after a relatively disappointing start to the season (excluding the recent win over glamorgan at chelmsford) in the county championship, this was the perfect way to inject excitement and optimism back into the essex fans.