Chelmsford, April the 10th 2016, an 11am start.
Essex without a front line spinner at the ground most recently famed for green
pitches and Jesse Ryder-inspired collapses. For the first time away captain’s
were given the option to bowl first without contesting the toss, surely Gareth
Roderick would bowl first..? Nope.
The toss was contested; Gloucestershire won it and took
first use. Despite the lack of an Essex twirler, we were about to find out just
how much the new toss rule was going to shape the Division Two title challenge
of Ryan Ten Doeschate’s nearly men.
262 all out, and the early wicket of Nick Browne before the
close, looked to represent a reasonable effort on the first day at the ECG,
where first innings runs have been at a premium for some time. However the
England captain, and the man Essex members are adamant should be playing
alongside him with the Three Lions on his chest, Tom Westley, had other ideas.
A century apiece and a lead of more than a hundred, maybe the ECB directives
have reached CM2, I wondered aloud…
Before lunch on the final day the West Countrymen were heading back to Bristol on the wrong end of a 10-wicket defeat with Essex only one short of a maximum-points win, and the tone was set.
So adept at finishing third when the top two were being promoted,
something changed in 2016, however loudly the Essex members could be heard
predicting a tunnel at the end of the light.
There was of course still time in a 16-game season to snatch
defeat from the jaws of victory, providing Gloucestershire with their revenge
in Cheltenham in July, but with only one team going up, Essex were far too good
for their division two rivals.
Whether it was the end of Paul Grayson’s frequently
promising, but then ultimately frustrating, tenure that had overseen eight
trophy-less seasons since the day Grant Flower led them to Friends Provident
Trophy success on the day that Usain Bolt announced himself to the World in
2008, or the new toss rule, something changed Essex’s approach. With the change
in approach came a dramatic change of fortune.
For years the East-Coast County decided the way forward was
low scoring games on devilish pitches to encourage David Masters and Ryder to
put the ball on a length where the surface did the rest. This led to hugely
important tosses and batting bonus points being as sporadic as an Alastair Cook
six.
After the 385 posted against Gloucestershire, Essex added
441/8, 537/7, 268, 569, 358, 601/5 and 319 in the first innings’ of their
remaining home games, belying their reputation for flaky batting displays and
creating seamer-friendly surfaces.
Westley, Ten Doeschate and Browne all passed 1000 runs and
Cook averaged nearly 92 in the seven games he played, and the bowling attack
still thrived despite having the work harder for their wickets.
Graham Napier signed off his one-club county career with a
personal best 63-wicket haul, with Jamie Porter taking 55 and David Masters
adding 40 as the curtain came down on his career too.
Spin only accounted for 13 opposition wickets, so it could be argued that Essex’s new approach still ignored the directive of encouraging the production of international-class spin bowling, but having been so unorthodox in finding ways to not get promoted or challenge for one-day glory, it would’ve been very un-Essex to achieve success in the way expected.
Anybody wondering if this was a new leaf being turned over
will continue to wonder though as two quarterfinal exists in the one-day
competitions meant an extension of what has become a dreadful record in
knockout matches, both home and away.
That continued state of wonder, along with the sprinkling of
success, some interesting overseas acquisitions in the shape of Neil Wagner and
Mohammed Amir, and the prospect of more things to moan and cheer about make
2017 look like an unmissable year at Fortress Chelmsford.
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