Essex

Essex County Cricket Club are one of the 18 major counties in the English and Welsh cricket structure. Some reports suggest that cricket was prominent in Essex as early as the 16th century. The club were founded back in 1876 and made their first class debut against Leicestershire in 1894.  The club play their games at the 6,500-capacity County Cricket Ground in Chelmsford. They have been here since 1967, and the side also play some matches at the Castle Park Cricket Ground.

In terms of success, Essex have won six County Championships and one Division Two title. In the one day format they have won the Pro 40 League five times, and the now defunct Friends Provident Trophy three times. The 80s were the golden generation for the side; spearheaded by the great Graham Gooch and supplemented by the talented Neil Foster and Keith Fletcher, Essex dominated domestic cricket. In 1979 they won their first County Championship. They won it consecutively in 1983 and 1984, and again in 1986, 1991 and 1992. That side was arguably the best county side in the modern era of English County Cricket.

In 2010 Essex were relegated from the County Championship's first division. Since then they have tried and failed to return to the top flight. They came close in 2013, finishing third to Lancaster and Northamptonshire. 

Graham Gooch is revered in Essex; not only did he help them dominate County Cricket, but he is also their record run scorer with an amazing 30,701 runs. His fellow opening batter Keith Fletcher isn't too far behind him on 29,434 runs. With 1,610 wickets Peter Smith is the club's best bowler. Just two wickets behind him is Stan Nichols with 1,608. The club have also produced England captains Nasser Hussain and Alastair Cook. They have also had a whole array of international stars; Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh played for the club, whilst the Australian trio of Mark Waugh, Allan Border and Merv "the swerve" Hughes have also turned out for them. From Africa they have had South African pace bowlers Dale Steyn and Andre Nel as well as Zimbabwean and current England coach Andy Flowers.

Due to Essex being one of the six Home Counties, they share an amicable but sporting rivalry with Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex.

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