Nick Browne in Action: Image Courtesy of Essex Cricket
There was certainly a sense of anticipation as the curtain raiser to the 2018 season drew ever closer. After Ryan ten Doeschate won the toss and chose to bat first, it was Nick Browne and Aron Nijjar who opened the batting for Essex.
The match is Nijjar first appearance for the Club since he featured against West Indies last in 2017. A thigh injury to Varun Chopra during the tour saw the 23 year old given a chance to show his skills with the bat in the vacant opening spot.
The morning session started slowly as the players got used to the pink ball and it was Nick Browne who kept the scoreboard ticking along and looked comfortable. Nijjar eased himself into the innings and started to grow in confidence, especially after two hooks shots found the boundary.
Nijjar was the only wicket to fall before the first break of the day after he was caught by Fidel Edwards for 20, off the bowling of Dom Bess.
Nick Browne took his score to 46 before the break, joined by Tom Westley who began his innings in a confident manner. It was the opener, Browne, who was next to depart just two runs short of his half century after edging Barbadian paceman, Fidel Edwards to give John Simpson the first of 4 catches on Day One.
Veteran all-rounder, Paul Collingwood dismissed Westley playing forward, adjudged lbw for 32 as the sun started to set at the Kensington Oval.
The introduction of the floodlights sparked a flurry of wickets for the MCC in tough batting conditions. This was primarily down to a devastating spell from Northants’ Richard Gleeson, after he’d already had Lawrence strangled down the leg-side for 23.
It started with the wicket of Adam Wheater who played a straight bat, sending the ball back into the bowler’s hands for 7. Three noughts closely followed as Callum Taylor’s off-stump was struck.
This brought Matt Coles to the crease, making his First Class debut for the Club, but he quickly followed Taylor after playing across the line and finding Sam Northeast at point. Gleeson then clinched two in two as Beard was out lbw.
The wicket gave Gleeson his 5-wicket haul but also a hat-trick, after Taylor’s dismissal was from the final delivery of his previous over.
Number 11 Jamie Porter came to the middle with a tricky task ahead of him but commendable knock of 10* with James Foster (34) put on last wicket partnership of 45 as Essex reached 187.
Jamie Porter and Matt Coles opened the bowling for Essex and quickly put the pressure on the MCC openers, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Brett D’Oliveira, with the latter playing some nice strokes; three of which found the boundary early on.
Porter soon got his wicket tally up and running for the season when Bell-Drummond edged behind to James Foster for 3.
Sam Northeast joined D’Oliveira and continued to try and play positive cricket before the latter was caught and bowled by Matt Coles for 30.
Northeast and Sam Hain concluded the opening day’s play on 35* and 5*, respectively, and the MCC resume play at 2:30pm (7.30pm UK) on Wednesday trailing by 115 runs on 73-2.
Jamie Porter: “It started off well as it was a good pitch in normal light but as soon as that started to fade in the twilight period and the lights took full effect, then it became much harder.
“You then have to take in consideration the dew which also plays a part in getting a good grip on the ball but overall I think it was good day and we played some decent cricket at times. It should be an exciting few days ahead.
“It was great to contribute with the bat, especially with Foz (James Foster) as I always enjoy batting with him. Hopefully it turns out to be an important partnership come the end of play and I even thought I played some nice shots too!
“I’ve spent much of the winter playing alongside most of their players so it was good to be coming up against them. From a bowling point of view I felt that I knew enough about them to decide what plans I was going to bowl to and how to execute them. Even with my batting, I’ve been with Glees (Richard Gleeson) for the last eight weeks so I knew how he would look to get me out, so from that perspective it gave me an advantage.
“It’s going to be tough work in the early session so its important that we try and dry up their runs, bowl to our plans and get some early wickets. If we can get their middle order in under the lights and then second new ball comes towards the end of the second session, but hopefully it doesn’t go that far.”
Report provided by Essex CCC
