All time Essex XI

[Uncle Leo]

As picked by Patrick Kidd of The Times. There's a different writer doing each county and Christopher Martin Jenkins will then pick the best county XI ever,

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/counties/article2291582.ece

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

Good find Ux, thats led me to think about my favourite Essex XI from my 30 years of watching them.

Feel free to comment and select your own XIs

1. Graham Gooch
2. Ronnie Irani
3. Nasser Hussain
4. Stuart Law
5. Andy Flower
6. Keith Fletcher (capt.)
7. James Foster (wkt)
8. Stuart Turner
9. Neil Foster
10. John Lever
11. Danish Kaneria

Not too shabby eh ??

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

My XI (betraying my age/youth)

1. Graham Gooch (c)
2. Alistair Cook
3. Nasser Hussain
4. Mark Waugh
5. Salim Malik
6. Andy Flower (wk)
7. Ronnie Irani
8. Neil Foster
9. Mark Ilott
10. Danish Kaneria
11. Peter Such

Salim Malik instead of Stuey Law is probably the most controversial omission. Only Kaneria (and occasionally Cook) are still playing for us.

ps Check out this article on Graham Gooch

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/current/story/296607.html
Other than I use to watch him plunder runs at Southchurch park rather than C*lchester it sounds so familiar.

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

I always remember that 333 with anguish... i'd heard the news bulletins that Gooch was on to beat Sir Gary Sobers' Test record 365 (far before the days of the internet of course !!!) and raced home from work in the hope of seeing him accomplish it ... i got in and the great man was 332 not out, he faced a couple of balls, including a nudged single before playing down the wrong line to a straight one and was bowled.. i was devastated :(

I can't believe you've picked Malik above Law YB :eek: :eek: Law is right up there with Gooch and Irani as my favourite cricketer of all time

 

[Cricko]

No place for Keith Boyce then ..when I watched Essex as a kid ..he was the most exciting player around.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I always remember that 333 with anguish... i'd heard the news bulletins that Gooch was on to beat Sir Gary Sobers' Test record 365 (far before the days of the internet of course !!!) and raced home from work in the hope of seeing him accomplish it ... i got in and the great man was 332 not out, he faced a couple of balls, including a nudged single before playing down the wrong line to a straight one and was bowled.. i was devastated :(

I can't believe you've picked Malik above Law YB :eek: :eek: Law is right up there with Gooch and Irani as my favourite cricketer of all time

Salim Malik over Law is a personal thing. I loved Salim Malik's wristy play and he was awesome back in 1991. That was when I was first watching Essex, so it made a bigger impression on me that Stuart Law did. I was away at university for most of the Stuart Law era, or rather I was back home but working in London in the summers, so rarely saw Essex. Law's departure also left a bitter taste in the mouth. I'm not quite certain of the ins and outs of it all, but those involved in the dressing room bust up (Law, Prichard, Irani etc) all went down in my estimation. That dressing room bust up set Essex back years.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

No place for Keith Boyce then ..when I watched Essex as a kid ..he was the most exciting player around.

Not in my team, he was before my time. What was JWHT Douglas like as a player?

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

No place for Keith Boyce then ..when I watched Essex as a kid ..he was the most exciting player around.

My dad used to rave about him, then again you're of a similar age so thats understandable :p

 

[Cricko]

Not in my team, he was before my time. What was JWHT Douglas like as a player?

Shut it Harold ..:p

My dad used to rave about him, then again you're of a similar age so thats understandable :p

And you can behave to :finger: :p

This was in the day of The John Player Sunday league ..

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

I think the main issue with Law was he wasn't a "team" man ... and would rather just slip off for a couple of beers rather than eat / socialise with the rest of the squad, especially on away trips.

Irani was trying to galvanise the team to be of a "one for all, and all for one" mentality, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that... but SL didn't want any part of it. I think the supporters summed it up perfectly the following year when Lancashire visited Ilford for a Sunday game, Law received a standing ovation both from and to the crease, despite making only 4 (i think) ... that said we haven't done too badly since he left (this season aside of course)

 

[loz]

righty-ho then... limiting myself to one foreigner here.

Gooch
Cook
Hussain
Waugh
Irani
Stephenson
J. Foster
Pringle
Cowan (if i can have him in the form of his couple of good seasons)
N. Foster
Childs

tough call for Waugh over Kaneria/Law/Malik, but Waugh shades it for playing in my my formative period of Essex interest.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Not in my team, he was before my time. What was JWHT Douglas like as a player?

:hilarious:

JWHT Douglas was one of numerous cricketers who met an untimely and odd death, he drowned in the North Sea (I think).

I would go for this XI

Graham Gooch
Alastair Cook
Mark Waugh
Ken McEwan
Keith Fletcher (c)
Ronnie Irani
James Foster (w)
Keith Boyce
Derek Pringle
Ray East
John Lever

Ken McEwan just gets my vote over Stuey Law and Allan Border, I've taken a liberty of 3 overseas players as neither Boyce or Waugh had played Test cricket before playing for Essex and sadly Kenny McEwan never got the chance.

 

[Cricko]

It's quite odd that when we had the likes of Keith Fletcher, John Lever , Ray East, Keith Boyce etc etc and we won more trophy's they are all out of most of your selections.

 

[canveyshrimper]

It's quite odd that when we had the likes of Keith Fletcher, John Lever , Ray East, Keith Boyce etc etc and we won more trophy's they are all out of most of your selections.

Not from mine mate. ;)

 

[Cricko]

:hilarious:

JWHT Douglas was one of numerous cricketers who met an untimely and odd death, he drowned in the North Sea (I think).

I would go for this XI

Graham Gooch
Alastair Cook
Mark Waugh
Ken McEwan
Keith Fletcher (c)
Ronnie Irani
James Foster (w)
Keith Boyce
Derek Pringle
Ray East
John Lever

Ken McEwan just gets my vote over Stuey Law and Allan Border, I've taken a liberty of 3 overseas players as neither Boyce or Waugh had played Test cricket before playing for Essex and sadly Kenny McEwan never got the chance.

Ah sense at last well done Harry:)

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think the main issue with Law was he wasn't a "team" man ... and would rather just slip off for a couple of beers rather than eat / socialise with the rest of the squad, especially on away trips.

Irani was trying to galvanise the team to be of a "one for all, and all for one" mentality, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that... but SL didn't want any part of it. I think the supporters summed it up perfectly the following year when Lancashire visited Ilford for a Sunday game, Law received a standing ovation both from and to the crease, despite making only 4 (i think) ... that said we haven't done too badly since he left (this season aside of course)

I don't know the ins and outs of it, I've heard different theories about drinking cultures, attitudes to training etc but whatever it was it was catastrophic for Essex. We've won trophies since, but the county championship is the main thing and we haven't established ourselves in division 1 since the split.

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

I'm surprised how many people are going for Cook ... a fine talent i'm sure, but he's not achieved much in his career yet, and in fact spends more time with England than Essex. I'm also going to give a belated "heads up" shout to Brian Hardie, his opening partnership with Gooch was awesome in the late 70s / early 80s

 

[Cricko]

I'm surprised how many people are going for Cook ... a fine talent i'm sure, but he's not achieved much in his career yet, and in fact spends more time with England than Essex. I'm also going to give a belated "heads up" shout to Brian Hardie, his opening partnership with Gooch was awesome in the late 70s / early 80s

I agree Brian Hardy was a top batsman.

 

[canveyshrimper]

I don't know the ins and outs of it, I've heard different theories about drinking cultures, attitudes to training etc but whatever it was it was catastrophic for Essex. We've won trophies since, but the county championship is the main thing and we haven't established ourselves in division 1 since the split.

One of the great things about Essex has always been the dressing room spirit, famously engendered under firstly Tonker Taylor and then under Keith Fletcher. There have been lots of incidents down the years none the least when Nasser Hussain lobbed Mark Ilott's coffin over the balcony at Chelmsford.

I've heard varying versions of the Stuart Law business, and I guess we'll never know the real truth, but I believe he wanted out, he is married to a Lancashire lass, and he wanted to play for Lancs, bit like big club syndrome when you consider they haven't won the Championship outright in 74 years or so. I did allow myself a chuckle when they fell 20 runs short last week.:D

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

I agree Brian Hardy was a top batsman.

Brian Hardie was better :p