2017 was a triumphant season for Essex, storming to their seventh County Championship title. This meant that 2018 was unlikely to top that – but how did the players perform? Here is Rising East’s grades for Essex’s season in each format from 1-10 and our nomination for star player for the year.
County Championship- 7
A third place finish for The Eagles may not have been the goal at the start of the season but considering the side never looked in danger of being sucked into a relegation dogfight, it cannot be deemed a bad campaign.
Essex played some outstanding cricket at times, bowling eventual champions Surrey out for 67 and Worcestershire for 94. They were also the only team to defeat a dominant Surrey team in a last-day thriller at The Oval.
Surrey absolutely romped to the title this year amassing 254 points so challenging for the title was never in the question for any side, meaning a third placed finish is respectable for the Chelmsford-based county.
Record- W7 D2 L4 NR1
Star Player- Jamie Porter. Another brilliant season for the fast bowler who burst on to the scene in 2017. Porter’s haul of 58 wickets helped his side take control in most of their games this year.
Royal London One-Day Cup- 8
Essex managed to finish in second place in an incredibly tight south group this year, just one point off Hampshire in first. However they were beaten by Yorkshire in the quarter-finals in a close game that they lost by 25 runs.
They blew some teams away in the group phase which included a nine-wicket win over Glamorgan and defeating Kent by 153 runs.
Essex would really have expected to chase just 259 against Yorkshire considering they had scored 337 just one week earlier but no batsman really went big.
Overall a good performance in the group phase but disappointment in the knockout stage means that Essex can look back fondly on their One-Day Cup performance from 2018 but knowing how they must improve in 2019.
Record- W5 L4
Star Player- Varun Chopra. A solid campaign for the Essex academy graduate, Chopra averaged 66 at the top of the order and more often than not got them off to a fast start with some glorious attacking shots.
T20 Blast- 2
An awful T20 campaign for The Eagles this year as they managed just two wins from their 14 games. The side put in some dismal displays across the year, failing to ever find consistency in batting, bowling or fielding.
It could have all been so different though as Essex had three games abandoned, in two of those they were in a decent position to go on and win. They also tied against Hampshire in a wonderful game that came down to the wire.
The consensus will be that Essex were simply not good enough this year and did not compete in nearly enough games. With such seasoned professionals in their side it was a huge shock that they were so poor.
One bright point is a game in which they chased 210 against Middlesex, although meaningless in the grand scheme of things it finally gave the Essex faithful’s something to cheer.
Record- W2 L8 T1 NR3
Star Player- Varun Chopra. Essex’s bowling was below par all year in The Blast but there were some good batting displays and Chopra was the one who got the bulk of the runs.
Overall season grade- 6
Essex will be determined to improve next year but, if they were offered a similar season then they would take it. Good performances in the longer forms will please them but there is still work to do there. The T20 side will certainly bounce back next year as it is impossible to keep such a talented bunch of players quiet for too long.