Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire head coach is returning to Chelmsford this weekend, where he spent nine years as assistant coach and head coach through until last November.
Head coach Anthony McGrath will always look back on his time at Chelmsford with great fondness, but there will be little time for sentiments this weekend as Yorkshire travel south to face Essex, starting on Friday (11am).
McGrath, and bowling coach Mick Lewis, return to their old stomping ground – the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground – for match number five in Division One, with Yorkshire aiming to bounce back from defeat against Warwickshire at Headingley last time out.
Yorkshire’s three-day defeat against the Bears over the weekend just gone leaves them with two losses, a win and a draw so far.
The clash with Essex represents the first of successive away trips for the White Rose county, with champions Surrey following at the Kia Oval from May 16.
“Going back down there for myself and Mick is special,” said McGrath.
“It’s always going to hold a special place for me, is Chelmsford, and the people down there. But once you get down there, both teams will want to beat each other.
Picture by Alex Davidson/Getty Images. Anthony McGrath and Yorkshire’s new bowling coach Mick Lewis swapped Chelmsford for Headingley during the winter just gone.
“Playing them twice this year – a good chance to try and get two over them.”
Essex were also beaten at the weekend. They lost by three wickets against Somerset at Taunton, the hosts chasing down 321 having recovered from 179-6.
Yorkshire sit second-bottom in Division One on 42 points, while Essex are a place and eight points better off having also drawn two and won one so far.
“Myself and Mick have been down there a lot, so conditions and team-wise we know all about them,” continued McGrath. “But it’s how we perform.
“You can do all the prep you want, but we’ve got to play better with the players we’ve got.
“We know that, and I think once we get going and get that confidence again, I think we can match anyone.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Adam Lyth and Fin Bean are likely to be reunited at the top of the Yorkshire’s batting order.
“Essex and Surrey, in particular, they have battled at the high end in this division. It’s going to be a good test, but I think it’s something we’ve got to respond to.
“We want to be in Division 1, we want to be playing for points, and we’ve got to go down there (to Chelmsford) having dusted ourselves off.”
Yorkshire came into the most recent Warwickshire game on the back of a week’s rest. After trips to Essex and Surrey, they return to Headingley to tackle Nottinghamshire, starting on May 23. That’s the last game before a break for the start of the Vitality Blast T20 competition.
“We said about this block of four games before the Warwickshire game that they were big and we’d probably know where we are by the time T20 comes, and that hasn’t changed,” said McGrath.
“Obviously, disappointing against Warwickshire. But I think we’ve competed, and we’ve not played anywhere near our best.”
Yorkshire will have to replace Harry Brook and Joe Root in their team from the Warwickshire game, that being the only one they were available for ahead of England’s summer of internationals start a fortnight today.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. New Zealand fast bowler Ben Sears impressed with six wickets in the match against Warwickshire last weekend. Yorkshire will be hoping for more of the same at Chelmsford.
Fin Bean and Matthew Revis are set to come back into the squad, while Jack White is also likely to be in contention having been rested against the Bears.
McGrath spent almost nine years at Chelmsford as both a title-winning assistant coach and head coach. He worked under Chris Silverwood initially, who was head coach before joining England’s staff at the start of 2018.
McGrath took over as head coach and then director of cricket, and Silverwood has since returned to the club to replace him under the latter title.
Tom Westley remains as captain, as does talismanic South African off-spinner Simon Harmer as one of their overseas players. Sri Lankan seamer Kasun Rajitha is also with the county until the end of this month.
Essex have ex-South African Test captain Dean Elgar opening the batting on a domestic contract.
It would be a surprise to see Sam Cook feature in this fixture. New-ball seamer Cook has been called up to England’s Test squad for the first time and is likely to face Zimbabwe on May 22. Wicketkeeper-batter Jordan Cox, meanwhile, was also in that squad but suffered an abdominal injury whilst batting against Somerset at the weekend and has been ruled out of this match and the Test.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Essex’s overseas off-spinner Sinon Harmer celebrates a wicket during Essex’s most recent match against Somerset at Taunton, a three-wicket defeat.
Essex have only lost three Championship matches at Chelmsford since the start of 2019.
“With Harmer, it’s turned, and they have got an unbelievable record at home,” added McGrath. “You can buy into, ‘It’s going to spin from ball one’. But it doesn’t always do that.
“I think it’s a good place to play cricket.
“I’ve got a lot of good memories down there. We’ll be obviously putting that into the players, and we’re looking forward to going down there.”
ESSEX v YORKSHIRE, FIRST CLASS CRICKET – 1894-2022 – STAT PACK
Results (home and away) County Championship: Played 167; Yorkshire won 85, Essex won 29, Drawn 53. (Abandoned 2). In addition, the counties have played 2 non-Championship matches, both won by Yorkshire
At Chelmsford (all Championship, and where Yorkshire did not play until 1972): Played 18; Yorkshire won 5, Essex won 6, Drawn 7.
Most recent results: 2022 Essex won by one wicket at Headingley; 2022 match drawn at Chelmsford.
Yorkshire’s most recent victory – 2018 at Chelmsford by 91 runs.
Most successive wins: Yorkshire 7 (1931-4), Essex 3 (1896-7 and 1988-90).
Two wins in a season: Yorkshire 20 times, Essex 2,
Highest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 555-1dec at Leyton in 1932.
For Essex, 622-8dec at Headingley in 2005.
Lowest innings totals:
For Yorkshire, 31 at Huddersfield in 1935.
For Essex, 30 at Leyton in 1901.
Highest individual score: For Yorkshire, 313 by H Sutcliffe at Leyton in 1932.
For Essex, 219* by DJ Insole at Colchester (Castle Park) in 1949.
Highest partnerships: For Yorkshire, 555 for the first wicket between P Holmes (224*) and H Sutcliffe (313) at Leyton in 1932 (This was the world record for the first wicket and stood for 44 years).
For Essex, 246 for the second wicket between JP Stephenson (116) and PJ Prichard (128) at Colchester (Castle Park) in 1991.
Best bowling figures (innings): For Yorkshire, 9-28 by W Rhodes at Leyton in 1899.
For Essex, 8-44 by FG Bull at Bradford in 1896.
Best bowling figures (match): For Yorkshire, 17-91 (8-47 and 9-44) by H Verity at Leyton in 1933 (This is a record for Yorkshire in all first-class cricket).
For Essex, 14-127 (7-37 and 7-90) by W Mead at Leyton in 1899.
Hat tricks: For Yorkshire, 3 – by A Drake at Huddersfield in 1912, MW Booth at Leyton in 1912 and GA Cope at Colchester (Garrison) in 1970.
For Essex, 2 by JWHT Douglas at Leyton in 1905 and MS Nichols at Headingley in 1931.
Most dismissals in an innings by a wicket keeper: For Essex 6 (all caught) by BJ Hyam at Scarborough in 1998. No-one has taken more than 5 for Yorkshire.
Most dismissals in a match by a wicket keeper: For Essex: 8 (all caught) by BJ Hyam at Scarborough in 1998 and JS Foster at Chelmsford in 2017. No-one has taken more than 6 for Yorkshire.
Most catches in an innings by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 5 by AB Sellers at Leyton in 1933. No-one has taken more than 4 for Essex.
Most catches in a match by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 7 by AB Sellers at Leyton in 1933. No-one has taken more than 5 for Essex
A hundred runs and 10 wickets in a match: For Essex, MS Nichols 146 and 11-54 (4-17 and 7-37) at Huddersfield in 1935 and TE Bailey 60* and 46 and 12-101 (7-40 and 5-61) at Headingley in 1960.
A century and five wickets in an innings in a match: For Yorkshire, C White 108* and 0 and 5-40 and 2-28 at Headingley in 1994.
For Essex, MS Nichols 146 and 4-17 and 7-37 at Huddersfield in 1935.
At Chelmsford…
Highest innings totals: Yorkshire 465 in 2022, Essex 413 in 1985.
Lowest innings totals: Yorkshire 50 in 2018, Essex 116 in 2004.
Highest individual score: For Yorkshire, 156 by D Byas in 1993.
For Essex, 159 by SG Law in 1999.
Best bowling figures in an innings: For Yorkshire, 6-40 by SA Patterson in 2018.
For Essex, 7-46 by DR Pringle in 1986.
Best bowling figures in a match: For Yorkshire 8-115 (3-65 and 5-50) by Azeem Rafiq in 2012.
For Essex, 13-186 (6-121 and 7-65) by Danish Kaneria in 2004.
Compiled by Paul Dyson, Peter Horne & Martyn Webster, members of the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians.
