Match Preview: Essex v Hampshire - Specsavers County Championship

Hampshire resume their 2017 Specsavers County Championship campaign on Friday when they visit Chelmsford to face Essex.

Hampshire Squad:

Hampshire have named a 13-man squad for this fixture, with George Bailey set to make his second first-class debut for Hampshire.

Rilee Rossouw is also set to feature having missed Hampshire’s most-recent four-day contest with a finger injury, whilst Reece Topley could face his former side for the first time in red-ball cricket if selected in tomorrow’s starting XI.

The Opposition:

Essex have enjoyed a solid start to their 2017 four-day campaign, recording a victory and two draws from their three fixtures so far. Ryan ten Doeschate’s side currently sit in fifth place in Division One, two places behind Hampshire who are third.

Adam Wheater could face his former side if included in the final XI, having represented Hampshire between 2013 & 2016.

Did You Know?

• James Vince averages an impressive 54.54 with the bat against Essex in first-class matches.
• Jimmy Adams needs just 47 more runs to reach 13,000 in first-class cricket.

What The Team Say:

Director of Cricket, Giles White said: “Essex are a strong side - they’ve got a former England captain in their side and lots of experience down the order too, so we’ve got a tough game ahead of us but the guys are looking forward to getting back to red ball cricket.

“Hopefully we can put in a good performance to begin at Chelmsford and that should set us up nicely for the next couple of games in this competition.”

Full Hampshire Squad:

Coverage:

Live text commentary will be available via the Hampshire Cricket Twitter and Facebook pages. A feed to these will also be available on this page.

There will be ball-by-ball commentary available on BBC Radio Solent online at bbc.co.uk.

Weather Forecast:

Please click here for the latest weather forecast for Chelmsford: 

Tickets:
Tickets for all four days of Hampshire’s match against Essex at Chelmsford can be purchased vis the Essex website: http://www.essexcricket.org.uk/tickets/cricket/prices/