No Bopara, no problem for Essex's red-ball champions

BOB WILLIS TROPHY PREVIEW: Ravi Bopara's departure from Chelmsford was one of the biggest moves of an off-season that feels like a different era

Bob Willis Trophy team-by-team guides: Click here

In: Josh Rymell (youth)

Out: Ravi Bopara (Sussex), Matt Coles (released)

Fixture list: August 1 – Kent (h); August 8 – Surrey (h); August 15 – Sussex (a); August 22 – Hampshire (a); September 6 – Middlesex (h)

Remind me what happened last year?

Essex became the first county to win both the Championship and the T20 competition in the same summer.

Off-spin king Simon Harmer took 83 Championship wickets, while Jamie Porter, Sam Cook and Aaron Beard were a formidable four-day seam trio.

Sir Alastair Cook topped the Championship batting charts with 913 runs at 45.65 even after a tepid start.

What’s happened over the winter?

They took the pictures of Ravi Bopara down from Chelmsford railway station, then spent the first half of the summer as hacked off as the rest of us.

VISIT THE NEW-LOOK COUNTY HUB

Who’s arrived and who’s left?

Bopara has left for some sea air and Peter Siddle will stay in Australia now, hurting Chelmsford’s vegan restaurants.

Who will be the key men in 2020?

This mini-campaign will be a good little learning curve for Tom Westley as he steps into the sizeable shoes of Ryan ten Doeschate, and the veteran will still be around to help for now.

Porter will be aggrieved at being overlooked by England for their 55-man training squad this summer.

What can we expect from this team this season?

Since Essex returned to Division One of the County Championship in 2017 they have won 14, drawn four and lost only three of their 21 matches at home.

With the champions having three of their five matches at Fortress Chelmsford this time in this one-off comp, who would bet against them?

Dan Lawrence will look to press his England claims, while the bowling attack picks itself with Porter, Cook, Beard and Harmer.

For unrivalled print coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive four issues for £15