Match times, streaming information, tickets and travel, team news, weather forecast, form, prediction and everything else you need to know ahead of the latest round of the LV= Insurance County Championship...
Fixture: Essex v Nottinghamshire
Venue: The Cloudfm County Ground, Essex
Dates: Thursday, June 3, 2021 - Sunday, June 6, 2021
Start time: 11am
What's the lowdown?
A top-of-the-table clash starts on Thursday as Nottinghamshire travel to Chelmsford to face Essex. Notts are coming off a 170-run defeat by Warwickshire as the top of Group 1 becomes even closer. Now only seven points separate the top three.
Essex are flying after a three-day victory over Durham last week, thrashing them by 195 runs at Emirates Riverside.
Who's in form?
Both Ben Slater and Joe Clarke scored half-centuries in the first innings against Warwickshire last week, while Luke Fletcher finished the match with 4 for 38. Fletcher has 36 wickets in 2021.
Peter Siddle completed the match against Durham with second-innings figures of 3-47 after claiming three wickets in the first for Essex while Adam Wheater grabbed 81 before being run out, and Ryan ten Doeschate polished the game off for Essex with a half-century.
Michael Pepper had the highest score of the game with 92 in the first innings.
Last five first-class matches (most recent first)
Essex: WDWLD
Nottinghamshire: LWWWD
Head-to-head first-class record
Total matches: 134
Essex wins: 31
Nottinghamshire wins: 37
Draws: 66
Abandoned: 0
What's the team news?
Essex: The champions have added Ben Allison to their squad and have made no further changes as they look to cement their spot at the top of the Group One table. They are without Dan Lawrence who is away on England duty.
Squad: Tom Westley (c), Ben Allison, Nick Browne, Alastair Cook, Sam Cook, Simon Harmer, Michael Pepper, Jamie Porter, Peter Siddle, Shane Snater, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Paul Walter, Adam Wheater (wk)
Nottinghamshire: Notts have made two changes for the trip to Chelmsford. Ben Compton replaces Haseeb Hameed who has been called up by England. Spinner Matt Carter will take the place of Joey Evison.
Squad: Matthew Carter, Zak Chappell, Joe Clarke, Ben Compton, Ben Duckett, Luke Fletcher, Brett Hutton, Lyndon James, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney (c), Dane Patterson, Liam Patterson – White, Ben Slater
Latest Nottinghamshire news: Click here
Who said what?
Anthony McGrath is targeting two wins from the final three Group One fixtures to keep Essex's hopes alive of retaining their title.
"I felt before the game with Durham that we needed to win two of the three remaining games depending on other results, but our group is very tight," he said.
"We try to win every game, of course, but going into what is a big game with Nottinghamshire, we’ll take the confidence and momentum from that victory over Durham.”
Despite collapsing to 138 all out in pursuit of 309 to beat Warwickshire, Steven Mullaney will not advise Notts' batting line-up to betray their attacking instinct against Essex.
"We were disappointed with the result against Warwickshire because we thought it was a good wicket, and we didn’t bat as well as we should have done as a top-six on the last day," said the skipper.
"We were positive but let the game go, so came in for some fair criticism. That said, we don’t want to stop anybody playing their natural game because it has worked for them individually and as a team for three games before Warwickshire.”
What's the weather forecast?
Hot and dry over all four days at Chelmsford this weekend, with sunny intervals changing into light cloud overnight. Highs of 24 degrees Celsius on Thursday before sightly dropping to 22 for the rest of the match.
Keep up to date with the MetOffice’s rolling forecast for Essex: Click here
How do I follow the match?
TV/stream: Information to come.
All LV= County Championship matches are also available via the ECB's central hub: Click here
The matches can also be viewed on mobile via the ECB app.
Radio: BBC Local Radio and the BBC Sport website will carry ball-by-ball radio commentary of the game.
Digital: The Cricketer will carry live scorecards and daily updates from every LV= County Championship match in 2021, as well as the latest breaking news from around the counties and exclusive features. Visit our County Hub for more.
Going to the game?
Tickets: Attendance is for members only via a ballot. This will remain until June 21 after the next stage of lockdown easing.
Travel
Address: The Cloudfm County Ground, New Writtle St, Chelmsford CM2 0PG
By car
From the north: Take junction 19 on the A12 (Boreham). Take the A130 exit towards A138/Stansted Airport/Sudbury/Chelmsford and then at the roundabout, take the fourth exit onto Main Rd/A130. This is followed by another roundabout, take the second exit onto A138. The road continues to the Army and Navy roundabout then take the fourth exit onto Parkway/A1060. Continue straight, over another roundabout, and turn left onto New London Road. Move over to the right slip lane for New Writtle Street and the ground is located down this road.
From the South: Take junction 15 on the A12 and continue down the A414 exit to Harlow/Chelmsford. At the roundabout, take the second exit onto Three Mile Hill/A414. Continue down this road until you come to two roundabouts. Take the second exit on both roundabouts (straight over). Head over the bridge towards the Wood Street roundabout and take the first exit onto New London Road. Continue down New London Road and turn left into New Writtle Street and the ground is down this road.
By train: Chelmsford train station is a 10-minute walk from the ground and has regular direct train services from Chelmsford to London, Stratford, Shenfield, Romford, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich. Chelmsford is situated on the Liverpool Street to Norwich mainline, with five trains per hour to and from Central London.
By bus: Chelmsford Bus Station is situated on Duke Street, next to Chelmsford Train Station, with connections to all over the county. Alternatively, bus No.42 and No.100 stop on New London Road, which is approximately a two-minute walk to the ground, via New Writtle Street.
On foot: Entrances to The Cloudfm County Ground are situated on New Writtle Street and via Sky Blue Pastures to the north of the ground via Parkway.
Disabled access: Disabled visitors to the Cloudfm County Ground are required to access via the main entrance on New Writtle Street. Accessible car park spaces are available opposite the Essex Cricket Store at the end of the driveway. There are a limited number of spaces available on match days and for non-matchday events, on a first-come, first-served basis.
*please check latest information with the club relating to Covid-19 bio-security and restricted access
Prediction?
Nottinghamshire won the corresponding fixture, but Essex have recovered their best form since then and rarely lose at Chelmsford.
OTHER ROUND NINE PREVIEWS
Group 1
Group 2
Leicestershire v Gloucestershire
Group 3
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