Essex Begin Campaign

From the 12 man squad given above, Graham Napier is likely to miss out so Essex have the extra seamer in Andrew McGarry, meaning the same 11 that beat Cambridge UCCE by 258 at the weekend should start again. This means Andy Flower will keep wicket and again should bat at 3. The side looks good and has strength all the way down. My only worry is the bowling and although McGarry impresses me, Ashley Cowan seems out of touch, but lets hope he uses this to his advantage and plays well. Ramble (Mark Ilott) has an ankle injury but will be fit next week, so with Ricky Anderson gone, strike bowling options are a little limited for this match.

As for Gloucestershire, they have also named 12 in their squad and most likely to miss out is Gidman. They have a couple of injury problems with Tim Hancock out with a broken bone in his hand, so the oldest player in county cricket, 41 year old Kim Barnett will play and open the batting.

Gloucs have been in the 2nd Division since the Championship spilt into two leagues and have never really threatened to get out of it. During the winter, they signed spinner Ian Fisher from Yorkshire and Kiwi Craig Spearman, who now qualifies for county cricket without being overseas. However, they lost key men in all-rounder Michael Cawdron to Northants, Rob Cunliffe to Leics and Dominic Hewson to Derbyshire and this is where their problems lies; the batting.

Gloucs have already began their campaign and on Monday lost out heavily to Worcs at New Road by 206 runs. There, the West Country sides batting only mustered 268 and 154 on a batting friendly pitch with Craig Spearman making a great debut with 111. Jon Lewis is the danger man with the ball, taking 6 wickets in both inns and 12 in total to start off the season and no mean feat at New Road!

Opponents coach John Bracewell thinks Essex will be one of the top sides, saying: "I think they have recruited well. They obviously needed to inject some energy back into the club and on paper it looks like they've succeeded in doing that."

Essex, although playing Cambridge UCCE, got a convincing win under their belts by 258 runs on Monday, with all players having a good work-out and getting some confidence in. Atfy Habib looks as if he could be one of the buys of the season with his early form and Paul Grayson has taken on the role of vice-captaincy with ease, continuing where he left off last year. What is also pleasing to see is Richard Clinton and Darren Robinson in the runs and this bodes well for the season. Joseph Grant looks quick too and should cause the Gloucs boys some problems.

All in all though, with Essex looking hungry and as Chief Executive David East said Essex will playing "positive, attractive cricket" and Gloucs having a poor start, you can only see one result in the match.