Mistaken Identity, Frostbite and Running Companions: Day 1 of Essex v Gloucestershire

Billy Godleman (right) is embraced by captain James Foster as he reaches Essex's first County Championship century of the season. 

Portman Road in an easterly wind had nothing on this. On Sunday, when I went to Cambridge to watch Essex play the university side, I got sunburnt. Today, I probably came close hyperthermia. And so, in this ridiculous weather of this green and pleasant land, begins another glorious season of county cricket.

Cloudy and overcast, Gloucestershire had no hesitation in electing to field first when they when the toss. Charl Willoughby, having only bowled 6 overs in Cambridge due to a tight groin, was ruled out for Essex. Alviro Petersen made his debut and added some much needed experience to the top order. There was no place for Jaik Mickleburgh, but Mark Pettini returned to the Essex fold after what has been a fairly turbulent two years for the former skipper.

Early wickets are Essex's forte and Petersen, having hit a couple of boundaries, decided to attempt to extinguish any early season optimism and depart with the score on 19. The majority of Essex's opening partnerships last season were nothing to shout home about, but Petersen, having arrived in the country on Tuesday can only improve. Petersen's departure brought Tom Westley to the crease, with him deciding to grab the initiative and bring Essex's run rate up to nearly four an over.

Westley departed for 33 and Pettini departed for 9 soon after. Essex were in the all too familiar position of being three wickets down in double figures. Then in came Adam Wheater. 

The only photo I have of Wheater is of the shot that got him out, but he played superbly. He thrives in conditions where Essex have their backs to the wall, having done something similar against the same opposition back in August last year. It can be risky, but he's an aggressive player. He smacked a huge six over the top of the hospitality suite and into the car park behind and reached his 50 off only 31 deliveries. It was greeted with a standing ovation, usually reserved for a century.

He may look really small, but he packs one heck of a punch and he really helped Essex seize the momentum of the morning. Three wickets went down, but Essex went into lunch 146-3,. Wheater departed soon after lunch for a very entertaining 56 off 42 deliveries. The 22 year old is certainly one to watch this season.

Greg Smith came in, got 34 off 33 and then went. Along the way in the 50 partnership, he and Godleman had managed to steer Essex to their first bonus points of the season, as they passed the 200 mark. Godleman at this point had passed 50 and was building an innings that another Essex left hander would be proud of.

At 210-5, Essex had a good platform to build upon and captain Foster and Godleman built on it. In around 33 overs, the two put on 94 (if you play for Essex, it's a good number apparently) for the 6th wicket. Godleman reached his century with a boundary off James Fuller, having got past the 94 he made against Cambridge.

Billy, or Bernard/Barry as the gentlemen sat behind me christened him, Godleman played well today. He barely offered a chance to the Gloucestershire fielders and played watchfully, anchoring one end and rotating the strike with some ease. He equalled his career best of 130 with this innings and whilst it is only the first day of the season and there are far more dangerous attacks out there, it will be a confidence boost to Godleman after a poor 2011. 

James Foster and Graham Napier both provided Godleman with support. Foster fell four short of what would've been a deserved half century. The delight for Godleman was evident as he embraced Godleman before allowing him to salute the crowd. When he departed, Napier began his innings by listening to my Fantasy Cricket inspired pep talk/shout of, "Don't get a duck!" as he walked out to the crease. He hit his first ball for four.

Once Napier departed, Godleman quickly followed and Essex went from 357-7 to 364 all out. Chambers bagged a duck and Masters was the last man out for 9. Tymal Mills was not out on 0. 

Essex will be slightly disappointed that they couldn't reach 400 and claim all 5 bonus points on offer. They had the platform, but the tail unfortunately didn't wag. However, to score at nearly four an over on the first day of the season, having been put into bat in conditions that looked likely to be bowler friendly, is, compared to previous seasons, a fairly good start. With Cook and Bopara set to return from Sri Lanka in the coming weeks and Shah and ten Doeschate due back from the IPL at some point in May, Essex's batting line up can only be made to look stronger.

Tomorrow, it's over to the bowlers. David Masters will be hoping for a repeat of his 6-75 he got at the Colchester Festival last year and Napier will be looking to bring in some of the form he showed against Cambridge after a winter of nursing an elbow injury. Maurice Chambers, Greg Smith and Tymal Mills make up the rest of the bowling attack, with Tom Westley likely to bowl a couple of overs of off spin. Should Essex have a good day in the field, it may well pave the way to a decent start to the 2012 season.

Alviro Petersen gains a friendly companion on a pre-Nando's run around the Chelmsford outfield.

It's been a long winter and there's only so much you can refresh the scorecards of the domestic section of the southern hemisphere on Cricinfo. County cricket, you're a strange but absolutely wonderful world, and it's fantastic to have you back.

"What is it The Barmy Army chant? 'Easy, easy, easy'?" - A Report of Day 1 of Essex v Gloucestershire at Colchester

I meant to do a report of the first day of the County Championship, but I ended up getting distracted by university work and seeing Essex collapse to Darren Stevens first hand was something I did not want to relive in the name of internet blogging. Still, I've taken far too many pictures and made quite a few notes during the course of today's play, so I thought I'd share with you what happened, because the reports on Cricinfo and the BBC don't include elderly people's problems with the late gooseberry harvest.

I missed the first 15 minutes play due to me being an idiot with my trains, so I managed to miss Billy Godleman departing for a royal duck at the hands of Jon Lewis. When I arrived, Tom Westley and Owais Shah were still at the crease. They didn't last long in what was a very poor morning for Essex and which could've been a lot worse had an umpire not changed his mind.

Essex lost their first five wickets for only 55. According to Jon Lewis' analysis when pressed by an Essex member sat on the boundary, he said the "ball wasn't swinging" and "the bowling was pretty straight". And, judging by the way the Essex batsmen got out, his analysis wasn't far off. Shah was first to go for only 12. I think he was trying to run the ball down the third man, but ended up guiding it to Dent off Lewis. It left Essex 26-2 after they'd won the toss and elected to bat. Not the best of starts.

Shah run out watch ends in disappointment. But he did shout "NO" very loudly and clearly.

Westley was next to go. He'd played quite well for his 20, including a pull for four:

And then he got a tickle on one down the leg side from Payne. And Essex were 39-3. In came young Adam Wheater to join young Jaik Mickleburgh, but Gloucestershire were not done yet. 

Gidman was brought back on and he soon trapped Mickleburgh LBW:

Foster was the next man in. He took a while to emerge from the pavilion and he seemed to be getting fairly close to being timed out. Once he did appear a the crease though, the Essex skipper celebrated his contract extension with another poor piece of timing to be bowled for a duck on the third ball he faced from Gidman. The double strike left Essex in the precarious position of 55-5.

Essex were managing to make it to lunch without losing another wicket, until Tendo was given out caught behind. Now, from where I was sat with my probably Essex tuned selective hearing, I didn't hear an edge, so was surprised when the finger was raised. Gloucestershire celebrated, but ten Doeschate stood his ground. He was not impressed at all and as the Gloucestershire side walked off, RtD had an exchange with the bowler, Gidman. As the Gloucestershire team reached the boundary, Tendo was still near the middle of the pitch and then the umpire who'd given him out, waved his arms across his legs and reversed his decision. It meant Essex went into lunch 79-5, but the scoreboards around the ground showed 79-6. ten Doeschate was still listed as the not out batsman and he was on 10.

RtD is not impressed with the umpire's decision and stands his ground.

After the lunch break, Wheater and ten Doeschate took advantage of some disappointing Gloucestershire bowling or of a "very flat wicket" (Jon Lewis quote, I'm reserving judgement until Gloucestershire get a bat). Wheater reached his 50 off 46 deliveries, which, given the circumstances was superb. He brought up the 50 partnership between him and Tendo with a 6.

The most notable thing about this partnership was that the communication and running between the wickets was very good. They manoeuvred the field, looked for the singles, pushed hard to turn singles into twos, and two into threes. It was no wonder that Wheater was on the Red Bull, what with Tendo working him so hard! But it was a good counter attack, they were scoring runs at a quick rate and Gloucestershire had no answer.

Wheater's century was brought up with yet another four. It was his second hundred of the season and it was celebrated with a big hug from Tendo:

Wheater's century came off 86 deliveries.

Very soon afterwards, ten Doeschate reached his 50. After returning from a two week break in the CB40 against Lancashire, this was Tendo's first County Championship match since his duck and a single against Leicestershire, and he must have felt like he had a point to prove.

The partnership between RtD and Wheater continued to grow. The 150 partnership comes up with a 4. Another Wheater 4 brings up Essex's 250 and then the 200 run partnership comes up with a wide from Saxelby.

The fabulous innings of the pint sized Adam Wheater was ended fairly soon after this though. Wheater was trapped in front by Saxelby and it signalled the end of the mammoth 204 run partnership. Essex, having been 55-5 were now in a far more comfortable position of 259-6. Wheater went for 135 off a staggering 124 balls. His innings included 17 fours and 5 sixes and it was, quite frankly, a joy to watch.

Wheater received a standing ovation as he left the pitch.

Essex reached tea without any more casualties and found themselves 274-6, with ten Doeschate 79* and Graham Napier 11*.

After tea, Jack Taylor was getting no respite. First Tendo, then Napier hit him for more sixes. Napier's six caused the ball to be lost, presumably in the river that runs next to the ground. Welcome home, Graham. Like with the Wheater partnership, ten Doeschate continued to push his partner hard and luckily, Napier was up to the task. The 300 came up for Essex with a 2 from Napier, a score that seemed a long, long way off at the lunch break.

At this stage, ten Doeschate was into the 90s. He began to look slightly nervous, as he went for a risky single on 94 but, luckily for him and the Colchester crowd, Hamish Marshall missed the stumps and he went to 95. 

This isn't Tendo, but I just like this picture, because this is Napes' hitting a six that came to my part of the ground and nearly hit me in the back of the head.

Tendo went on to 99 with a 3 and he decided to play a nervous shot that got the edge, but luckily fell short of the fielder. He then managed to crack one to the boundary for a four and reach a very well deserved hundred off 147 balls, including nine fours and one six.

Doing "the Tendo". 

Soon, Napier was caught behind by Coughtrie off the bowling of Payne. He fell 5 short of his half century and it brought an end to the 82 run partnership between him and ten Doeschate. In came Essex's bowling hero of David Masters, and he got off the mark with a ball he meant to leave. Unfortunately, Tendo soon forgot that he wasn't batting with Wheater or Napier and pushed for a two that probably wasn't there. Jon Lewis threw the ball in and the bails were removed. The two quick wickets left Essex 345-8, still 2 runs short of another batting point.

Maurice Chambers came and went very quickly, comprehensively bowled by Jon Lewis for a duck. The score was 347-9 and in came the number 11. Singles brought Essex closer and closer to the elusive 350 and it was reached with another single from Tom Craddock. Bad light stopped play with Essex 359-9 and as soon as I saw the umpire signalling with a cut throat action, I knew that play was off for the day.

After losing the first 5 wickets for 55, the lower order and Wheater rallied to put on over 300 for the last 5. Considering Essex's ability to collapse this season, it was excellent to watch. I had a great day lowering the average age of the crowd at Colchester. I overheard conversations of how late gooseberries and runner beans are, heard a rant about train fares and the hike in prices, heard that apparently someone's not found a wasp's nest in their roof this year and then someone else discussed the wonders of Greene King and IPA.

Welcome to the glorious, glorious world of county cricket.