Match times, streaming information, tickets and travel, team news, head-to-head record, weather forecast, prediction, and everything else you need to know ahead of the latest round of the County Championship...
Fixture: Worcestershire v Essex
Venue: New Road, Worcester
Dates: Thursday, April 29, 2021 - Sunday, May 2, 2021
Start time: 11am
What's the lowdown?
The second meeting of the season between two sides who played out a high-scoring draw at Chelmsford in round one.
Worcestershire have maintained the drawing habit, a stalemate the result in all three of their matches this term. They were in the box-seat for much of their last game, having asked Nottinghamshire to follow-on before centuries from Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater secured a stalemate.
Essex meanwhile, having snatched a Simon Harmer-inspired victory from the jaws of defeat against Durham in their second fixture, couldn't repeat the trick against Warwickshire last week, despite the South African's best efforts.
The defending champions were teetering at 93 for 6 with a second-innings lead of just 104 when the off-spinner came to the crease. He hit an unbeaten 82 as Tom Westley's side recovered to post the Bears a tricky target of 256 to win. It wasn't enough, as an exceptional Rob Yates century consigned Essex to a seven-wicket defeat, their first in first-class cricket since 2019.
Who's in form?
Pears opener Jake Libby, the newly-installed red-ball vice-captain, has had a stellar start to the season with two hundreds. An organised right-hander who was second only to Alastair Cook in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy run-scoring table, the 28-year-old has 318 runs at 106 after three rounds this season.
Despite the presence of West Indies quick Alzarri Joseph, the New Road outfit's bowling attack continues to lack teeth, though allrounder Ed Barnard is having an April to remember: he is his county's leading wicket-taker and also registered a maiden first-class hundred in round one.
For Essex, Harmer has been typically brilliant with the ball and has 17 wickets in his three outings, an extraordinary haul for a spinner in spring and a total exceeded only by Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson. His threat was largely negated by Yates' brilliance in the loss to Warwickshire, the finger spinner's 0 for 88 the most runs he has conceded for his adopted county without taking a wicket.
Last five first-class matches (most recent first)
Worcestershire: DDDLD
Essex: LWDDW
Head-to-head first-class record
Total matches: 150
Worcestershire wins: 34
Essex wins: 48
Draws: 68
What's the team news?
Worcestershire: Young batsman Jack Haynes has been added to the Worcestershire squad that drew with Nottinghamshire last time out on the back of making 165 in a second team match earlier this week.
Worcestershire squad: Joe Leach (c), Daryl Mitchell, Jake Libby, Tom Fell, Gareth Roderick, Brett D’Oliveira, Riki Wessels, Ben Cox, Ed Barnard, Alzarri Joseph, Charlie Morris, Dillon Pennington, Jack Haynes
Essex: Essex have named a 13-man squad for their trip to New Road, adding Shane Snater and Ben Allison to the side that was beaten by Warwickshire last week.
Essex squad: Tom Westley (c), Ben Allison, Nick Browne, Alastair Cook, Sam Cook, Simon Harmer, Jamie Porter, Dan Lawrence, Peter Siddle, Shane Snater, Ryan ten Doeschate, Paul Walter, Adam Wheater
Latest Worcestershire news: Click here
Who's said what?
The key to Worcestershire's encouraging start to the season has been the strength in depth of those on the edge of the first team, believes head coach Alex Gidman.
“Jack has gone away and done really, really well, which is what we’ve asked of all the second team players,” he said, speaking about Haynes.
“There are two or three guys in the seconds that are scoring a lot of runs, and they are putting a lot of pressure on which is precisely what we want.
“It’s the same with the bowlers. Josh Tongue has had a good couple of weeks and is proving his fitness, so there is some good healthy competition from all angles, which is precisely what we need as a whole squad. We’ve got an almost fully fit squad, and we’ve got a lot of hungry players.”
Essex head coach Anthony McGrath added that his charges were determined to put things right after suffering a first defeat in 22 first-class matches at Edgbaston.
“I know that the lads were hurting afterwards, it was a strange feeling because they’ve not been used to defeats in red-ball cricket but we have to dust ourselves down and put things right.
“Having not lost for so long, we are certainly not going to get too down about it but we do have to make sure that there is no adverse reaction to that setback.
“The lads have been fantastic over the last few years and I suppose you are going to lose at some time, but you could see the lads fighting and scrapping right down to the last ball at Edgbaston.”
What's the weather forecast?
A cloudy day one at New Road will be followed by three days which, with plenty of rain about, are likely to be stop-start. Worcester flood-watchers will also be alarmed to hear that heavy showers are forecast for the afternoon of day four. With temperatures unlikely to exceed 12 degrees, it's a gloomy outlook.
Keep up to date with the MetOffice’s rolling forecast for Worcester: Click here
How do I follow the match?
TV/stream: Worcestershire will offer live coverage of the match via their website: Click here
All 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 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: This match is to be played behind closed doors owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
Travel: Not applicable owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
Prediction?
With interruptions scheduled throughout the game and two bowling attacks primed to exploit the overheads, batting will be a perilous task in this fixture. The Pears will be looking to chip away at the cracks in a batting lineup that has quietly been rather flimsy. But after last week's defeat, an Essex reaction is in the offing and, with Jamie Porter and Sam Cook the best seam bowlers on show, the defending champions enter the contest as favourites. Away win.
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