Nottinghamshire return to red ball action when they face Essex at The cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford.

The Specsavers County Championship match will be played between Tuesday 14 and Friday 17 May 2019, with play beginning at 11am each day.

Both counties began the season in similar fashion, taking a draw and a defeat from their opening two matches.

Notts drew with Yorkshire and were beaten by Somerset, collecting 16 points. Essex lost to Hampshire and drew with Surrey, taking 14 points.

Head-To-Head

Nottinghamshire and Essex have faced each other on 134 occasions in first class cricket.

There have been 66 draws, 35 Essex victories and 33 wins for Notts.

In Essex the sides have met on 67 occasions, with the home county having an overall advantage of 21 wins to 16, with 30 draws.

Last Time

Notts completed a stunning victory in last June’s County Championship meeting at Chelmsford.

With outstanding performances from Ross Taylor, Tom Moores and the bowling unit, the visitors ended a 34-year jinx at the Essex headquarters.

Although wins had been claimed at Colchester, Ilford and Southend in the intervening period, this Notts side picked up their first win at Chelmsford since 1988.

New Zealand international Taylor made 146, his only century for the county, as the visitors racked up 380.

With Steven Mullaney away on England Lions duty, Chris Nash captained Notts for the first time, becoming the first uncapped skipper of the 21st century.

Luke Fletcher and Matt Carter each took four wickets as Essex were bowled out for only 206.

Second time around, Moores lit up the ground with a scintillating knock of 87, which included seven sixes.

The swashbuckling knock was made even more special by the fact that he had a runner throughout, after injuring a hamstring.

Chasing an unlikely 441, the home side were bowled out for only 139, giving the Green and Golds victory by 301 runs.

Matt Milnes, who had removed England captain Alastair Cook for nought, claimed four for 44, in an innings which saw academy keeper Tom Keast take three catches whilst deputising for Moores.

The success remains Nottinghamshire’s last red ball victory, having played 10 first class matches since then (nine championship, one MCCU).

History

1905 | Any record that lasts for more than a century is worthy of praise. Although the final day of Nottinghamshire’s clash with Essex at Leyton was allowed to peter out into a tame draw, it did enable Arthur Jones and John Gunn to spend time in the middle getting to know each other a little better. Opener Jones made 274 and Gunn reached 151 as a new county-record fourth-wicket stand of 361 was posted.

1972 | Elm Avenue, Newark, was the venue for Derek Randall’s Nottinghamshire debut. Playing in the championship against Essex, he scored 78 in his only innings of the draw. The 21-year-old from Retford arrived at 92-5 and made his runs in 140 minutes, hitting four boundaries and five sixes.

2007 | Although a positive outcome looked unlikely from the start, Nottinghamshire’s match against Essex at Chelmsford did make its way into the record books. Having seen their opponents pile up a first-innings total of 700-9 declared over the first two days, the visitors then found the surface equally productive. A career-best 240 from Chris Read, following on from Samit Patel’s 117 and Mark Wagh’s 107, and backed up by 97 from Graeme Swann, sent the statisticians into overdrive as Nottinghamshire made 791 all out – their highest first-class total.

Stats (for all First-class matches between Essex and Notts)

Highest Team Total | Notts: 791 (Chelmsford, 2007), Essex: 700-9dec (Chelmsford, 2007).

Highest Individual Score | Notts: 275 DJ Hussey (Chelmsford, 2006), Essex: 225 CP McGahey (Leyton, 1904).

Best Bowling | Notts: 8-25 TG Wass (Trent Bridge, 1902), Essex: 9-32 MS Nichols (Trent Bridge, 1936).

Played For Them Both

Notts are likely to face their former overseas fast bowler Peter Siddle at Chelmsford this week.

The Australian international has returned to Essex for a second season, after playing seven championship matches last year.

The Victorian spent much of the 2014 campaign at Trent Bridge, appearing 11 times and taking 37 wickets at an average of 31 runs apiece.

Former Outlaws’ fast bowler Andy Carter spent a short period on loan with Essex in 2010, playing three first-class and one List A match for the Chelmsford-based county.

He picked up 13 wickets in his championship outings, including figures of five for 40 against Kent at Canterbury.

Carter’s List A debut for Notts had been against Essex at Garon Park, Southend in 2009, when he picked up the wickets of Varun Chopra, Graham Napier and Tim Phillips

Other players who have represented both counties include Andre Adams, Hashim Amla, James Franklin, Jason Gallian, Will Jefferson, Ian Pont, Barry Stead and Peter Such.

Did You Know?

The tallest player to ever represent Nottinghamshire was born in Derby but played his first county cricket for Essex before moving to Trent Bridge.

At 6’10” William Ingleby Jefferson has had few equals in terms of height in the history of the game.

He joined Notts in time for the 2007 season, having made a couple of appearances for England A in Bangladesh during the previous winter.

During his time at Nottingham, the right-handed batsman played 22 first-class matches, making one century, plus 24 List A and 23 Twenty20 games.

Milestones

Nottinghamshire players approaching first class milestones:

Chris Nash is 13 away from recording 12,000 first-class runs.

Steven Mullaney is 77 away from 7,000 first-class runs

Stuart Broad needs 65 more runs to reach 5,000 in first-class cricket.

Tom Moores is 75 runs away from chalking up 1,000 first-class runs.

Jake Ball is 80 runs short of reaching the 1,000-run landmark in first-class cricket.

James Pattinson needs four more first-class wickets to reach 250.

Steven Mullaney is four wickets short of his hundredth in first-class cricket.

Additionally, Luke Fletcher has taken 447 wickets for Notts across all three formats.

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