Essex’s chances of defending their County Championship title look increasingly slim as they enter this week’s final round of preliminary matches, well adrift of the top two places required to compete for the title proper in the final stage of the season.
Champions in 2019, when a pre-pandemic competition was based on two divisions, Essex, under captain Ryan ten Doeschate, have struggled to dominate opponents in the three conference system adopted this season. Their batting has been inconsistent while their bowling, such a strength in the title-winning years of 2017, 2019 and in last year’...