The 2025 County Championship Division One season is now upon us, with its tranquil rhythms and feelings of tradition and history, and we head to Chelmsford as perennial title chasers Essex host the ever-dominant Surrey, in an encounter which could have a significant early season impact on the destination of the Division One title.
For Essex, it’s the start of a new but old, but definitely still kind of new era. The playing staff is largely unchanged from 2024, barring the departure of a couple of squad players, but the main areas of change can be seen behind the scenes, with former Championship-winning coach Chris Silverwood returning as Director of Cricket following stints with England and Sri Lanka on the international circuit. They head into the 2025 season optimistic at a renewed assault on the Division One title following a 4th place finish last year, which may have been a place or two higher, but for a rather harsh 12 point penalty imposed as a result of Feroze Khushi’s oversized bat. They will be expecting to be challenging once again, with a talented but ageing squad full of bowling potency from the likes of Simon Harmer, Sam Cook and Jamie Porter, alongside batting talents such as Dean Elgar and Jordan Cox, who is likely to have a point to prove after what must have been a hugely frustrating winter, being denied his England test debut through an unfortunate finger injury.
Surrey travel to Chelmsford with a squad packed full of international class talent, which they have further augmented during the winter with the likes of England seamer Matthew Fisher joining from Yorkshire and New Zealand international seam bowling allrounder Nathan Smith joining from Worcestershire. They also announced that West Indies veteran fast bowler Kemar Roach would be signing for the season’s first four games. On top of this, a significant number of their England contingent is likely to be available, including Ollie Pope, Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence, Jamie Smith, and Sam Curran.
With the weather set fair for four days at least, the toss could be crucial if previous games at Chelmsford are anything to go by. It could be a surface which offers a reasonable amount of assistance to the bowlers, and there are high-quality bowling units on both sides, so I would expect there to be a result one way or the other.
Key Players:
For Essex, Jordan Cox has quickly established himself as one of the most talented batters on the county circuit and has shown that he is a three-format player. He will be desperate to put a hugely unfortunate winter behind him to get himself back in the England test reckoning, especially with an Ashes trip on the horizon. Sam Cook is perhaps the best bowler on the county circuit not to have won an international cap, but in the modern Bazball age where selection is based on hunches and perceived ‘ceilings’, he may struggle to gain selection as the current England selection panel seem to value height and pace above accuracy and skill.
For Surrey, it’s hard to pick out one individual above the rest, but Aussie-cum-English seamer Dan Worrall closely rivals Cook as one of the most skilful bowlers in the County Championship. He is truly relentless and has an exceptional work ethic. He and Kemar Roach are an international quality new ball attack and will be hugely effective in early season April conditions. Additionally, the likes of Jordan Clark tend to fly under the radar. The Lancastrian all-rounder consistently performs which bat and ball and offers real balance to the red ball side, and as he never seems to get close to international honours, he is a consistent and underrated presence.
Team news:
Essex squad: TBC.
Surrey squad: TBC
Weather and conditions:
The forecast for all four days looks set fair (if a little chilly) so expect good batting conditions on days one and two at least. The pitches do tend to give something to the spinners, so expect the likes of Simon Harmer, Matt Critchley, and Dan Lawrence to have an impact as the game goes on.
Date: 4th April 2025
Time: 11:00
Ground: County Ground, Chelmsford
Useful preview, thanks. But didn’t Amar Virdi get released by Surrey?
Quite right. Has been changed to Dan Lawrence who will hopefully be available.