They seem to like their Twenty20 in Essex all right �.. the club will take on Southend United Football Club in a Twenty20 charity cricket match on Monday May 7 at Roots Hall.

Essex Captain Ronnie Irani will lead a strong Eagles line-up against the might of the Southend United first-team squad, selected by their manager Steve Tilson.

The game is a fundraiser for the Essex & Southend Sports Trust public appeal to raise funds for the Cricketing Centre of Excellence at Garon Park, Southend. All proceeds will be split between this and Southend United Community and Education Trust. The winners will receive the snappily titled EASST Challenge Trophy.

Ronnie Irani, Essex�..s captain, who�..s never short of a joke, said: �..I�..m relishing playing a match at Roots Hall although I�..m not too sure whether to wear cricket or football boots! Hopefully I�..ll be able to score at both ends of the pitch that afternoon!�.�

Southend manager Steve Tilson is looking forward to swapping his football boots for cricket whites. �..I�..ve played a little bit of cricket before but never against professionals,�.� said Tilson, 40. �..Quite a few of the lads are fans of the game and it should be a good occasion for two good causes.�.�

It�..s been a good year for Essex, financially, as well. They have also announced a pre-tax profit of £94,986 for the financial year, based on a turnover of £3.712 million. Their chief executive David East said: �..It was a successful year with the team effectively retaining the NatWest Pro40 Division 1 title which helped drive income. The international progress of Alastair Cook and Ravinder Bopara meant additional performance-related payments were received from the ECB which added to the positive position. The club is definitely on the up.�.�