Essex begin their domestic pre-season friendly programme when they face Surrey on Thursday and Friday (April 5 and 6) at Chelmsford. The provisional format comprises of 50-overs-per-side games on each day with play starting at 11.00am on Thursday and 10.30am on Friday (please note: format and start times are subject to change as these games are designed to provide match practice for the players ahead of the season).

“Surrey were by far the best team in four-day cricket we came up against last year, although we enjoyed success against them in Twenty20 cricket, so we are looking forward to coming up against one of the best teams in the country,” said Ronnie Irani. “It’s a bit early yet but it’s good to test ourselves against tough opposition.”

Alex Tudor, who moved to Essex from Surrey, said he was looking forward to the games. “When the fixtures came out I saw we had a couple of one-day games against Surrey and it will be good to see the guys again. We shaped up really well in Dubai (on the pre-season tour) and everyone looked pretty good. Surrey are arguably one of the strongest four-day sides in the country and it will be a good test for us to see where we are at this moment. Everything is gearing up for our first Championship game on the 18th against Derbyshire but this will give us a good pointer to see where we are at this stage.”