Preview: Gloucestershire v Essex

With the county championship set to resume again tomorrow, here at the Jessop Tavern View we thought it was a good opportunity to pose a good question. What's the state of play in the county championship?

Oi, no cheating.

The reason we ask is because we don't really remember. We have vague memories of a commanding win against runaway leaders Derbyshire. We also remember getting thumped in the opening game of the season. We are still munching our way through the humble pie we were forced to consume following hundreds from both O'Mish and captain Gidders, although we don't remember who they came against. Have we made our point? Now, we are men who write a blog about county cricket, yet still we don't really remember what has been happening in the first part of the season.

It's well over a month since the boys beat Derbyshire so impressively (Gidders hundred came in the first innings) and clearly everyone involved with the Gloucestershire website is as shocked as we are that the championship is starting back up and hence have failed to post any team information. We presume Chris Dent is still injured, but we don't know. But whether Jon Batty will keep the gloves is anyones guess. Will Ed Young be involved now that the spin option of Kane Williamson isn't available? Which of the young seamers will play considering how impressive all of them have been during the t20 campaign. So many questions. No answers.

Essex, being a professional club, have a full match preview available. Peg-legged Owais Shah is out injured but Harbhajan Singh is included in the squad.

Essex sit one place, and four points, behind Gloucester in the current table so this game will have a large bearing on which of these sides is able to push on in the second half of the season. Essex gave us a complete and thorough doing by an innings and 38 runs at the start of the season. Since then, Glos have improved steadily. Let's hope that the rain holds off, and that the 'Cheltenham Curse' doesn't return.