Essex must face Gloucestershire at Bristol without influential Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria when they commence a County Championship match with lowly Gloucestershire this morning.
Kaneria, who has bagged 50 championship wickets this season is still sidelined with a sore back that forced him out of contention for the match at Taunton.
Essex had steered themselves into a potential winning position when rain wiped out all play on the final day to deny the visitors an opportunity of significantly cutting down the points difference between them and the table-toppers.
They commence this latest match trailing Somerset by 31 points although the teams do clash again later in the season at Chelmsford.
Gloucestershire were forced to move this fixture from Cheltenham College back to their Bristol Headquarters after local flooding and power supply problems made the venue untenable with two Pro40 matches having already been called off without a ball being bowled.
Essex batsman Ravi Bopara starts the match needing only a further 106 runs to reach the landmark 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time.
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