Essex have made a strong start to their first County Championship match of the season despite losing their first wicket for just one run.

The newly-promoted side are facing Leicestershire in their first Division One clash, in a game which began today (Friday).

Essex won the toss and elected to bat at Grace Road but lost an early wicket when Paul Prichard was trapped lbw off Dakin for just one run.

A timely stand of 85 between Jefferson and Robinson helped steady the ship, however.

Score at 4.10pm: 189 for 4 off 71 overs.

More information about Essex County Cricket Club's 2001 season - including a link to Ecc's own website, with live score updates can be found by clicking here

Full squad for the match: P J Prichard

D D J Robinson

S G Law

R C Irani (Captain)

S D Peters

A P Cowan

R S G Anderson

J S Foster (Wicket-keeper)

P M Such

W I Jefferson

G R Napier

M C Ilott

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.