Rain can't dampen Essex's enthusiasm

11:24am Wednesday 13th August 2008

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NOT even the deluge of rain in their current County Championship match against Warwickshire can dampen the enthusiasm at Essex this week.

  The Chelmsford side are preparing for Saturday's Friends provident trophy showpiece against rivals Kent at Lords and are looking for revenge, after Robert Key's men eliminated them from their other one-day final this season.

  Experienced opening batsman Jason Gallian admits that while the Edgbaston wash-out is frustrating, everyone at the club is just hoping for sunshine over St Johns Wood at the weekend.

“We want to perform well against Warwickshire in the current match if the rain stops and allows us to play but certainly there is one eye on what’s ahead,” he told The Echo.

“We had the experience of the big occasion on Twenty20 Finals Day and, although we missed out on the final itself (to Kent in the semi-finals) the guys have become a lot calmer and more focused towards Saturday.

“It’s inevitable and only human nature to be thinking about the weekend and preparing for that.

“We’ve had a week off but now we need to get out and play against Warwickshire to have a hit and a bowl and hopefully the weather will be kinder over the next three days.”

Australian-born Gallian moved south from Nottinghamshire in the winter with the hope of playing as many games as possible in the final stages of his career.

The 37-year-old was expecting a difficult season with Essex in Division two of both competitions and having lost experienced players such as Andy Bichel and former captain Ronnie Irani.

However the mixture of seasoned pros like Gallian and youth, with young players such as Maurice Chambers and Ryan Ten Doeschate having good seasons, has paid dividends with the club excellent in all formats of the game.

They currently sit top of the Pro40 table and are fourth in the County Championship with two games in hand on leaders Worcestershire.  They also reached Twenty20 finals day and will be looking to pick up their first silverware of the season with a victory on Saturday.

“When I moved down here, I thought that it was to help rebuild the side and that usually takes some while but the way the guys have played, especially in one-day cricket has really blown me away,” said Gallian.

“The way we go about things as a unit especially in the field has been fantastic and I feel fortunate to have played in the one-dayers and getting us into a position where we can look forward to this weekend’s final.

“I tended to get overlooked for limited-overs cricket by Notts for the past few years and I think I’ve surprised a couple of guys here and a few more around the circuit that I’ve scored consistently in the one-dayers.”

Gallian should have no such concerns about his place in the side this weekend and has been instrumental in the team's progress to the final.  In eight Friends Provident matches the opener has hit 316 runs at and impressively averages over 45 “I’ve really been enjoying my cricket this year and when you do that, things tend to go well,” he said.

Essex's attempts to improve their standing in the four-day competition suffered a blow yesterday with no play possible at Edgbaston in the match against Warwickshire.  The weather forecast is equally poor for the remainder of the week and a draw seems an inevitable result.