A first class century.

In recent years, Essex County Cricket Club has been favoured with an excellent history written by Mike Marshall and David Lemmon, a comprehensive Who's Who also by David Lemmon and a statistical book by Brian Heald. Therefore, in this brochure celebrating 100 years of championship cricket in Essex, we have not attempted to achieve the completeness of coverage already available elsewhere.

Rather, we have tried to give a flavour of Essex cricket across the years the highs and the lows, the players and their performances.

A mainly pictorial approach has been adopted, but the complementary articles from such authoritative sources serve to enhance the photographs. If your favourite player is not depicted, or your fondest memory not recalled, we can only apologize, but Essex cricket has seen so many marvellous cricketers, so many unforgettable performances, that it would be impossible to do justice to them in this brochure.

However, we hope that we have conveyed the enjoyment and vitality that has always attended Essex cricket, fully justifying the grant of first class status all those years ago.