Essex face a crunch month

But as we begin the final month of the season, a remarkable sequence of results has seen them catapulted into the mix and the prospect of playing division one cricket is now very real, rather than just a pipe dream.

With three games to go, Essex sit fifth in the table – nine points off second place Northamptonshire.

But Essex have a game in hand on third place Gloucestershire and fourth place Derbyshire.

And Essex face Northants at Chelmsford next week.

Normally, there wouldn’t be a great deal of excitement surrounding a county lying in fifth place in table.

The gulf between the two divisions is growing, though.

Players are now keen to boost their chances of impressing the England selectors by playing in division one, and, apart from the ailing fortunes of Surrey and Middlesex, the counties boasting international grounds are all in the top tier.

Essex, have won two of their last three matches and almost won the other and have also claimed victory in their last two Natwest Pro40 games in fine style.

Suddenly, they are playing like a team worthy of promotion.

It hasn’t always been like this, though.

For much of the season, Essex have been mediocre at best. Poor first innings totals left them holding on for draws and hoping their bowling attack would get them out of jail.

It took months for a batsman to register a championship century, but when it came, via the bat of captain Mark Pettini, it became the first of many – just as the skipper predicted.

So what has changed?

At the start of the season I predicted Essex would struggle to get any near promotion this season because of a lack of runs in the absence of England bound Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara.

I was proved right, for a while.

And then, as the wickets hardened and the ball scurried across the outfield faster than a cheetah in the desert, the batsmen cashed in.

Essex now have nine centuries behind them in the championship and their batting bonus points total is no longer the worst in the division.

South African Hashim Amla helped, as has James Foster, Ryan ten Doeschate, John Maunders and Matt Walker.

With Danish Kaneria taking 30 wickets in the last three matches, Essex boast the most dangerous bowler in the country.

But will their sudden glut of runs and reliance on Kaneria be enough for promotion?

With Cook in their ranks, the answer is yes.

Essex are a different side with one, or preferably both, of their England batsman.

A lower order of Foster at six, ten Doeschate at seven, Napier at eight and the newly-found talents of David Masters at nine mean Essex possess depth.

Scores of 500 plus in their last two matches, added to the glorious Pro40 run-chases in the last week are proof that Essex can produce the winning formula.

Meanwhile, other counties have relied upon the drawing method to gain promotion.

Warwickshire did it last season, making sure they gained full bonus points and then preventing the opposition from winning and ultimately accruing enough points for a place in division one.

Derbyshire are following suit this season – drawing ten of their 14 matches, yet sitting three points off second place.

Success can be achieved in such a manner.

But Essex shouldn’t need to go down this sour road.

For they have the match-winners in Kaneria, Cook and Foster – still the best keeper in the country and still proving his batting is way above many county professionals classed as ‘batsmen’.

Two wins and a draw could do it, starting with the trip to Wales on Thursday for the beginning of the clash against Glamorgan.

Now isn’t the time to worry about what would happen to Essex should they be promoted to division one, and then be without Cook and Bopara for most of the summer.

That concern will only come if they can pull off one of their most remarkable achievements for years and take themselves back towards the upper echelons of English cricket, 30 years after they won their first title.