Essex cricket skipper Ronnie Irani has taken a massive swipe at those responsible for "ruthless and nasty" heckling of himself during last weekend's County Championship game with Glamorgan.

Irani claims that the abuse he received from followers of the Welsh club was both "fearsome and personal."

He added: "The tirade of four-letter words that greeted me from the top tier to the bottom as I walked in for tea having scored a century was unrepeatable."

He added: "I can fully understand what must have been going through Eric Cantona's mind on that infamous day when he karate kicked an abusive thug in the stand during a Manchester United match at Crystal Palace."

Irani, who has taken over the Essex cricket captaincy this season while Nasser Hussain leads England, admits that he has been getting loads of aggravation and even hate mail from Essex members and supporters.

An outraged Irani said: "Just call me public enemy number one!"

He added: "I suffered enough hatred and abuse from the Glamorgan fans in our Championship game to last me a lifetime"

Talking on also receiving aggravation from home followers he added: "This is the first year since I've been playing for Essex that I have felt somewhat isolated - backed up by the few, hounded by the many.

"Aggro and hassle - I've had a gutful of it. To those small band of fans who have backed me all the way I say a big thank you. To the hate army I say Ronnie Irani always plays his cricket for the team, not for himself."

Irani admitted: "It's a fact that some of our cricket over the past couple of years has been disgraceful. We simply haven't competed, but I'm doing my best to rectify that and the Essex lads are right alongside me."

He continued: "But, when everything boils down to abuse, the Essex fans can't hold a candle to the string of four-letter words hurled at me and the wrath I incurred from the terraces at Swansea.

"A small band of Essex supporters did their best to put the home fans in their place, but I think the fact that I batted for ten hours to bat Glamorgan out of the game had a lot to do with it.

"It wasn't my fault that Glamorgan produced the poorest pitch I have played on all season and it wasn't my fault that some idiot pitched a marquee slap-bang on the cricket square for corporate entertainment during the Rugby World Cup last October.

"I knew when I declared that Essex were not going to lose."

The match eventually ended in a draw.

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