Essex, as we know, won our match with Sussex. After being 18-4 early on, Ronnie Irani, Aftab Habib and Paul Grayson all made 40+ scores to take Essex to 206-9 from 50 overs, very respectable considering the conditions and the early score. Sussex were then going well at 103-1, but 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', as Ronnie Irani took 4 wickets in 5 overs to reduce Sussex to 120-6 before the rain meant an early finish and an Essex win by 20 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis system. Irani took 5-36 and was giving his ususal 200% as always.

Middlesex look a decent unit this year, with new opening bat Sven Koenig making an impression with 100 on debut vs Durham and with Noffke signing for a few weeks as cover for dur Razzaq, the balance looks good. Ashley Noffke is a left-arm quickie and with around 15 wickets in just three matches, is surely the main Essex threat.

The Essex side will probably be the same as the Sussex match at the weekend, though I'd lie to see Andrew McGarry in for Andy Clarke. My only other worry is Darren Robinson batting down at 8. I think he should swap with John Stephenson and go back up to 1, as he's wasted that low in the order and Stepho is more used to batting down the order.

On paper, the match looks to be tight, but Essex have only lost once to Middlesex in one-day games since 1998. This defeat was also in the Benson & Hedges Cup group stage at Chelmsford, but ironically, that was the year we went onto win the B&H, getting revenge by beating our rivals in the Quarter-Final at Lord's.

Also, Ashley Cowan bowls well at Lord's, with excellent performances in the Cup Finals and Middlesex matches, so this bodes well.

Unfortunately, it's raining as I write this and the weather is poor. But, if we get some play, I fanacy us to sneak it, but it should be a cracker.