Essex Men’s 2024 fixtures
Essex are set to begin their 2024 season on Friday 05 April with a trip to Trent Bridge to face Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, with the first Battle of the Bridge against Kent following at The Cloud County Ground a week later.
The ECB has confirmed the men’s county and women’s regional domestic fixtures for next summer, which also includes 22 men’s and women’s T20 double headers.
The County Championship will be played in each month of the season, including back-to-back rounds in June and July that will see the Eagles face Durham at home and Surrey away.
Those mid-summer fixtures sit within two blocks of Vitality Blast action, with Essex starting the T20 campaign in Bristol against Gloucestershire on Thursday 30 May.
In a rematch of last summer’s final, Anthony McGrath’s side then take on Somerset at Taunton the following day as part of Vitality Blast Off, before playing Middlesex on Sunday 02 June in the first home Blast fixture.
There will be two Sunday T20 home fixtures, with Surrey visiting Chelmsford on 14 July for the final home group stage game, though all of the Eagles’ other home Blast fixtures will be played either on a Thursday or Friday, including the home clash with Kent Spitfires on July 11.
The Blast group stage concludes for Essex on Friday 19 July with a trip to the Ageas Bowl to take on this summer’s semi-final opponents Hampshire Hawks.
The start of the Metro Bank One Day Cup follows five days later as Warwickshire head to The Cloud County Ground, before the Eagles again travel to Bristol in their first away 50-over match on Sunday 28 July.
All four home One Day Cup matches are in Chelmsford, though there will be an opportunity of out-ground cricket on Tuesday 06 August with an away game against Yorkshire set to be hosted in Scarborough.
Back-to-back away games against Nottinghamshire on Sunday 11 August and Sussex three days later conclude the 50-over group stage, before the knockout stages immediately follow.
Two Championship fixtures are set to take place during the school summer holidays, with Essex facing Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl from Thursday 22 August, and Worcestershire at home a week later.
Trent Bridge will again host the One Day Cup final, which is set for Sunday 22 September, eight days after Vitality Blast Finals Day that once again takes place at Edgbaston.
Essex’s 2024 county summer ends with a home match against defending champions Surrey, beginning on Thursday 26 September.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte Edwards Cup has been expanded to include 10 group-stage matches for each team, with Sunrisers hosting Southern Vipers and Western Storm in Chelmsford.
The 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy will also see Sunrisers welcome The Blaze, Thunder and Northern Diamonds to The Cloud County Ground throughout the summer.
The format of Charlotte Edwards Cup Finals Day will for the first time mirror Vitality Blast Finals Day, with two semi-finals and a final to be staged at the Incora County Ground, Derby on Saturday 22 June.
Both women’s and men’s 50-over finals will be played on the same weekend, with the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester staging the Rachael Heyhoe Flint final the day before the One Day Cup showpiece.