ESSEX County Cricket Club are back in action this week as they travel to New Road to take on Worcestershire in the division one of the County Championship. 

Essex currently sit fifth in the standings after five rounds of matches while their hosts are rock bottom of the table, having yet to win this season and have just one draw to their name so far from five outings.

Those positions in the table are reflected in the odds market for the game that kicks off at 11am on Friday, with Essex a heavy 4/7 odds-on favourite to get the win with Betfair, while the home side are 11/8 to get the victory. 

Essex arrive at Worcestershire off the back of their first defeat of the new season as they were downed by three wickets against Somerset, who successfully chased down a target of 321 to pick up their first win of the campaign.

Despite 4-120 from spinner Simon Harmer in the Somerset second innings, it was a top-class 116 from wicketkeeper/batsman James Rew for the visitors that saw them home, added to a crucial 57 from Lewis Gregory and an unbeaten 53 from Craig Overton. 

Essex’s opponents this week have had a poor start to the campaign, losing four of their five matches and only managing to draw the other one.

Their last match was a very narrow defeat to Sussex by just 47 runs. Jake Libby cracked a superb 167 in their second innings chase but he had little support, with the next best score being 34 from Kiwi overseas star Henry Nicholls as they suffered an agonising final day loss. 

This week, Essex will be without batsman Jordan Cox, who suffered an injury in the Somerset match which not only ruled him out for his club, but also scuppered his England call-up for the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe later this month. 

Seamer Sam Cook could miss out too as he prepares for his full England debut in the Zimbabwe test at Trent Bridge.

Worcestershire vs Essex odds – Betfair

Worcestershire 11/8

Essex – 4/7

County Championship division one title odds

Surrey 6/5

Essex 5/1

Warwickshire 15/2

Nottinghamshire 8/1

Somerset, Hampshire 14/1

Durham, Sussex 16/1

Yorkshire 20/1

Worcestershire 175/1