Essex played Warwickshire as part of their pre-season tour in Stellenbosch this week, losing 16 wickets in the space of 47.4 overs in their second innings to produce a bizarre scorecard.
The two sides played each other in a two-day fixture at Maties Cricket Club in the Western Cape, where they are both on tour ahead of the start of the domestic summer next month. As the game didn't have first-class status, both sides could mix up their XIs and field most of their travelling squad, as well as retire and return players in the same innings to suit their requirements as they gear up for the start of the County Championship.
That produced an extraordinary looking scorecard. Warwickshire batted first and lost Rob Yates to the second ball of the match from Jamie Porter. Alex Davies stood out with 119 off 164 balls, but no other batter was able to score more than 28, and by Tea Warwickshire were 200-7. They declared during the break to give Essex a turn to bat.
Dean Elgar was the first Essex wicket to fall, leaving them 11-1, with Tom Westley also falling before the end of play on Day One. They closed out the day on 41-2.
However, the following day Essex re-started their innings to get a turn to bat during the morning. Three wickets apiece from Keith Barker and Oliver Hanon-Dalby scuppered that plan, and Essex lost nine wickets in the first 25 overs of the day, finishing the morning session on 80-9. They continued after Lunch, recalling batters who had previously been dismissed to fill out the time, and eventually ending their innings on 128-16.
Paul Walter, who was dismissed for a duck early in the day, came back to make 23 off 33, while Matt Critchley's two scores read 4 (7) and 14 (38). Pacer Zaman Akhter faced a total of seven balls across his two innings, scored two runs and was dismissed twice.
Warwickshire batted for the rest of the day, reaching 88-4 before stumps. The result of the game was a truly bizarre scorecard. As Essex forfeited most of their first innings, their score was officially recorded as identical to Warwickshire's first innings score to level the playing field. Thus, both sides officially registered 200-7 in their first innings, and Essex's second innings read 128-16.
Essex are now playing a match against a South Africa club side, while the match at Maties was Warwickshire's last of their tour.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
