Silverwood unhappy with Essex batting effort

Essex director of cricket Chris Silverwood insisted that batting first was "absolutely the right decision" despite their heavy defeat by Nottinghamshire in County Championship Division One.

The hosts went into the game at Chelmsford on top of the table, but lost by an innings and 52 runs, having been bowled out for just 184 on the opening day after skipper Tom Westley won the toss.

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Notts' left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White took six of the wickets to fall and added three more in the second innings for overall figures of 9-109.

"I was happy with the wicket, I don't mind it turning a bit, which it did," Silverwood told BBC Essex.

"You've got to trust your defence, you've got to have a solid defence against spin, but equally you've got to know where your scoring options are.

"The game is about scoring runs - you've got a bat in your hands, so where can you score, how can you hit him off his length and put pressure back on him as a batsman."

Champions Notts complete innings victory at Essex

Only one Essex batter passed 50 during the game - Charlie Allison top-scoring with 56 from 104 balls on day three before he became an lbw victim of Patterson-White.

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"I know they are (2025) county champions but if I'm brutally honest, I don't think we've really put our best foot forward in any department," said Silverwood.

"In the first innings we left a lot of runs out there, we didn't apply ourselves as well as we should have done.

"[Batting first] was absolutely the right decision. We didn't apply ourselves and put the score on the board that we needed. That's something we have to address."

Silverwood was also concerned about fielding errors which saw "various chances and half chances missed" as Notts earned a lead of 273 on first innings.

"They took the opportunity that was given to them and their bowling attack kept pressure on us, they forced errors and made life very difficult for us. We have to give Notts credit for the way they played," he added.

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The result left Essex third in Division One, pending the outcome of Monday's games in Cardiff and Taunton, 11 points behind Notts with six games left to play.

Red-ball cricket now takes a break because of the T20 Blast, One-Day Cup and The Hundred, with Essex's next County Championship fixture away to Somerset starting on 20 August.

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