Ten Doeschate: Somersset's Lead Was Big - Now It's A Great Race

Paul Hiscock hears the Essex captain relishing the delicious prospect of a County Championship title race that could go down to a last-match decider at Taunton

- Paul Hiscock

Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate pointed to the character shown by his charges when they beat Kent at Canterbury by three wickets after an incredible third day’s play. Conceding a first-innings lead of 112, they dismissed their opponents for just 40 – Kent’s lowest score in their history against Essex.

Requiring 153 for victory, the visitors reeled to 84-6 before Adam Wheater saw them across the line with an unbeaten 30, having shared in a 57-run partnership with Simon Harmer.

“I always believe in this group because they’ve turned in some brilliant performances over the years but this was right up there,” ten Doeschate acknowledged.

His Essex side sit proudly at the top of the table with a two-point advantage, having won six successive matches in the competition to extend their unbeaten run to nine games during which they overhauled Somerset, who are now in their slipstream.

“It’s been quite draining mentally if not physically knowing that we had to keep winning games just to stay in the Championship race,” he admitted.

“I did think at one stage that it might be hard to catch Somerset, they were 50 or 60 points ahead of us and that’s a considerable margin. And it’s so rewarding to know that we have been in situations when we couldn’t afford to slip up, but we overcame it as we did against Kent.

“It’s been an incredible effort. To be in the running to win the title with three games to go is a great achievement and just rewards for work the lads have put in.

“I think that is the beauty of the Championship, knowing that you have to be consistent every game, you know that you can’t slip up for more than a session every three or four games.