Saturday 16 September 2017 18:08, UK
Nasser Hussain says a combination of experienced and young, home-grown players made County Champions Essex an irresistible force...
Essex haven't just won the County Championship for the first time in 25 years - they've won it with flair and in style, with games to spare.
It's a proud moment for a club with a history of success that has had a lean time of it in the four-day game and the players, members and fans are understandably thrilled.
I'm always pleased when I see a big catchment area like Essex producing good cricketers, so it was great that so many home-grown players performed in the win over Warwickshire.
A lot of those guys have come up from club cricket in Essex and are products of the academy, which makes the county's achievement at winning the title at the first time of asking after securing promotion last summer all the more impressive.
Mixed with the experience of players like captain Ryan ten Doeschate, Nick Browne, Tom Westley, Ravi Bopara and James Foster to name but five, they have the perfect balance.
Ten Doeschate is an excellent lad, who doesn't put too much stress or strain on his players and goes about things the right way - and consequently people enjoy playing under him - as do Chris Silverwood and Anthony McGrath, who are down-to-earth guys who keep it simple.
Together they've restarted the winning culture that was integral to Essex's ethos when I was part of the side that won back-to-back Championships in 1991 and 1992 under Graham Gooch and Keith Fletcher, and they've done it seriously well.
You could argue - given the ability in the side - that they've slightly underachieved in recent years; I've often thought 'this isn't a division two team'.
They broke that habit in red-ball cricket last year and dug in at the start of this season when they managed to get draws out of games that easily could have slipped away.
That gave them the belief to kick on and playing on some good pitches has helped bring on their good, younger batsmen no end.
As a set of lads; they all enjoy each other's company, which not only creates a winning habit but maintains it when the going is tough.
Alastair Cook has played in seven games this season and loved every minute, which speaks volumes.
He was desperate to be part of a Championship-winning side and I remember speaking to him in the middle ahead of the fourth Test between England and South Africa, just after finding out that Mohammad Amir might have to leave Essex early.
"If he can just win us one more game against Yorkshire against Scarborough, that will go a long way to winning us the Championship," said Cooky, and that's exactly what Mohammad Amir did with career-best match figures of 10-72.
Fair play to whoever is in charge of Essex's signings, because they've done extremely well - not least in picking up Kolpak player Simon Harmer, who a year ago he was talking about retirement. The spinner has won them games from nowhere on occasions.
Matt Quinn and Neil Wagner have also made their mark, without it being on quite the same scale as Jamie Porter.
The seamer may not quite be ready for an Ashes tour but he's played pretty well for the Lions when he's got his chance, and there'll be more to come.
He's one of these guys who hits the deck hard on a length and is a bit quicker than you expect, and also has the ability to move the ball both ways.
In this latest game against Warwickshire, both he and Sam Cook showed what they could do on a good pitch, at times getting more out of it than an England seamer in Chris Woakes.
They've got all bases covered and have simply been too good for the rest this summer.
