Essex appoints Tom Westley as captain

Defending county champions Essex on Tuesday appointed Tom Westley as captain.

The 30-year-old is an Essex Academy graduate and will captain the side across the County Championship and Royal London Cup, with Simon Harmer continuing to skipper the Essex Eagles in the Vitality Blast.

The top-order batsman has made 152 first-class, 80 List A and 74 T20 appearances for the Club since making his debut in 2006 and follows in the footsteps of the likes of Keith Fletcher, Graham Gooch and Nasser Hussain in becoming a homegrown Essex club captain.

Westley replaced Ryan ten Doeschate who stepped down as captain of reigning county champions Essex after four seasons at the helm.

On his appointment, Westley said: "It's a real honour for me to be named club captain and it's a challenge that I'm really looking forward to."

"Ryan has done an outstanding job and deserves every bit of praise he gets. He's been a fantastic captain, a close friend and an excellent leader who I've learned a lot from. We've been so successful as a club under his guidance, and my main goal as captain is to continue the great work he's done, carry on winning games of cricket and ultimately bring more trophies to this great club," he added.

Essex head coach Anthony McGrath said: "He's come through the Essex Academy and has all the attributes to be a successful Captain. Going forward, he'll have the likes of Ryan ten Doeschate, Alastair Cook and Simon Harmer to lean on if needed and we're all looking forward to seeing how things progress under his captaincy.