Irani to miss season opener

Ronnie Irani will miss Essex's season opener against Yorkshire next week as he continues to recover from knee surgery.

"My knee is still not quite 100% right after the operation I had last September," Irani said. "The rehab has gone extremely well, but I will miss the Yorkshire game next week - which is a huge disappointment.

"But I'm looking at the situation positively in the sense that we have a long season ahead and if I miss the first game of the season but play over the majority of the summer then I'll be absolutely delighted with that.

Irani targeted Essex's first home game of season, against Somerset, starting on Wednesday April 28.