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Essex youngsters Mervyn Westfield and Maurice Chambers have both suffered stress fractures that will prevent them from bowling for much of the remainder of the 2007 season.

The 19-year-old pace duo begin their periods of rehabilitation this week with a view to initially returning to match action as batsmen.

Essex CCC Physio Mark Thomas issued the following statements on each player:

Mervyn Westfield
Mervyn has a stress fracture to his left L4 (fourth lumbar vetebra) par interarticularis. He will be unable to bowl for at least three months but will be able to continue to play as a batsman after one month’s rest.

Maurice Chambers
Maurice has a stress fracture to his left L3 (third lumbar vetebra) pedicle of his superior facet joint. He will be unable to bowl for at least three months but will be able to continue to play as a batsman after 1 months rest.

Meanwhile, there is brighter news for other Essex bowlers with Darren Thomas (shoulder), Alex Tudor (abdominal strain), Jahid Ahmed (back) and Tony Palladino (abdominal strain) all expected to be pushing for first-team selection in the near future (see Fitness Bulletin on the ECCC website home page at www.essexcricket.org.uk for more details).

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Seam bowler Andrew McGarry has signed a contract with Essex until the end of the 2007 season.

The 25-year-old returns to the County for his second stint, having started his first-class career in 1999 before being released at the end of the 2003 season.

McGarry played 15 first-class matches for Essex in his first spell, taking 27 wickets.

The Basildon-born cricketer has since added one more first-class appearance for Essex when he featured in the second LV County Championship match of the season against Glamorgan at The Ford County Ground as a non-contracted player.

McGarry told the Essex CCC website (www.essexcricket.org.uk): “Once you play somewhere you don’t expect to get a second chance, so to get another go is really good. I’ve matured and have a bit more experience (since I was last with Essex). Obviously I haven’t played much on the first-class scene for three years but I’ve played a lot of minor counties cricket (for Suffolk) and have learnt a bit more about myself so will hopefully come back a better bowler.”

Essex Chief Executive David East told the Essex CCC website: “Andrew has bowled well for us in our early season matches and demonstrated that he has matured as a cricketer. We have a number of injuries to our seam bowlers at present and Andrew’s addition to the squad will give us further options over the next few months. We all wish him well.”

McGarry goes into the squad for the three-day game against Cambridge UCCE at Fenner’s, starting May 9.

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Essex batsman Andy Flower has retired from cricket with immediate effect in order to take up the position of England Assistant Coach.

Flower has been brought in by recently-appointed England Head Coach Peter Moores to succeed Matthew Maynard in the role.

The 39-year-old Zimbabwean leaves his playing days behind after a first-class career that lasted from 1986 to 2006.

Flower scored 16379 first-class runs at an average of 54.05 including 4794 runs at 51.54 in 63 Tests.

The left-hander hit 12 Test centuries and also claimed 160 dismissals for his country in a celebrated international career that will see him go down in history as one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen of all-time.

In addition, Flower enjoyed five prolific seasons in county cricket with Essex from 2002-2006 before a hip injury ruled him out of the start of the 2007 season prior to the announcement of his retirement.

He scored 6215 first-class runs for the County at an average of 54.51 in 81 appearances with 18 hundreds.

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