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More Essex woes for Lopsy

Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Proteas seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s maiden English season with Essex goes from bad to worse at present.

The tall Warriors left-armer battled through three County Championship matches for the club, earning only five wickets at a bloated 77.60 – and was dropped for their most recent division two fixture against Surrey, which was drawn.

“Quite simply, he’s just not bowling well enough,” first-team coach Paul Grayson was quoted by Cricinfo as saying. “We haven’t seen enough from him in Championship cricket and the decision comes down purely to form.

“Whether or not you are an overseas player, it doesn’t really matter. If you are not performing then we have to make some changes.
“Tsotsobe’s done alright in the one-dayers so far.”

He was back at his post, although no longer given the luxury of the new ball, for the Clydesdale Bank 40 match against the Unicorns at Chelmsford on Sunday, and hardly set the house alight in registering one for 39 in his eight overs – again one of the most expensive analyses by an Essex bowler despite their easy, eight-wicket victory.

The Unicorns have lost all six matches in the 40-overs-a-side competition thus far and are a composite XI made up of players without full-time contracts with regular counties.

If it is any consolation for Tsotsobe (a willing learner), Dale Steyn also struggled in his first exposure to English cricket for the very same county in 2005, before getting the knack of bowling in those unique conditions two years later and excelling for Warwickshire.
 
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