ESSEX captain Ryan ten Doeschate says the players are only focusing on playing good cricket and trying to avoid looking too closely at the table as the season nears its climax.

Essex top the table with 171 points, 23 points ahead of the second-placed Leicestershire, who they are currently playing in a County Championship Division Two match, with Kent one point further adrift.

The three teams each have just four matches remaining as they pursue the one promotion place available, with three of Essex’s against sides chasing promotion.

And ten Doeschate says his team mustn’t get caught up in the need to win, just focus on their game and performing at their peak level.

“Everyone knows how hard it has been to achieve victories in this division this year so it was very encouraging to get our fourth win,” he said.

“We go into our final four matches at the top of the division and everyone in this squad is desperate for us to achieve promotion. With only one team promoted this time, it does bring extra pressure and although it is a tough ask, I believe that it is an achievable goal.

“We aren’t thinking about how many wins we need or how many points we might need, we’ll just go out and play our best cricket and if we end up at the top of the division and secure promotion, then that will be fantastic and well-deserved.”

Essex have been buoyed by the news that Alastair Cook will return to the fold for the match, as well as the following match against Worcestershire, with Dan Lawrence also back in contention after he recovered from injury.

Cook has made five appearances for Essex this year in the competition, three of which ended in victories, and he has played a key role in red-ball cricket this summer having accumulated 573 Championship runs, including three centuries and one other 50, to post an incredible average of 114.60.

Leicestershire beat Essex by four wickets at Chelmsford in a low-scoring affair earlier in mid-June, just one of two defeats for ten Doeschate’s men in the competition this summer.

Since then, Essex have won two and drawn one of their four matches - their latest success by an innings and 62 runs at Derby last week when Nick Browne hit an unbeaten 229.