Anthony McGrath: Championship title win still possible for Essex
- Published
Anthony McGrath has been head coach of Essex since 2017
Essex will keep pushing right to the end of the season in the hope of winning the County Championship title, says head coach Anthony McGrath.
They start an away game against relegated Northamptonshire on Tuesday, 20 points behind leaders Surrey.
Essex must win with maximum points and hope Surrey lose to Hampshire without any batting points.
"Of course it's going to be tough, but you never know," McGrath told BBC Essex.
"Essex over the last few years have pulled some amazing results out so all we can do is go to Northampton, try to get full points and see where that take us."
Should Essex beat Northamptonshire this week with a maximum 24 points, then Surrey would need five points to be absolutely certain of the title.
Should they lose with only four, both teams could finish on 217 points - and Essex would be champions because they won more points than Surrey in the drawn game between the two sides in May.
They would have been only four points behind Surrey had they beaten Hampshire at Chelmsford last week - but the visitors chased down a target of 267 in the final over of play.
Surrey escaped with a draw in their match against Northants after being made to follow on at The Oval.
"It's still mathematically possible," said McGrath. "We knew from half-way through the season we had to be perfect and we won six on the spin, and nearly seven, so it's been an unbelievable effort by the guys."
It looked like Essex were on course for victory when Hampshire were 32-4 but star South Africa spinner Simon Harmer - who took eight wickets in the game - could not find the same turn and bounce as the ball grew older.
Harmer is Division One's leading wicket-taker with 60 and after the match McGrath called him "an unbelievable bowler".
"He can't produce that magic every single game. He still got eight but we put three catches down," he said.