Campher delighted by debut century for Essex

Campher hit 12 fours and six sixes in his total of 123 not out

Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher thanked Essex for giving him the chance of some one-day match practice after smashing an unbeaten 123 off 68 balls in his first innings for the club.

Essex recruited the 26-year-old on a short-term deal after losing their opening three group games in the One-Day Cup.

His innings, and a partnership of 175 with Simon Harmer, enabled them to score 417-6 against Surrey at Chelmsford and they went on to win by 244 runs.

"It was really nice to get the ball rolling with that. You're always a bit nervous when you come into a new side and you want to make an impact, but thankfully I was able to do that," Campher said.

"You take the rough with the smooth in cricket. You have to ride the highs and the lows too. I had an injury for about eight weeks and it's great to be out on the park and enjoying it again."

Campher - who hit six sixes and 12 fours in Essex's record List A total - is likely to feature for Ireland in next month's home T20 series against England, but helping them qualify for the 50-over World Cup in 2027 is also on his mind.

"When you sign short-term deals you never know how they are going to go, but it was very fortunate that Essex were happy for me to come for the three games and that Cricket Ireland allowed me to do it as well," he said.

"There is domestic stuff as well back home at the moment. I'll be travelling back and forth in the next couple of weeks, but I'm just very happy to be playing cricket again.

"I got a text from my agent on Tuesday saying it was on the cards. I wanted to play some one-day cricket because of the ODI World Cup in 2027 with the qualifiers coming up. I wanted to get as much long-form white-ball cricket in as possible from now until then."

Joining Essex was certainly a whirlwind experience for Campher, who has made 111 international appearances for Ireland in all formats.

"I played a game for Munster Reds on Wednesday, drove back to Dublin from Cork and got to bed at 11[pm], and got on to a plane at 8am yesterday [Thursday] morning to go get the medical done and the deal signed.

"It was handled really well. I play [for Essex] on Sunday but then miss Wednesday because I've got a game back in Dublin, and then I'll be back Thursday to train with the lads for next Sunday's game."

Charlie Bennett's five-for doubled his wickets tally in the competition

Essex's other star performer was 19-year-old pace bowler Charlie Bennett, who took 5-36 as a largely inexperienced Surrey team were bowled out for 171.

"It feel amazing. A lot of hard work has gone into it," he told BBC Essex Sport.

Bennett was playing only his fifth senior game for the county, but his victims included former England opener Rory Burns.

"Playing with such good players (such as Jamie Porter, Simon Harmer and Tom Westley) enables your skills to go up with theirs - and the Chelmsford crowd is the best on the circuit, I reckon. They've always got your back and are always loud. I couldn't ask for more."

He added: "We've got some of the best players in the country, so I'm still confident [we can qualify from the group].