SOUTH African Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been ruled out of the Essex squad for the LV= County Championship match with Middlesex at Lord’s starting on Thursday.

Tsotobe was expected to make his debut in the Division Two match, but following a family bereavement he is now expected to join up with the Essex squad for the away match versus Northamptonshire on Wednesday, April 20, subject to obtaining his visa in time for the trip.

Lonwabo should make his home debut on Tuesday, April 26 when Glamorgan are the visitors to The Ford County Ground in the LV= County Championship.

Paul Grayson, Essex Cricket Head Coach, is looking ahead to the Middlesex fixture as an opportunity for the squad to overcome the defeat against Kent.

He said: “Although we lost to Kent, confidence isn’t dented by any means. I’ll be very surprised if both Kent and ourselves are not pushing hard for promotion this year. It was disappointing, of course, to lose but we know that during the course of the season, there are going to be highs and lows and for now it’s all about coming back strongly against Middlesex.

“We’ll delay naming our line-up until the morning of the game when we have had a look at the pitch to see what the conditions are like. Lord’s normally swings around a bit early season so we might use a four-man seam attack and use Tom Westley’s off-spin as an option if we need to.”