91Èȱ¬

Essex captain Tom Westley says they will have to keep their standards high if they are to continue their excellent start to the County Championship.

Westley's side are top of Division One after two wins from their opening three games, the latest over Lancashire by an innings and 124 runs.

But he believes league positions are "irrelevant" so early in the season.

"I don't think there is a weak team in Division One, anyone can beat anyone," the former England batter told 91Èȱ¬ Essex.

"What we've done well in the past few years is we've just focused on ourselves, we're trying to play the best possible cricket we can. I firmly believe that if we play to near to the best of our ability, I don't think there's a team that can compete with us."

There were important changes to the squad over the winter, with South African Dean Elgar recruited to replace the now retired Sir Alastair Cook and Jordan Cox signed from Kent.

Both have already scored their first Championship centuries for the club.

Westley said: "The batting has been very strong. Dean probably could have had three hundreds in three games, it's fantastic for him to find his feet so quickly.

"Jordan Cox has settled in beautifully and Matt Critchley is getting better and better so it's nice everyone is contributing."

Lancashire were bowled out just 146 and 107 at Chelmsford and Westley continued: "We have a squad of seamers that is right up there with the best in the country."

Essex are looking to win their first title since 2019 and are away to last summer's Division Two champions Durham in their next game, starting on Friday.

"We just look to win every single game we play and play the best possible cricket," added Westley.

"Last year we put ourselves in a position to potentially win the title but certain things didn't go our way, we made declarations to try to push it, but ultimately Surrey played the best cricket over the course of the season.

"It's very early, three games into the season, anything can happen."