HEAD coach Paul Grayson is looking for Essex to pile on the runs when they face Surrey today in the County Championship.

Grayson wants his batsmen to keep the scoreboard ticking over at Whitgift School in Croydon.

And he is especially looking for the top order batters to do their bit as Essex bid to return to winning ways following their draw against Derbyshire.

“The batsmen in our top six have to take more responsibility of getting runs on the board and it’s something that has been talked about for a couple of years now,” Grayson said.

“We just don’t get enough runs on the board in our first innings for some reason and that means we are always trying to play catch-up and that’s obviously not a position we want to be in.

“So I’m looking to our batsmen to get runs on the board starting this week. We’ve done enough talking, what we need to do now is to go out there and do the business.

“We also need more runs from our lower order and need our tail order to wag more, other teams do it to us and we’ve got to do that to other sides.”

Essex have dropped South African bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe from the squad, with Ravi Bopara also unavailable due to England Lions duties against Sri Lanka.

But Graham Napier is back in the squad after recovering from a back injury he sustained last summer.

Maurice Chambers has also been called up following some impressive performances in the second XI.

Essex squad to face Surrey: Alastair Cook, Jaik Mickleburgh, Mark Pettini, Matt Walker, Adam Wheater, James Foster (Captain/wicket-keeper), Graham Napier, Tim Phillips, David Masters, Chris Wright, Maurice Chambers, Michael Comber.