LITTLE can go wrong for Graham Napier at the moment.

The Essex all-rounder took five wickets on the first day of his county’s match with Middlesex yesterday.

That followed up his record-equalling innings against Surrey when he smashed 16 sixes in his knock of 196.

He is likely to take to the field for the first time since that score – which equalled Andrew Symonds’ record for the most sixes struck during a first-class innings – at Chelmsford today.

And the Colchester-based 31-year-old, pictured, admitted he still hasn’t got over his amazing innings.

“I was very chuffed,” said Napier. “On the first day I started quietly and had to be watchful, because it was important not to lose wickets.

“But when we came back the next morning, it was a case of using the first hour and seeing where we were at.

“Tim Phillips went quite early on and that left me batting with the tail.

“Lots of credit goes to Chris Wright, who made a very decent 34. He batted superbly and allowed me to push on and play the way I like to play.

“The sixes just kept coming and when I’d started it was hard to stop.

“The only disappointment from a personal view was missing out on the double hundred. It would have been my first one and was the closest I’ve got, but I went for one big shot too many.”

Incredibly, the Surrey match was Napier’s first four-day game in 11 months. A back injury had kept him on the sidelines for nearly a year.

However, he didn’t feel he had anything to prove.

“Essex have been very good to me over the last year and the most important thing was to show that I was back in the fold and raring to go,” he said.

“It was important to settle in and score a few runs and thankfully I did just that.”