Kaneria first played for Essex in 2004 and returned the following season. Pakistan’s tour of England that summer meant he did not appear for the County in 2006 but returned with a bang the following season. The leg-spinner took 95 first-class wickets in 18 matches at an average of 28.18 during his first two campaign at Essex. In addition his 16 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 17.37 played a crucial role in Essex’s totesport League triumph of 2005. Those feats were eclipsed in 2007, however, when he took 107 wickets for the County in all forms of the game to be voted the Quintessence Design Essex website Player of the Year. Kaneria will start his fourth spell of county cricket on May 21, after being given permission to arrive late due to his wife giving birth to their second child.  

Although still to make himself a mainstay at ODI level, the leg-spinner went into the 2008 English domestic campaign with 220 wickets in 51 Tests. Kaneria’s Test debut came as a teenager against England when Marcus Trescothick became his first victim during the second Test in Faisalabad in November 2000.