SSEX and England star Alastair Cook is backing his county colleagues to shock the cricketing world by winning promotion to Division One of the LV County Championship this summer.

The 23-year-old opening batsman has played just 10 championship games for his county over the past three seasons.

And Cook's absence, as well as the departures of Ronnie Irani, Andy Flower and Darren Gough, have been blamed for Essex's recent failure to impress in four-day cricket.

This season, most commentators have not picked the county as one of the favourites for promotion, but Cook believes his team-mates have enough talent to end that trend in 2008.

"I remember saying last year that it would be a disappointing season if we didn't get promoted and challenge for one of the trophies, but after the first month of the season when Ronnie and Andy left and with Goughie gone, the club's expectations had a massive reshuffle," he told the Echo.

"There will be less expectation this year, but I know from speaking to Mark, Fozzie and Paul Grayson that we're putting expectation on ourselves.

"It might not be there from the outside, but we want to produce some good performances and upset a few people and get into that First Division."

Despite his England commitments restricting his Essex appearances, Cook, who shares a house with captain Mark Pettini, insists he still feels very much part of the set-up at the Ford County Ground.

"I've grown up playing cricket with these people - Ravi Bopara, Mark Pettini, Tim Phillips - and they're really good friends, so it's really nice to be around.

"It's not quite the same as when I was going through the ranks but it's still nice to come back and play with them."

The ECB have given Cook permission to play in Essex's opening two county championship matches, as well as the four-day tour match against New Zealand between May 2-5.