Essex 2nd XI v Norfolk
Second XI Friendly, Sunday 17 April
Billericay Cricket Club
Team News:
Essex 2nd XI: Aron Nijjar, Paul Walter, Josh Rymell (c), Robin Das, Feroze Khushi, Will Buttleman (wk), Aaron Beard, Jamal Richards, Ben Allison, Vivan Hassen, Nav Dwivedi, Aum Patel.
Norfolk: Sam Arthurton (c), Jason Reynolds (wk), Freddie Fairey, Alfie Cooper, William Rogers, Peter Trewick, Ben Coote, Callum Metcalf, Charles Rogers, Andy Hanby, Cameron Graveling.
Match Details:
Umpires: GW Marshall and PH Richardson
Toss: Essex 2nd XI won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Essex 2nd XI won by 122 runs
Essex 2nd XI: 361
Middlesex 2nd XI: 239
Match Report
Essex 2nd XI returned to 50-over action with a friendly against Norfolk. The match developed into a comprehensive victory for Essex with a 122-run victory in Billericay.
The dominance was there from the start for Essex with a marvellous 271-run opening partnership from Aron Nijjar and Paul Walter.
Both openers scored hundreds with Paul Walter ending on a run-a-ball 108. This came after Aron Nijjar had scored 158 off just 128 balls with a strike rate of 123.40.
However, both openers were eventually taken in subsequent Ben Coote overs. As a result, this brought Captain, Josh Rymell to the crease but it was a short stay before he was run out by former Essex player, Sam Arthurton. This allowed Robin Das and Will Buttleman to increase the run-rate towards the end of the innings with both batters finishing with 150+ strike-rates to help the side to a first-innings score of 361-5.
Norfolk’s reply didn’t get off to the greatest start with Aaron Beard trapping the Norfolk skipper, Arthurton, leg before with the first legal delivery of the game. Jason Reynolds and Freddie Fairey steadied the ship for the visitors; with Fairey taking it to the Essex attack with his 52 coming off 42 balls before being caught and bowled by Jamal Richards.
Cooper and Rogers helped the score past 150 before a couple of wickets each for Dwivedi and Hassen took Norfolk from 180-3 to 187-7. After Dwivedi had picked up the wicket of Ben Coote for 32, Norfolk’s resistance was all but over ending up bowled out for 239 – Dwivedi was the pick of the bowlers finishing with match-best figures of 3-43 off 10 overs.
Essex Second XI’s next game is against Kent starting on Monday 25 April for a Second XI Championship game, where they look to bounce back from defeat against Middlesex in the first game.
