Gloucestershire v Essex
Royal London One-Day Cup
The Brightside Ground, Bristol
Sunday 20 May, 2018
Gloucestershire | George Hankins, Chris Dent, Benny Howell, Gareth Roderick +, Ian Cockbain, Jack Taylor, Ryan Higgins, Tom Smith, Dan Worrall, Matt Taylor, Chris Liddle.
Essex Eagles | Adam Wheater +, Varun Chopra, Tom Westley, Ravi Bopara, Dan Lawrence, Ryan ten Doeschate*, Ashar Zaidi, Simon Harmer, Neil Wagner, Jamie Porter, Sam Cook.
Umpires |Adrian Bull & Michael Burns
Toss |Essex Eagles, who elected to bat
Result | Gloucestershire won by 4 wickets
Gloucestershire beat Essex Eagles by 4 wickets with 11 balls to spare in the Royal London One-Day Cup clash at Bristol.
Gareth Roderick underpinned the home side’s successful run chase with an unbeaten 87 after the Eagles, who won the toss, had scored 287 for 7 thanks to 82 from Ashar Zaidi whose innings boasted flair and well-timed drives and pulls.
Roderick’s innings spanned 89 balls and included a six and seven fours and he played with calm common sense in the hosts well-paced reply.
At the halfway stage of their innings, the hosts were 126 for 2 and although opener George Hankins departed for 77 shortly after when he dragged a ball from Ravi Bopara onto his stumps, the presence of Roderick throughout the remainder of the match ensured the experience required to collect victory.
He and Ian Cockbain added 56 in 11 overs before Simon Harmer had the latter caught at short fine leg by Neil Wagner for 18 and although Jack Taylor went cheaply, Ryan Higgins joined Roderick to quickly put the issue beyond doubt,.
The pair posted 79 in 7 overs that included 19 in one over from Wagner that yielded two maximum blows from the bat of Higgins who struck out freely. By the time Higgins was run out by a direct throw from Ravi Bopara for 47 that included 3 sixes and three fours amongst the 27 balls faced, Gloucestershire were just three runs from the winning line.
The Eagles used seven bowlers with Harmer the most successful with 2 for 60 from his ten overs but on a good one-day batting pitch, it was the visitors batting that really came up short.
Openers Varun Chopra and Adam Wheater put on 74 in 12 overs but the loss of four wickets in 33 balls proved costly. Wheater was beaten in flight by Tom Smith and was leg befre for 41.
Tom Westley miscued and intended off drive and was caught at mid-off for 2, Dan Lawrence was caught at mid-on for 3 before Chopra was caught at gully for 42 to leave the visitors 93 for 4.
Ryan ten Doeschate and Bopara attempted to retrieve the situation but having added 47 in 11 overs, the Essex captain was run out for 22 when backing up by bowler Matt Taylor who deflected a drive from Bopara onto the wicket at the no-striker’s end.
Bopara reached 50 before he chased a wider delivery and was caught behind ending a 57 runs stand with Zaidi who took on the responsibility of restoring the innings that had slipped to 197 for 6.
The all-rounder picked off the loose deliveries and raised the tempo and the Eagles spirits with a sparkling 82 from 77 balls that included two huge sixes amongst nine boundaries.
He found an effective ally in Harmer who struck an unbeaten 34 in a stand worth 90 in ten overs that carried the Eagles to 287 for 7 but the loss of the four cheap wickets between the 12th and 17th overs proved defining.
