The Eagles will be looking to end their winless streak in the Vitality Blast competition when they entertain Gloucestershire on Friday at The Cloudfm County Ground (start time 7pm).
The Eagles have named a 14-man squad and are able to welcome back batsman Dan Lawrence who has missed the last 3 matches through injury.
Tuesday’s defeat to Glamorgan means it’s now 4 matches since the Eagles picked up a point. It was the first time that the Eagles had been beaten in this format in Cardiff, having won 5 of the 7 previous encounters with 1 match abandoned.
Once again, Varun Chopra topped the list of run-scorers in Wales when he recorded his fifth half-century of the competition this summer. He scored 54 and remains the only Eagles batsman to surpass 50 in T20 cricket this season.
The Eagles now have 4 Vitality Blast matches left to play, starting with Gloucestershire before they meet fellow strugglers Hampshire and Middlesex next week at Southampton and Lord’s respectively. They conclude their Vitality Blast season with a visit from Kent next Friday (August 17).
Gloucestershire though have everything to play for as they are right in the mix for a place in the quarter-finals, but the Eagles will be hoping to add to their favourable home history in meetings between the teams in T20 cricket at Chelmsford.
The Eagles have 4 four of the 6 contests with the West Country outfit recording just the 1 success, whilst the fixture last year was abandoned without a ball bowled.
Pride is very much at stake for the Eagles and they will be anxious to rediscover the winning thread, not only to move away from the bottom of the South Group table, but to discover some positive form ahead of their County Championship fixtures which resume in little more than a week’s time.
Essex Eagles squad to face Gloucestershire:
Ryan ten Doeschate (27) (C)
Adam Wheater (31) (WK)
Ravi Bopara (25)
Varun Chopra (6)
Matt Coles (1)
Sam Cook (16)
Simon Harmer (11)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Michael Pepper (19) (WK)
Matt Quinn (94)
Peter Siddle (64)
Paul Walter (22)
Ashar Zaidi (99)
Adam Zampa (88)
