Essex Eagles conclude the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign with a visit from Gloucestershire. The West Country side will be desperate for the victory that could clinch their place in the knockout stages, although it will be dependent on other results.
The Eagles, once again captained by Simon Harmer, will be playing for pride and have hopes of ending the competition on a high, ahead of the Specsavers County Championship’s return next week.
Following Sunday’s defeat to Kent Spitfires, Essex Eagles currently sit 8th in the South Group and go in search of a third win in the competition on Tuesday.
Eagles Head Coach Anthony McGrath reflected on another disappointing performance. “It’s very frustrating because we’re repeating the same mistakes in games,” he said.
“We’re doing half a job. Batters are getting in but not going on to make a big score, then with the ball, we’ll string some good overs together only to then leak big runs to bad deliveries.
“We’re not doing the basics well enough but we’re making bad decisions at critical times. Batting was tough early on; I thought Kent bowled well but for the first 20 overs we did well.
“If you look at the stats in this competition it’s overs 25-40 where we’ve struggled and it was the same against Kent on Sunday. We’ve been losing wickets in clumps during that period and it happened again on Sunday as we went into the last 10 overs without a platform to build on.
“That’s where the game was ultimately lost because 270 was always short of the par score on that pitch, unless we did something special with the ball.
“Even so, we should have fared better when we bowled. We got a few wickets towards the end but Kent were always comfortable.
“Some home truths were spoken in the dressing room after the defeat but we have a lot of players under-performing. Ultimately, it comes down to hard work and commitment, and we just have to keep working at it to get better.
“We will be going all out to win our game against Gloucestershire and hopefully, if we can do that, we can take the confidence heading into our Championship match with Nottinghamshire the following week.”
Essex Eagles squad to face Gloucestershire:
Simon Harmer (captain) (11)
Aaron Beard (14)
Ravi Bopara (25)
Varun Chopra (6)
Matt Coles (1)
Alastair Cook (26)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Rishi Patel (12)
Jamie Porter (44)
Paul Walter (22)
Tom Westley (21)
Robbie White (wicket-keeper) (4)
Tickets for the match against Gloucestershire are on sale now with a discount available when purchased in advance.
Advance tickets are priced at just £15 Adults, £10 Students/Young Adult (18-24), Juniors (U18s) and also Family tickets priced at £32.
