Essex Eagles travel to Canterbury on Friday to face Kent Spitfires in their third Vitality Blast clash of the 2019 season, and Head Coach Anthony McGrath has named an unchanged 13-man squad for the match.
A lot of attention will be focussed on hard-hitting opening batsman Cameron Delport, who made a stunning impression on his home debut on Friday night scoring 129 runs as the Eagles beat Surrey by 52 runs.
He reached three figures from only 38 deliveries and when he was finally dismissed, he had faced just 49 deliveries. During an exhibition of powerful and clean hitting, he recorded an impressive 14 sixes and 7 fours.
The 30-year-old admitted that he was desperate to impress on his home debut and said: “I was a bit nervous at the start of my innings particularly after the previous night at Lord’s which was really disappointing.
“I was seeing the ball really well right from the start, but I wasn’t thinking about a century, I just wanted to bat as long as I could for the team. I went onto aggression a bit earlier than I normally would do because we only had fifteen overs but the timing and hitting felt good right from the start.
“When things are going right for you, that’s the time to cash in. You just watch the ball and try to clear the boundaries. I was really pleased to get some runs for the team. You need to launch the innings with a good tempo so that the guys following you can come in and play freely. You don’t want to be cramped up and eating up dot balls.”
Essex Eagles squad to face Kent Spitifres:
Simon Harmer (11) (captain)
Aaron Beard (14)
Ravi Bopara (25)
Varun Chopra (6)
Cameron Delport (89)
Ryan ten Doeschate (27)
Dan Lawrence (28)
Matt Quinn (94)
Shane Snater (29)
Paul Walter (22)
Tom Westley (21)
Adam Wheater (31) (wicket-keeper)
Adam Zampa (88)
