Essex Eagles are back in action at The Cloudfm County Ground this evening when they face Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast in front of a sell-out crowd.
The Eagles will be looking for an immediate response to their 22-runs defeat to Kent Spitfires at Canterbury last night.
Despite an unbeaten half-century from Ryan ten Doeschate, the Eagles were unable to find the necessary momentum and could only reach 153-7 in reply to Kent Spitfire’s 175-6.
Eagles batsman ten Doeschate admitted it was a disappointing result for the side, and said: “It was disappointing without being a complete train smash. I felt Kent had one or two more options and maybe a better balance to their team.
“The last over of Kent’s innings, scoring 21, was vital to them. We would have been happy had we restricted them to 160 but with a set batsman in there and all the skills that Heino possesses made it difficult for us to contain him. Unfortunately, we couldn’t muster a couple of those big overs when we batted.
“Maybe the wicket wasn’t as easy as it looked. Personally, I just couldn’t get it going with the bat, I really struggled to hit it. I tried to go for it from 14 overs out, but the wicket was a little sticky and I never really found my timing.
“Now we have to get the right result against Gloucestershire. I know that two losses from three games does not seem great, but the energy and planning feels very different and we are getting better.
“There is still a long way to go in this competition and I do believe we are in good shape and can change things around.”
Essex Eagles squad to face Gloucestershire:
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)
