Glamorgan v Essex Eagles
Vitality Blast
Sophia Gardens
Sunday 13 June
2:30pm start
Essex Eagles head west for the next Vitality Blast match when they face Glamorgan in Cardiff on Sunday with the game scheduled to commence at 2:30pm.
Having won the opening game against Somerset at Taunton, the Eagles hopes of launching their home campaign with victory 48 hours later were dashed when they lost to Hampshire by 13 runs after their opponents successfully defended a total of 155-6 by dismissing Essex for 142.
Now they look to overcome the disappointment of that setback by recording another on the road win.
Glamorgan narrowly lost their opening match of this year’s competition when Gloucestershire prevailed by 4 runs in the encounter at Sophia Gardens. Aussie star Marnus Labuschagne struck 10 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 93 from 56 balls but the Welsh county just fell short reaching 175-9 chasing down a target of 179-6.
Squads:
Glamorgan Squad:
46 Chris Cooke (c & wk), 5 Kiran Carlson, 88 Dan Douthwaite, 41 Colin Ingram, 99 Marnus Labuschagne, 73 David Lloyd, 30 Michael Neser, 21 Andrew Salter, 9 Nick Selman, 32 Prem Sisodiya, 20 Ruaidhri Smith, 4 Callum Taylor, 64 Timm van der Gugten, 29 James Weighell.
Cook’s View View:
Paceman Sam Cook continued his fine start to the season with figures of 2/21 in the loss to Hampshire to follow his 3/14 at Taunton two nights earlier.
Reflecting on the home defeat, he said: “At the halfway stage I think we would have been happy chasing 155. Historically at Chelmsford, you are looking at 180 being par so the way we had bowled we’d be happy with that.
“In hindsight, it wasn’t the easiest pitch to score on and it was frustrating to lose wickets at regular intervals and come up short.
“Tom Westley batted beautifully. He proved that if you got in on that pitch it got easier. The way he constructed his innings, hitting the gaps and attacking when the opportunities presented themselves.
“It was disappointing the way he got run out and it was a crucial moment in the game.
“We have been an inexperienced T20 bowling unit over the past few years, we identified that over the winter and have worked hard to improve our skills. We are reaping the rewards of that now.”
Injury/Absentees News:
Adam Wheater is suffering with a side strain whilst Dan Lawrence is unavailable due to his commitments with England in the Test series with New Zealand.
Opposition:
Coach: Matthew Maynard
Captain: Chris Cooke
Last Year’s Performance: 5th (Central Group)
2020 Leading Runscorer: Andy Balbirnie (255 @ 36.42)
2020 Leading Wicket Taker: Timm van der Gugten (14 @ 14.92)
Overseas players: Colin Ingram (South Africa), Marnus Labuschagne (Australia) & Michael Neser (Australia)
Key man: Colin Ingram
In the last completed game between the two sides, at Cardiff in 2018, Colin Ingram blasted 89 to underpin a six run victory for his side. The hard-hitting batsman had scored a brilliant 114 at Chelmsford the previous year and to date, the South African has scored 426 runs in seven innings with his tally also including an unbeaten 101 at Chelmsford.
Flies under the radar: Timm van der Gugten
The Netherlands international has been Glamorgan’s leading wicket-taker in his past two Blast campaigns for the club.
Blast expectations:
Glamorgan have endured a tough time since reaching Finals Day four years ago, but there is reason for optimism as they aim to get back to the knockout stages. Glamorgan won three of their final four games last summer and their batting is boosted by the return of Colin Ingram. David Lloyd is back to full fitness, Marnus Labuschagne is set to be available for the entire group stage and young gun Kiran Carlson has shown signs he is ready to take the next steps in his career.
Head-to-Head:
The Eagles have not beaten Glamorgan in the competition since June 2016, when Jesse Ryder (42) and Tom Westley (41) set up the 7 wicket victory.
Since 2016, the Welsh county have been victorious against the Eagles in all three of their T20 matches where the weather has not intervened. The list is as follows:
July 16, 2017 at Chelmsford – Glamorgan won by 5 wickets
July 23, 2017 at Cardiff – Match Abandoned
July 13, 2018 at Chelmsford – Glamorgan won by 2 wickets
Aug 7, 2018 at Cardiff – Glamorgan won by 6 runs
Aug 9, 2019 at Cardiff – No Result
Aug 1, 2019 at Chelmsford – Match Abandoned
Glamorgan’s victory in 2018 was their first on home soil against the Eagles in the T20 competition, with the visitors having won five of their previous encounters at the Cardiff ground – in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The teams have been scheduled to meet on 16 occasions. Essex won eight matches, lost four whilst there has been two no-results and two matches abandoned.
How To Watch:
There will be a Live Stream service from Sophia Gardens, which will be broadcasting ahead of play from 2:30 via the Essex Cricket Matchzone.
Access via the Essex Cricket Matchzone is available here.
