Essex Eagles v Yorkshire Vikings
Royal London Cup
The Cloudfm County Ground
Saturday 14 August
11am start
Essex Eagles face Yorkshire Vikings in the Quarter-Finals of the Royal London Cup on Saturday, following yesterday’s dramatic tie with Lancashire at Old Trafford.
Chasing a target of 251 for victory, Alastair Cook scored a sublime 110 but the fireworks were provided by in the final over by Simon Harmer.
With the Eagles requiring 21 runs to win from the final 4 deliveries with 2 wickets intact, the South African thumped 3 enormous sixes before having to settle for 2 runs from the last ball to secure a point for his side.
Now 48 hours later, the Eagles are in action again, this time at The Cloudfm County Ground where they battle to overcome Head Coach Anthony McGrath’s former County, Yorkshire, with the winners progressing to Tuesday’s Semi-Final against Glamorgan.
Yorkshire finished third on run-rate in their group behind Glamorgan and Surrey, although all 3 teams completed their qualifying round of matches with 10 points.
Squad:
McGrath’s View:
Anthony McGrath is relishing the opportunity to meet up with his former County once again as the Eagles and Vikings lock horns looking for a place in the Semi-Finals.
Now Essex Head Coach, he represented Yorkshire from 1995 until 2012 and was twice Club Captain, but now all his loyalties lie with the Eagles.
He said: “I still know a few people from there but all my focus is now with Essex and I’m looking forward to what should be a really good game.”
Commenting on the tied match with Lancashire which ensured the home Quarter-Final tie, he continued: “Cooky was magnificent and the way he was playing with Ryan (ten Doeschate), we were cruising along. But we started to lose wickets and in the end, it was left to Harmy to get us the point.
“I have to be honest and say I thought the game had gone at that point but Harmy normally writes his own scripts. He hit 3 sixes to the longest part of the ground which was incredible really and he was actually disappointed he didn’t hit the last ball for six.
“But once again, we witnessed an excellent game of cricket as we have done so often in this tournament and yet again, there was another tight finish.
“What has been really satisfying for me is the way so many of our younger players have taken their opportunities to show what they can do and for us to qualify with so many disruptions like any other County is superb to see.
“Now we need three wins to pick up another trophy starting on Saturday which we know will be a tough game but it’s one that we are eagerly anticipating.“
The Opposition:
The Vikings booked their place on the knockout stages thanks to a fine victory over table-toppers Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens on Thursday.
Yorkshire successfully defended a target of 231 having been 132-7 at one stage. In the 28th over, Glamorgan were coasting along at 121-0 and soon after, needed 108 off the last 20 overs with 9 wickets in hand.
But the Vikings attack applied pressure to the home batsman before Matthew Waite defended 11 off the last over as the Welsh County ended on 226-8.
Yorkshire have won 4 matches in the Royal London Cup claiming victories against Glamorgan, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire.
Essex and Yorkshire have met on 47 occasions in List A cricket with the Eagles narrowly shading bragging rights with 24 wins and 23 defeats.
The Vikings have won the last 2 Royal London Cup Quarter-Final matches at Chelmsford securing victory by 25 runs in 2018 and 20 runs 3 years earlier.
However, back in 2008 when the teams clashed at Chelmsford in the 50 over Friends’ Provident Trophy, it was the home side who prevailed by 87 runs. Alastair Cook stroked his way to 95 out of 285-8 and then Danish Kaneria and Ryan ten Doeschate shared 6 wickets (Kaneria 3/32 and ten Doeschate 3/30) as the visitors were dismissed for 198 despite 53 from a certain Anthony McGrath.
Essex went on to lift the trophy that year beating Kent Spitfires in the Final and that proved to be the last occasion that they have won a List A competition. Now Tom Westley and co are looking for repeat success as they strive to secure their 6th major trophy in 6 years.
How to Watch:
There will be a Live Stream service from The Cloudfm County Ground. This will be available via the Essex Cricket Matchzone from 11am.
Access via the Essex Cricket Matchzone is available here.
