Essex v Kent
Over 60s National Championship
Halstead Cricket Club
Team News:
Essex: Neil Brathwaite, Simon Sargent, Andrew Gallant, Marcus Young, Paul Challis, Alan Lord, Arshad Mughal *, Joesph Pierre, Deepak Sinha, Mark Taylor †, Tim Smith and Lee French.
Kent: John Butterworth, Chris Trevatt, Richard Burton, Jim Phillips, Christopher Tarrant †*, Kevin Waters, Keith Sawyer, Kevin Masters, Rupert Staple, Terry Edwards, Tony Mitchell, and Derek Towe.
Match Details:
Toss: Kent won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Essex won by 4 wickets – Essex 203/6 (44.2 overs), Kent 202/9 (45 overs)
Essex Over 60s joined the home counties side in both getting the final of a cup competition but also beating Kent on the way to it. Essex beat Kent by 4 wickets on the way to booking their place to face Sussex in the overs 60s national final.
Losing the toss and getting put into the field, Essex bowled well taking wickets at regular intervals, and not letting Kent batters get on top. Despite some middle-order resilience from Keith Sawyer and Kevin Masters, Essex restricted Kent to a commendable 202/9.
Joseph Pierre and Deepak Sinha were the pick of the bowlers as they took 3 wickets a piece.
In reply, Essex lost a couple of reasonably early wickets before Simon Sargent and Alan Lord got together and formed a partnership of 62 to swing the match in favour of the Essex side.
In a match that went down to the wire, some strong lower-order boundary hitting saw Essex over the line in the final over. Opener Simon Sargent carried his bat through the innings on his way to a match-defining 86 (131).
