TEAM NEWS
Essex Men: Noah Thain, Luc Benkenstein, Tom Westley (C), Matt Critchley, Grant Roelofsen, Simon Harmer, Simon Fernandes (WK), Shane Snater, Mackenzie Jones, Mitchell Killeen, Jamie Porter.
Worcestershire Rapids Men: Isaac Mohammed, Rehan Edvalath, Gareth Roderick (WK), Jake Libby (C), Kashif Ali, Henry Cullen, Beyers Swanepoel, Tom Taylor, Ben Allison, Fateh Singh, Ben Gibbon.
MATCH DETAILS
Umpires: Mike Burns & Graham Lloyd
Match Referee: Wayne Noon
Scorers: Helen Hyde & Sue Drinkwater
Toss: Essex Men won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Essex Men won by 107 runs
MATCH REACTION: MATT CRITCHLEY
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
MATCH REPORT
Commanding centuries from Tom Westley and Matt Critchley laid firm foundations from which Essex cruised to their second Metro Bank Cup victory of the campaign.
Westley’s 104-ball 129 was his 11th in List A cricket, and second of the season, He shared a lively third-wicket stand of 122 with Critchley, whose 102 not out came from just 75 balls.
The pair’s innings slightly overshadowed that of Noah Thain, who took his total in five games in the 50-over competition to exactly 400. His partnership of 139 in 20 overs with his captain broke a 54-year-old club record for the second wicket against Worcestershire.
Jake Libby anchored the Rapids’ response to Essex’s 376-5 with a second successive score of 109 but could only watch as wickets fell at the other end and the required rate rose alarmingly. In the end Worcestershire were 107 runs short of Essex’s total with eight-and-a-half overs unused.
Essex had made hay on a wicket upon which 638 runs were scored against Hampshire on Friday. After Luc Benkenstein departed to a ball from Beyers Swanepoel that leapt up on him to take the edge,
Thain plundered a sizeable proportion of his 11 boundaries with textbook, flowing drives through extra cover. He was chanceless until sweeping Fatih Singh to deep midwicket when he had reached 75. His reluctance to exit the stage suggested he thought a third successive century was very much on the cards.
Westley had kept pace with his younger partner, passing fifty from four fewer balls, hitting straight and also finding the boundary through extra cover. He even launched Singh back down the ground for six on the way to reaching three figures from 87 balls.
The loss of Thain did not disrupt Essex’s run-rate, which hovered around seven an over. It increased even more when Critchley marked his half-century with a pulled six and a cover-driven four from two Ben Gibbon deliveries.
But three balls after depositing Singh over long-on for a second six, Westley stretched to reach a wide, lost his balance and was stumped. The runs dried up slightly afterwards as wickets fell. But a wayward, nine-ball over costing 19 from Swanepoel revived Essex at the death and Critchley duly reached his second career List A hundred in the last over.
The Rapids lost Brett D’Oliveira to injury in the warm-up, and his replacement Isaac Mohammed lasted just three balls before he nicked Jamie Porter to the wicketkeeper. And next ball, his opening partner Rehaan Edavalath was run out by Benkenstein’s direct throw from backward point.
Gareth Roderick and Libby consolidated for 13 overs with a stand of 60 before Roderick swung lustily at Jones and was caught low down at third man.
Kasif Ali tried to reduce the asking rate below 10 with fifty at better than a run a ball. But after putting on 81 in 13 overs with Libby he attempted to hit Mitch Killeen’s second delivery out of the ground and only found mid-on.
Late hitting by Swanepoel took him to 30 from 15 balls before falling to a sharp stumping off Harmer. And the South African off-spinner then ended Libby’s 100-ball stay, caught at mid-on.
