Head Coach, Anthony McGrath spoke after play in Taunton to express his disappointment in the Eagles’ latest defeat.
With just one win on the board, McGrath is looking for his team to turn the fortunes around and come out of the slump in performances which has most recently seen back-to-back defeats to Kent Spitfires and Somerset on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The Eagles have a chance to put the recent performance right with the visit of Surrey on Sunday at The Cloudfm County Ground.
Somerset v Essex Eagles
Vitality Blast
Friday 03 August
The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton
Somerset Team | Johann Myburgh, Tom Banton (wk), Peter Trego, James Hildreth, Tom Abell, Corey Anderson, Lewis Gregory (c), Roelof van der Merwe, Jamie Overton, Jerome Taylor, Max Waller.
Essex Eagles Team | Adam Wheater (31) (wk), Varun Chopra (6), Paul Walter (22), Ryan ten Doeschate (27) (c), Michael Pepper (19), Ravi Bopara (25), Simon Harmer (11), Matt Coles (1), Peter Siddle (64), Adam Zampa (88), Jamie Porter (44).
Toss | Essex Eagles, who elected to bat
Umpires | Ian Blackwell & Graham Lloyd
Match Result | Somerset win by 10 wickets
Essex Eagles suffered a 10 wickets defeat to Somerset in the Vitality Blast match at Taunton on Friday, a defeat that leaves the Eagles rooted to the bottom of the South Group table.
Johann Myburgh produced a swashbuckling performance hitting a magnificent unbeaten century as Somerset raced to victory with 8.4 overs to spare after the visitors could only manage 135 for 9 from 20 overs.
Myburgh carved, cut, drove and pulled his way to his first T20 hundred reaching his half-century from 22 balls whilst his second fifty arrived from a further 20 deliveries. His hundred included 3 sixes and 16 fours as he punished the Eagles attack unmercifully in this one-sided match.
He was on 103 when his opening partner, 19 year-old Tom Banton struck the winning run. The teenager was quite content to play the support role ending 29 not out and having faced 25 balls that included 1 six and 2 fours.
Myburgh served notice of his intent in the fourth over when Adam Zampa sent down the first of his only two overs and collected 18 off the first four deliveries before adding a single.
Myburgh then took three successive boundaries off Matt Coles, the second of which brought the Somerset total past 50 off just 4.2 overs.
Two overs later, Peter Siddle was to suffer heavy punishment from Myburgh’s bat. Three successive fours brought the opener his 50 and he celebrated by sending the next ball over the ropes before ending the over with another boundary as Somerset reached 77 without loss at the end of the powerplay.
Their 100 arrived from the first ball of the 8th over and completed their stroll in the park to victory 19 balls later.
Earlier, Ryan ten Doeschate and Varun Chopra posted 46 in 7 overs – the highest stand of the Eagles innings – carrying their side to 82 for 2 in the 12th over after the visitors had won the toss.
Then both were dismissed in successive overs, ten Doeaschate caught at short third man for 26 and Chopra run out or 43 after he paid the price for backing up too far when Michael Pepper drove a ball from Jamie Overton to mid-off.
Pepper, playing his first T20 match for the Eagles hit 27 from 30 balls but once a 32 runs liaison with Ravi Bopara was ended when the latter skied a return catch to Jamie Overton, the innings fell away badly with five wickets falling in the last three overs.
Three of those went in the final over of the innings to leave bowler Jerome Taylor with figures of 3 for 28.
Somerset v Essex Eagles
Vitality Blast
Friday 03 August
The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton
Somerset Team |
Essex Eagles Team |
Toss |
Umpires | Ian Blackwell & Graham Lloyd
Rishi Patel has equalled Darren Robinson’s record of 5 centuries in a season in the 2nd XI Championship.
Robinson set the record in 1992 after hitting 5 centuries in 24 innings, but Patel is moving at a much faster rate and has so far hit 5 tons in 10 innings.
Patel recorded his first century of the season with 104 back in April against Sussex 2nd XI and followed that up by smashing 133 a month later against Hampshire 2nd XI.
Some dazzling play with the bat has seen Patel record 3 centuries in the last 3 weeks, with the first being 117 against Middlesex 2nd XI. Rishi then tallied his highest score of the season with 151 against Gloucestershire 2nd XI and then equalled the record with 118 against Kent 2nd XI yesterday.
With the 2nd XI campaign not due to finish until early September, Patel certainly has a chance to break the record and write his way into the history books.
Tuesday 24th June 2008 will forever be in the memories of every Essex fan for one special performance from a legend of the Club.
A T20 World Record… 152 Not Out. 16 Sixes.
Graham Napier’s world record innings put T20 on the map at Chelmsford and around the world as he smashed balls to every part of the ground. The match versus Sussex Sharks was broadcast live in front of the Sky Sports cameras and 10 years on from that match, Graham shares his memories of that special day.
The documentary was shown live for the first time at this season’s opening Vitality Blast match against Sussex Sharks ands supported by the Peter Edwards Museum & Library, which is based at The Cloudfm County Ground.
The Club would also like to thank all the contributors featured in the film, the Royal Hospital School & Offshoot Films.
This week’s ‘Friday Night at the Fortress’ is now SOLD OUT!
After a packed house at HQ for the opening Vitality Blast victory over Middlesex last week, Eagles supporters have been snapping up tickets for the biggest party in Chelmsford this summer!
Missed out on tickets? Get over the World Cup disappointment by securing your tickets for the Vitality Blast at The Cloudfm County Ground throughout July and August. There are four other games remaining, but be quick as they are selling fast!
Purchase online right now, or by phone (01245 254010) to avoid disappointment…
Essex’s overseas recruit for the Vitality Blast, Adam Zampa, has spent five weeks acclimatising to English conditions, immersing himself in the local club scene, getting to know his new team-mates.
The Australian leg-spinner’s contract with Essex did not start until July 1, but he has been in this country since the end of May in readiness for the Blast, which starts tonight against Sussex Sharks at The Cloudfm County Ground, and continues on Friday at home against Middlesex. Zampa has played a handful of games for Brentwood in the Shepherd Neame Essex Premier League and taken 18 wickets, including a six-wicket haul on debut.
Zampa, whose globe-trotting has taken in the IPL and Caribbean Super League, as well as the Big Bash, explains: “I have been conscious in the past of making sure I hit the ground running. If I had just arrived I wouldn’t be bowling as well as I am now. The ball’s coming out really well. I feel like I’ve had enough bowling now and I feel comfortable with the guys. I’ve had the numbers on the board in terms of overs and wickets where I feel like I’ve bowled well enough to play the Blast.
“You go into club cricket knowing it’s not your level, but there is also a bit of expectation on your back. It’s also an opportunity to try things and have fun. Sometimes being a professional cricketer is not the most fun thing, going around the world and all that stuff. I don’t absolutely love the game, so just to go and play club cricket, enjoy it, and get in the habit of taking four, five, six wickets on the weekend gives a massive confidence-boost.”
The 26-year-old Zampa is with the Eagles for the entire T20 season, including finals day in September, if Essex qualify for the first time since 2013. He is looking forward to sampling the atmosphere of Chelmsford Friday nights under the lights, and trying to defend the notoriously short boundaries. “I know what to expect,” he says, “I’ve been told a few times!
“The biggest thing for me is the size of the grounds. In Australian Big Bash games, my home ground is the MCG [for Melbourne Stars] and that’s one of the biggest grounds in the world. And here it’s like a postage stamp!
“You’ve just got to bowl good balls. It’s one of those things being a leg-spinner: you’re going to get hit over the fence. It’s the way you come back that’s important. I know my role in the team is to take wickets through the middle overs. That makes a huge difference to winning games of T20 cricket. You know you’re going to get hit, it’s about minimalising that and getting as many wickets as you can.”
Zampa has a number of variations and changes of pace in his locker. “The best thing about being a wrist spinner,” he says, “is having the option to spin it away from the bat, and bowling a slider as a defensive option, too. I have a few tricks, but they are pretty simple ones. Before I bowl a ball I try and think what’s best for the team at this point. Do we need a wicket or do we just want to get this guy off strike?
“The good batsmen are forward-thinkers and know what the bowlers are going to bowl pretty much before it’s bowled. I need to be one step ahead of them because, normally, they’re a step ahead of you.”
Zampa has played 13 T20s for Australia, and 31 one-day internationals, the most recent at the turn of the year. He is philosophical being omitted from the squad that has just finished a white-ball series in England, and is now in Zimbabwe. “I was a bit flat and disappointed about it,” he admits. “But I’m also seeing the positive side. The selectors have said they want a wrist spinner at the World Cup next year, so my thinking is if I have a good summer here, bowl well, have a good Australian summer, then I think I’ll have a very good chance of making the squad.”
Young pace bowler, Jack Plom has been called up to the England Under-19s squad for two “Tests” against South Africa at Scarborough and the Emirates Riverside next month.
He will be joined in the squad by Somerset’s Tom Banton, one of six members of the World Cup squad who will continue with the Under-19s this summer – along with Warwickshire batsman Liam Banks, Worcestershire seamer Adam Finch, and the Middlesex trio Ethan Bamber, Luke Hollman and wicketkeeper Jack Davies.
Three other members of the World Cup squad – Worcestershire seamer Dillon Pennington, Surrey all-rounder Will Jacks and Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, who was the captain in New Zealand – have not been selected despite remaining eligible, to allow them to continue gaining further senior experience with their counties.
The England Under-19s selectors have taken the same approach with Henry Brookes, who was ruled out of the World Cup through injury and has become a regular with Warwickshire this season – while Matt Potts, the Durham seamer who shared the new ball with Brookes in last summer’s Under-19s series against India, was ruled out through injury.
Plom, Kent wicketkeeper-batsman Oli Robinson and Derbyshire spinner Hamidullah Qadri are all recalled after responding positively to their omission from the World Cup squad, and there are four uncapped players – the Sussex batsman Harrison Ward, Derbyshire seamer Alfie Gleadall, Worcestershire’s Jack Haynes, and Gloucestershire’s Greg Willows.
Jon Lewis, for whom this will be a first series as head coach of the Young Lions programme after he was initially appointed for the World Cup, said: “I’ve never seen the Under-19s play at Test level, and for all of us the chance to test ourselves against the best young players from South Africa is a really exciting one.
“Already this season it’s been encouraging to see three of the guys from our World Cup squad – as well as Henry Brookes, who was a regular for the Under-19s last summer – earning regular selection by their counties and making some significant contributions.
“The key for us when making these selections is working out with the counties what’s best for each individual player, and in the cases of those four we agreed it was best for them to stay in county cricket.
“That removes some experience from our squad, but that increases the challenge and opportunity for the guys who have been selected.
“Tom Lammonby was really unlucky to miss the World Cup, but my experience of him is that he’s got a good cricket brain, and I’m looking forward to seeing him captain the side.”
England will announce a separate squad early in July for the three-match Royal London One-Day Series against South Africa that follows, with the first game at the Emirates Riverside on July 23 being televised live on Sky Sports, followed by matches at South Northumberland CC and Scarborough.
Lewis will be joined for both the four-day and one-day matches by two more former England cricketers who are now developing their coaching careers in county cricket, Mal Loye and Min Patel, as batting and spin-bowling coaches respectively.
Neil Killeen, the former Durham seamer, continues as fast-bowling coach and Andy Mitchell of Middlesex will be the strength and conditioning coach.
“Mal is Head of Development at Derbyshire, and was part of the coaching staff for the Midlands who won the Super-4s competition at Under-17s level in Loughborough last summer, and Min coaches the Second XI at Kent,” added Lewis.
“I’m delighted to have them both on board as they have a broad range of coaching and playing experiences both domestically and internationally, including extensive work with young cricketers.
“We’re grateful to their counties, and also to Durham and Middlesex, for allowing their staff to join us at such a busy time of the summer.”
The England Under-19 selectors – Lewis, David Graveney and John Abrahams – have named nine more players to face the South Africans in their warm-up match for the series, against an Invitational XI in Loughborough on July 3-4 – when England will face the Unicorns in a two-day match.
England Under-19s squad
Tom Lammonby (Somerset, captain)
Ethan Bamber (Middlesex)
Liam Banks (Warwickshire)
Tom Banton (Somerset)
Jack Davies (Middlesex)
Adam Finch (Worcestershire)
Alfie Gleadall (Derbyshire)
Jack Haynes (Worcestershire)
Luke Hollman (Middlesex)
Jack Plom (Essex)
Hamidullah Qadri (Derbyshire)
Oli Robinson (Kent)
Harrison Ward (Sussex)
Greg Willows (Gloucestershire)
Fixtures
July 3-4 v Unicorns (Loughborough)
July 8-11 – first “Youth Test” v South Africa Under-19s (Scarborough)
July 16-19 – second “Youth Test” v South Africa Under-19s (Emirates Riverside)
*A separate England Under-19s squad will be named in early July for the three-match Royal London One-Day Series against South Africa A with games at Emirates Riverside (July 23, live on Sky Sports), South Northumberland CC (July 26) and Scarborough (July 29).
Selected for an Invitational XI to play South Africa Under-19s at Loughborough, July 3-4
Ben Allison (Essex), Ben Charlesworth (Gloucestershire), Jordan Cook (Nottinghamshire), Ed Fluck (Lancashire), George Lavelle (Lancashire), Will Sheffield (Sussex), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Kaz
Szymanski (Glamorgan), Rob Yates (Warwickshire)
