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Essex Eagles have named a 13-man squad for their Friends Provident Trophy Quarter-Final against Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road on Wednesday (June 4).

Grant Flower and Graham Napier are brought in from the squad that travelled to Worcestershire for the last Championship match with Tom Westley and Maurice Chambers omitted.

Tim Phillips is unavailable after knee surgery.

Play is due to get underway at midday and a reserve day is scheduled for Thursday (June 5). 

Pre-match comments
Speaking ahead of the game, First-Team Coach Paul Grayson told the Essex CCC website:

“We seem to have hit a sticky patch lately (in terms of results) but I don’t expect that to impact too much on Wednesday. We didn’t play particularly well in our last Championship match at Worcester but there were aspects to take heart from – our bowling was good and Ravi Bopara and James Foster produced good second innings. Everyone is well aware that we need contributions from one or two of our other batsmen, but this a different format and we hope for more at Grace Road.

“I’ve been pretty pleased with how we’ve played in the Friends Provident Trophy. There was a little blip towards the end of our group matches but we will be ready for Wednesday. Leicestershire will offer us a good challenge but we are happy with the draw.

“They have some good players and it’s no coincidence that their upturn in fortunes has come with six or seven South Africans in their squad. Whether you agree with it or not they have gone down the Kolpak route very heavily, which has led to a good start in the Championship and top place in their FPT group.

“But we know we are a very good one-day side and can outplay anybody on our day. If we can play to our potential and do the basics right we know we’ll beat Leicestershire.”

Tickets
Ticket prices are as follows:

In advance: £12 adults, £8 seniors and £5 children under 16.

On the day: £15 adults, £10 seniors and £5 for children (photographic ID will be required on collection of tickets for children).

You can book your tickets by calling the Leicestershire CCC ticket-line on 0871 282 1879 or for further details go to the Leicestershire CCC website at www.leicestershireccc.com

CLICK HERE for more ticket information

Online and Radio coverage
BBC Essex – our official broadcast partner - will be providing live ball-by-ball commentary of the game from midday on Wednesday. You can access the commentary via the Essex CCC website by CLICKING HERE or at http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/realmedia/cricket_commentary.ram from the start of the match.

Essex Eagles squad to play Leicestershire Foxes in the Friends Provident Trophy at Grace Road (Wednesday June 4, midday start)
Jason Gallian, Mark Pettini, Varun Chopra, Ravinder Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate,
James Foster, James Middlebrook, Graham Napier, David Masters, Danish Kaneria,
Grant Flower, Alex Tudor, Tony Palladino.