Essex Eagles v Hampshire Hawks (27 June)
UPDATE
Essex Eagles beat Hampshire Hawks by 54 runs in Friday's Twenty20 Cup match at The Ford County Ground to earn a home quarter-final against Northants:
CLICK HERE for match report
CLICK HERE for photo highlights from the match
MATCH PREVIEW
Essex Eagles have named a provisional 13-man squad for their Twenty20 Cup match against Hampshire Hawks at The Ford County Ground on Friday, June 27.
Chris Wright and Varun Chopra are added to the team on duty in last night's tied match against the Hawks at the Rose Bowl.
The Eagles go into the game in the knowledge that victory would guarantee them a place in the quarter-finals. A win coupled with a defeat for Lancashire Lightning against Durham Dynamos at the Riverside would not only see the Eagles progress but also earn them a home draw in the last eight as the best second-placed team (a feat that is also dependent on Yorkshire Carnegie failing to win their last two matches by a sufficient margin to take them ahead of Essex on run-rate). Defeat would leave the Eagles needing to rely on Sussex Sharks beating Kent Spitfires at Hove to secure their quarter-final place.
Check out the Twenty20 Zone for the full Twenty20 Cup quarter-final qualification procedure.
Play is scheduled to get underway at The Ford County Ground at 5.30pm.
Ticket News
Friday’s match is sold out (gates open at 3.30pm).
Pre-match comments
Speaking ahead of the game at Chelmsford, First-Team Coach Paul Grayson told the Essex CCC website:
“If someone had said at the start of the competition that we would need to win our last home game to qualify for the quarter-finals I would have taken that – especially in such a tough group. There will be a full house at The Ford County Ground and we have a terrific record at home in one-day cricket. We know this isn’t an easy place for any team to come to so we hope we can extend our good form here.”
Online and Radio coverage
BBC Essex - our official broadcast partner - will be providing live ball-by-ball commentary of this game from 5.30pm. 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 Hampshire Hawks in the Twenty20 Cup on Friday, June 27 at The Ford County Ground (5.30pm start):
Jason Gallian, Mark Pettini, Grant Flower, Neil Dexter, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Foster, James Middlebrook, Graham Napier, David Masters, Danish Kaneria, Maurice Chambers, Chris Wright, Varun Chopra.
