Northamptonshire v Essex - Northants innings.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Northamptonshire failed to take advantage of a true pitch and fast outfield to close on 198-9 at the end of their 40 overs.

 

They began brightly scoring at more than five an over but the second-half of the innings saw the Eagles take 7 wickets whilst conceding only 84 runs to give themselves an excellent chance of securing their fourth win of the season in the Clydesdale Bank40 competition.

 

Essex gave a 40-overs debut to Adam Wheater who is playing as a batsman but new overseas replacement Bryce McGain was not included. The Steelbacks included former Essex players Stephen Peters and James Middlebrook in their line-up.

 

At the halfway stage, the Steelbacks were 114-2 but their opponents contained the home side capturing five wickets in the next 12 overs to wrest the initiative.

 

Enterprising captaincy by James Foster brought about a regular number of bowling changes in a bid to prevent the batsman from settling as the Eagles skipper often combined spin and pace in tandem.

 

He started the game with that mixture as David Masters opened proceedings whilst Tim Phillips sent down the next over from the Pavilion End. However, the left-armer spinner’s over went for 7 runs and he was replaced by Chris Wright who claimed the first wicket of the innings with his final ball of his first over.

 

Chelmsford-born opener Rob White had scored 5 when he chopped a ball onto his stumps with only 15 runs on the board but the visitors then had to bide their time before following-up with another victim.

 

Rob Newton and Alex Wakeley found the gaps regularly in the field to gather  a series of boundaries  to post a half-century stand in just 8 overs and their partnership had reached 61 when Foster turned to Tom Westley who became the fifth bowler to be used.

 

The 21 year-old the introduction of the fifth bowler of the afternoon responded positively when deceiving Wakeley with his first delivery leaving the batsman to reflect on his contribution of 29 (5x 4’s) out of 76-2 in the fourteenth over.

 

David Sales and Newton took the score onto 123 when Sales drove Phillips to Mark Pettini at mid-off and departed for 23 and three overs later, Newton, playing only his second List ‘A’ match  was removed.

 

Having scored 66, he drove Flower airily to long-off where was Masters took a catch on the run and two overs later, Peters (7) was undone when an intended sweep against Flower saw him adjudged leg before as Northants slipped to 138-5 wickets.

 

Elton Chigumbura was briefly joined in the middle by Andrew Hall who had just reached double figures when he was lbw to Andy Carter and when David Murphy (5) skied Masters to Pettini at wide mid-off, the Steelbacks were 174-7 with just over five overs remaining.

 

Now in full control, the Eagles took an eighth wicket 6 runs later when Chigumbura - who had hit the first boundary for 8 overs when pulling Masters for 6 -  paid the price for another intended big hit and was caught for 24 at point by fellow Zimbabwean Flower  to give Masters his second wicket in successive overs.

 

The final wicket to fall was David Willey who was trapped leg before by Carter for 6 in the final over from which just 4 runs emanated leaving Middlebrook 14 not out against his former colleagues. 

 

Masters (2-380, Carter (2-31) and Flower (2-31) were the chief wicket takers whilst  Wright (1-20), Westley (1-34) and Phillips (1-41) all supported well.