Essex Vs. Lancashire YB40.

Lancashire complete Essex trip with second win.

Simon Katich top-scored with 60.

After the magical events of Friday, which saw Essex bowled out for 20, Lancashire added insult to injury by achieving a 64-run victory in the YB40 campaign. For a long time Essex looked favourites, but a collapse in their batting, reminiscent of the championship, turned the match on its head.

Having been put in to bat, Lancashire found it hard to score runs freely, with the ball not coming on to the bat as they would have liked. With just 35 runs after ten overs, it became clear that a below par score was on the cards.

Ashwell Prince scored 31 at the top of the innings but the pressure to score quickly resulted in him being caught by Reece Topley off David Masters. The primary source of runs for Lancashire came from Simon Katich, who scored 122 in the Championship fixture. His sensible 60 steadied an otherwise shaky situation, with wickets falling at regular intervals.

Katich reached his fifty from 52 to balls and started to play more aggressive shots as the innings progressed. Tom Smith's return from injury saw him hit just seven with Lancashire 94-4. Jordan Clark then fell LBW to a contentious decision off Topley for nine as Essex asserted their dominance in the match.

But Katich was supported well by the Lancashire lower-order, mustering a 42-run stand with Gareth Cross (29) who relieved the pressure from the Australian international. Katich was eventually out to Ryan Ten Doeschate who finished with figures of 3-38.

Further runs were added by Kabir Ali (20), Glen Chapple (22) and Stephen Parry (14), which gave Lancashire a thoroughly competitive total of 230-8.

Essex's response suffered two early blows, both courtesy of Glen Chapple (3-33), who dismissed Tom Westley and Mark Pettini. At 18-2, Essex fans started to ponder the events of Friday as more questions were asked about the standard of their batting.

But these critics were soon silenced by Hamish Rutherford and Owais Shah who set the game up for Essex, before they would collapse once more. Having opened with Westley, Rutherford (63) obliterated the Lancashire bowlers, in an innings which saw the New Zealander hit 3 sixes. Accompanied by Shah (42) Lancashire would have thought the game was starting to slide, as the Eagles added 94 runs for the third wicket.

Having put themselves in a great position though, the home side capitulated, with the Essex skipper James Foster offering the next highest score with 20. Losing their last seven wicket for just 54 runs, Essex floundered in their efforts to chase down what was, in hindsight, a daunting total set by Lancashire.

Parry was, as always, incredibly economical, affording Essex just 29 from his eight overs and picking up two wickets in the process. But it was Ali who finished with the best figures in this fixture, as he claimed 3-30 in Lancashire's third win of the campaign.

In a very competitive group, Lancashire now sit fourth with everything still to play for, despite a disappointing start to the campaign, but recent wins have lifted the spirit of the team which will bode well for them heading into twenty over format.

Essex 0 pts, Lancashire 2 pts.