Essex Vs. Lancs CB40 report: 23rd August

Newby claims first 5-wicket-haul to give Lightning home tie.

Oliver Newby claimed his first ever career

five-wicket-haul, finishing with figures of
5-35 and Karl Brown scored 87*, as
Lancashire earned not only guaranteed qualification to the semi-finals but also a home tie. Lancashire claimed their ninth victory from just eleven games. The Essex Eagles lost their fifth game of Group A and now have an all but futile season ahead with no interest remaining in any campaign.

Lancashire’s track record at Chelmsford before this match suggested a loss was in store for the visitors, with Lancashire’s last win at Chelmsford coming in 1999 and when the Eagles won the toss and decided to bat, the same scenario appeared to be in the making. At the end of the first powerplay (8 overs) the home side had reached 44-0 with Mark Pettini and Tom Westley batting in style. The first bowling change, and the introduction of Oliver Newby, brought Lancashire their first wicket as Westley chipped the ball to captain Glen Chapple for 21. Essex’s run rate already appeared to be slowing down and when Newby claimed Pettini’s wicket, playing a poor shot to Paul Horton for 27, the Eagles were struggling at 59-2.

Gary Keedy redeemed a poor fielding effort by catching Greg Smith (9), to give Newby his third wicket in just three overs. The partnership of Owais Shah and Ryan Ten Doeschate had the potential to do a lot of damage to Lancashire, but the latter made just 6 runs before he launched Keedy’s delivery into the air and Horton claimed a second catch. The impatient manor in which Essex had approached their innings seemed to be taking its toll at 78-4, as Essex captain, James Foster, joined Shah. Together they re-built the innings with a partnership worth 30, before a stunning direct hit run out from Karl Brown (pictured above) ended Shah’s innings for 24. Typically, after a solid partnership had ended, one wicket brought another with Foster bowled by Stephen Parry for 13.

At 110-6, Essex were faced with setting a score that was very much below par and it took Adam Wheater and Tim Phillips, who both scored 25, to give Essex a shred of hope. The seventh wicket partnership, worth 45 runs, was starting to undo Lancashire’s hard work and so the wicket of Wheater was met with great reception by the visitors, with Newby taking his fourth wicket and Horton claiming a third catch. Overseas signing, Harbhajan Singh, has great potential as an aggressive batsman and with the innings coming to a close a quick burst of runs was welcomed by the Essex faithful. His running was however questionable and he was certainly responsible for the run out of Phillips who was less than pleased with the Indian spinner. Singh smashed a four and a six to lift the score and the dampened spirits of the home side, before picking out Chapple on the boundary to give Ajmal Shahzad a wicket after a disappointing first spell with the ball. The last partnership between Maurice Chambers (2) and Tymal Mills (0*) was unable to add any more runs, as Chambers edged behind to Gareth Cross off Newby, with the home side posting a disappointing score of 186 all out and Newby claiming his first ever five wicket haul.

Despite having to chase under lights, Lancashire will have felt confident going out to bat, needing to score at just 4.68 runs per over. Stephen Moore (9) and Ashwell Prince (14) have been renowned for getting the Lightning off to fast starts, but in what Bob Willis described as “a rush of blood to the head” both batsmen played on to their own stumps and seemingly gave away their wickets.

Steven Croft and Karl Brown not only managed to steady a worrying situation for the visitors, but were also able to guide Lancashire towards victory. Nearly twenty overs after Chambers had claimed Moore’s wicket, Karl Brown reached his fifty from 57 balls, striking 4 fours and 2 huge sixes. The hundred partnership came up in the twenty-sixth over, in what would prove to be the highest stand for the third-wicket in one-day matches between Lancashire and Essex, beating the previous best of 114 between Clive Lloyd and Neil Fairbrother in 1986. Croft soon joined his batting partners milestone, reaching his 50 from 73 balls, also scoring 4 fours in the process.

As the innings came to a close, Lancashire started to play with the confidence they had earned from the third wicket stand worth 160. Sky Sports man of the match, Karl Brown, added another 4 fours and a six to an already impressive innings, as he top scored with 87*. Accompanied by the ever reliable Steven Croft (66*), Lancashire cruised to an impressive eight-wicket victory to ensure that they are not only through to the semi finals of this years Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign, but they will also play at home, where they are unbeaten so far this season. Lancashire will play away at Worcestershire on Monday and after the match they will find out who they will face at home on Saturday 1^st September.