Bopara display guides Essex to commanding victory

A superb all-round performance from Ravi Bopara secured a seven-wicket win for Essex Eagles in their Royal London One-Day Cup match against Lancashire Lightning at Chelmsford.

The former England man took four wickets before scoring an unbeaten century to take Essex to their meagre target of 162 with 17 overs to spare, as Essex cruised to their first victory of the campaign.

Lancashire managed to score only 161/9 in their 50 overs after being put into bat on an under-prepared and slow wicket, while Essex made the most of easing conditions as they made light work of their opponents.

Alex Davies top-scored for the visitors with 37 as he shared a 44-run partnership with Jordan Clark (19) after Lancashire had fallen to 66/6.  Lancashire suffered a similarly heavy defeat against Essex last season in the 50-over competition, when they were beaten by six wickets with more than 11 overs to spare.

It proved to be a pivotal coin toss for Essex as they extracted prodigious movement in the early stages of the Lancashire innings. Ashwell Prince (4) fell to only the third ball of the innings when he had his off-stump removed by Reece Topley, an early indication of where the game was heading.

David Masters was equally frustrating for the Lancashire batsmen to get away, offering no width whatsoever to the opposition, who stumbled their way to 24/1 at the end of the first powerplay. Lancashire had hit only two fours in that time, neither of which had been terribly convincing strokes, but Karl Brown’s punch off the back through the covers helped the Lightning to start their recovery.

He and Alviro Petersen added 40 runs for the second-wicket stand as the latter smashed Masters (1-20) for a huge six down the ground towards the river, a shot he tried to repeat later on in his innings to the same bowler with less success.

Brown had grafted his way to 21 before he was trapped lbw by Graham Napier (1-36) at 44/2 and Lancashire lost Petersen soon after when he took a huge swing at a delivery from Masters and was bowled for 22.

Captain Steven Croft managed to add just three runs before he edged behind to James Foster, handing Bopara the first of four wickets with the final ball of his first over with the score at 59/4.

Whenever Lancashire tried to get going they lost their way and the loss of Paul Horton (11) at 62/5 left the Red Rose facing an uphill struggle. Horton edged a drive from Bopara to Jesse Ryder at point and for the second over in succession Bopara had struck with the final ball of an over.

He could have had Australian all-rounder James Faulkner out for only two when Foster dropped a routine chance behind the stumps, but it did not prove to be a costly error for Essex given that Faulkner did not add any more runs to the total before chipping a delivery from Ryder (1-12) to Tom Westley, a wicket which left Lancashire writhing at 66/6.

Davies and Clark steadied the innings with a composed partnership, but they found life just as tricky on a slow pitch, although credit must be give to the way Essex exploited their home advantage and knowledge of how such a wicket would play out.

Clark had been determined, showing occasional glimpses of frustration at how slowly the ball was coming onto the bat and he proved that you were never really settled on this pitch when he top-edged a delivery from Bopara (4-31) to sub fielder Aron Nijjar at deep square-leg for 19.

Stephen Parry added an unbeaten score of 19 himself, supporting the valiant yet albeit vain efforts of Davies who was eventually caught by Ryan ten Doeschate at mid-off to give Topley (2-40) his second scalp of the innings. Late and potentially useful runs came from Kyle Jarvis (15) when he clobbered Topley for six over mid-wicket, but Bopara exacted revenge when he made Jarvis look foolish with a perfectly executed slower ball which bowled Jarvis at 158/9.

A target of 162 could have been competitive if Essex had found the wicket as difficult to bat on as their opponents, but after a cautious start the Eagles made light work of the run chase. Jarvis (2-26) began very well for Lancashire with the ball, converting an economical start into a profitable one for the visitors when he encouraged Westley (5) to edge to Horton at first slip with the score at 20/1.

This was to be a brief moment of success in an otherwise desperate period for Lancashire, as they were made to toil by the class and experience of Bopara. He advanced down the wicket to Gavin Griffiths, who was playing in only his second game for Lancashire, smashing the young fast bowler for six down the ground and he followed this maximum with a four through mid-wicket to set the tone for his superb knock.

Pettini played a calm supporting role as he and Bopara reached the fifty partnership, by which stage Essex had established control of the game. The first sign of spin in the entire game came when Parry was introduced 65 overs into the match, but he didn’t fair any better as Bopara advanced to a 48-ball fifty with his seventh four taking him to this milestone.

The second wicket stand was approaching a value of 100 runs but Pettini was caught superbly by a one-handed grab by Prince at deep mid-on, as Jarvis collected his second wicket with the score at 118/2.

Nick Browne (8) timed the ball beautifully from the start of his innings, but he was unable to benefit from finding his eye early on as he picked out Griffiths in the covers off Clark (1-40) but this was the final breakthrough for Lancashire as Bopara and skipper ten Doeschate saw Essex home with 17 overs to spare.

Bopara hit his 13th four to take him to a fine century in 98 deliveries, a boundary which also handed Essex a commanding victory after both these sides experienced a rain-affected start to the tournament.