Essex v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gloucestershire-c785: Clydesdale Bank 40 – Essex’s Innings Recap
Essex thumped Gloucestershire by 118 runs in a match of the Clydesdale Bank 40 at the Castle Park Cricket Ground, Colchester in England on Sunday, August 21, 2011.
The hosts batted first and posted a solid total of 299 for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 40 overs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/OA-Shah-c2134 was in superb form, as he top scored the innings and match with 104 runs.
In reply, the Gloucestershire batsmen failed miserably and were all out for 181 runs in 31 overs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Chris-Taylor-c1253 was the top scorer of the innings with 47 runs, but his effort was not good enough for the team to challenge the opposition.
Earlier, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783’s skipper James foster had elected to bat first after winning the toss. He expected a high scoring game, as the pitch was very good for the batsmen. It was hard and dry and had no assistance for the bowlers.
The hosts would have liked to get off to a solid start, especially after opting to bat on a good wicket. However, opening batsman Mark Pettini got out off the very first ball of the match, putting his side under immense pressure.
Shah walked out in the middle to join Adam Wheater and the pair stabilised the innings with a 46-run partnership for the second wicket. The latter played aggressively, scoring most of the runs in the partnership.
Wheater’s blistering knock came to an end in the seventh over, as he got caught after collecting 40 runs from 22 balls. Majority of his runs came in boundaries, as he struck seven fours and one massive six.
The momentum remained with Essex, as Shah and Tom Westley collected a century stand for the third wicket. The pair put together 113 runs before the latter got out. He scored exactly 50 runs off 59 deliveries with the help of four fours and one towering six.
The fall of wicket did not disturb the momentum of the innings, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Foster-c1644 offered terrific support to Shah. The pair gathered 96 runs for the fourth wicket partnership, guiding the team into a wonderful position.
Shah’s innings finally came to an end in the 37th over. He played extremely well though, ending up with 104 runs from 98 balls with the help of nine fours and four thunderous sixes.
Foster also got out after scoring an impressive knock of 66 runs, but a quick fire 22 off just 9 balls from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-Napier-c1505 guided the team closer to 300 in the end.
Gloucestershire’s bowlers gave away plenty of runs in the match, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Herbert-Frederick-Fuller-c65789 did a decent job by picking up three wickets.
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