Friends Provident T20: Middlesex beat Essex by 11 runs
Middlesex beat Essex by 11 runs in a high scoring match in the Friends Provident T20 at the County Ground in Chelmsford on Sunday. It was rare batting track in the competition and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 tried their heart out but fell short by 11 runs in the end.
After being sent into bat, David Warner and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 was looking in good touch and was on the attack straight away. However, Essex got their first breakthrough as Dexter was out in the first over without scoring a single run after being wrapped on the pads by Philips.
Owais Shah joined Warner and the left-right combination started to take its affect on the Essex attack. Warner was typically more productive in the cover region as he slashed a couple of cover drives in the air towards the boundary.
Shah was not to be left behind as he showed his wrist work by flicking a couple of boundaries over the leg side. The pair added 46 runs for the 2nd wicket partnership in just 4 overs. Nevertheless, the hitting had to stop at some point in time and it was Shah who was finally caught by Chambers off the bowling of Wright after scoring 20 runs from 19 balls with 4 boundaries to his credit.
Malan came in at number 4 and gave good support to Warner who was still going strong. The partnership produced 26 runs for the 3rd wicket before Malan was cleaned up by Chamber for an individual score of 11 runs from 13 balls with 1 boundary to his credit.
Greg Berg was in next, but Warner left soon after he was stumped off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045’s Grant Flower. Warne scored 37 runs from 20 balls with 6 fours and a six.
Berg and Scott took the Essex attack to task with a smashing partnership worth 63 runs from just 7 overs. The partnership was broken when Berg was caught by Cook off the bowling of Ravi Bopara. Berg scored 41 runs from 24 balls with 1 four and 4 big sixes.
6 runs later, the South African import Tyron Henderson was also sent back after he scored just 4 runs. Henderson was bowled off a yorker by Wright. Scott from one end continued to score while wickets kept tumbling from the other end. Middlesex ended their innings at 173 for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Scott was unbeaten at 43 from 33 balls with 5 fours to his credit.
Even though the target was a stiff one, a flat batting track may have given Essex some encouragement. The start to their innings was not that encouraging as Alastair Cook edged a Collins delivery to the slips in the 2nd over after scoring just 6 runs from 9 balls.
Ravi Bopara was dismissed with the team score at 22 in the 5th over as he managed just 7 runs from 11 balls with 1 four. The former national player was caught by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Collins-c51521 off the bowling of Murtagh.
Mark Pettini and Matt Walker did give the innings some stability but the required rate kept climbing all the time. Pettini was out after scoring 21runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Foster-c1644 fought hard and played some big strokes.
It was too little too late for Essex, and despite a good effort from Jones (35*) and Styris (42), Essex finished at 162 for 6 in their quota of 20 overs. Middlesex won the match by 11 runs and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gareth-Berg-c1457 was named as the man-of-the-match for his 41 runs and one wicket.
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