Déjà Vu at Chelmsford

Essex have beaten Surrey by 3 wickets in the FLT20 game at Chelmsford, after scoring 15 off the final over to win the game.

Gareth Batty won the toss, and as we have done in the first 3 games, we batted first. Stuart Meaker hot-footed it from Headingley to Chelmsford to be involved in the game, with Lewis, Jordan and Lancefield the 3 missing out, meaning Rory Burns had been given a T20 debut, and Chris Tremlett was making his first appearance of the season.

Davies and Roy opened up, and got their side off the best start so far in the competition, with Roy launching the first maximum of the night into the Hayes Close. But a couple of wickets then fell in the 5^th over, with Davies caught on the edge of the circle for 21, before the experimental pinch hitter Murali Kartik was run out first ball.

Roy was looking good, hitting another large maximum in the next over, but he was the next man out, when he was caught on the boundary for 36 to give Reece Topley his 2^nd wicket. Debutant Burns and de Bruyn had a rebuilding job to do, knowing that the top order had got their side off to a good start, with 60 coming from the powerplay. But after a couple of good shots, Burns was stumped for 15, as the Essex attack started to apply pressure.

de Bruyn and Spriegel struggled to find the boundary rope, and were seemingly dealing in singles only. The South African did manage to find the boundary in the 14^th over, as Surrey passed 100, but 2 balls later he was bowled for 18. Taking pace off of the ball seemed to be the way to go, with Phillips and Smith bowling well in tandem and restricting the visitors.

Spriegel and Ansari took Surrey to 137-6 at the start of the penultimate over of the innings, but a flurry of wickets, with Ansari, Spriegel, Meaker and Batty all falling, meant that we could only manage to get to a total of 144-9 from our 20 overs. A good effort from our guys on a difficult night, with an impeccably observed minute silence for Tom Maynard taking place just before the start.

As he has done throughout the competition, Murali Kartik opened the bowling and claimed his first wicket of the tournament, when he had Pettini brilliantly caught by Burns on the edge of the circle first ball. And after a couple of good overs for the hosts, it was the turn of the other overseas bowler, Dirk Nannes, to get in on the act, as he had Smith caught by Meaker.

Big boy Tremlett was then introduced into the attack and made an immediate impact, when he had ten Doeschate well caught by the temporary skipper at backward point off his first ball in first team cricket since January. Essex had managed just 39-3 off the powerplay, compared to 60-2 in our innings.

However, New Zealander Franklin was joined by his skipper Foster, and they started to up the rate, with Foster taking 11 off Ansari’s first over, and then Franklin got in on the act, launching the normally economical Batty for 2 sixes in an over, an over which went for a total of 20. The run rate required was a comfortable 7 an over, but Meaker was introduced into the attack, and bowled Foster in his 1^st over, to reduce the hosts to 93-4 in the 13^th.

Essex required 50 off the final 7 overs of the innings, and Tremlett was then brought back into the attack by Batty, who once again made a big impact straight away, bowling Adam Wheater and following that up by having the dangerous Napier caught off a leading edge next ball. The big man had claimed 3-10 off his first two overs.

Franklin was still there though, and whenever he was at the crease, Essex were still favourites. The rate steadily climbed to up and above 10 an over, and then Tremlett bowled a tight 18^th over, to finish with figures of 3-19 off his 4 overs, and make it 26 required from the final 2 overs.

Meaker then had Comber caught at short extra cover off the first ball of the penultimate over, to make it 26 needed off 11. But Franklin was still there, and he launched his 3^rd six of the innings 3 balls later, and Essex required 15 off the final over.

Phillips launched the first ball of the last over bowled by Nannes for 6, which made it 9 needed off 5. A 2 and a couple of byes made it 5 needed off the final 2 balls of the game, and Phillips then hit a four down to third man, and dually finished the game off on the final ball.

So, once again, we have lost at Chelmsford in dramatic style, mirroring the game from 2 years ago. A spirited performance from our guys, ending what has been a terrible week.  Fortress Chelmsford is just that it seems, as we still haven’t won a game there in the T20. And with 15 required off the last over, you would have thought Dirk would have performed better than he did, but he has looked very rusty so far this year, and will perhaps be dropped for the next game.

We now have over a week until our next game, against the Hampshire Royals at the Ageas Bowl next Saturday. Even though we lost tonight, it was a spirited performance, and one that Tom would have been proud of.