The Essex Eagles beat Glamorgan by seven wickets with 22 balls reamining in their floodlit match in the NatWest T20 Blast at The SSE SWALEC.
The Welsh county made one change to their line-up with Dale Steyn replacing Andrew Salter from the line-up which defeated Surrey at the Kia Oval by eight wickets, but as last Thursday evening it was Jacques Rudolph and David Lloyd who opened the batting for Glamorgan as David Masters and Matt Quinn shared the new ball. Their stand though lasted just ten balls as the Glamorgan captain drove Quinn into the hands of extra cover.
Lloyd responded by cutting Masters for four but the wily veteran had the last laugh as he had Lloyd caught behind three balls later. 13/2 saw Aneurin Donald join Colin Ingram and the young tyro opened his account by pulling and cover driving Quinn for a pair of fours, before scooping Masters to fine-leg for another deft boundary. Donald then greeted the introduction of Wahab Riaz into the attack by striking successive balls to the boundary at backward square-leg and extra cover.
Ingram added to the four count as he pulled Bopara to long-leg, before the Eagles introduced the spin of Ashar Zaidi and Tom Westley. Ingram responded by pulling the latter for six and the fifty stand came up in 37 balls, but Bopara then returned and had Ingram caught at mid-off as he miscued a drive.
Chris Cooke then joined Donald and he opened his account by cover-driving Zaidi for four before Donald drilled Wahab Riaz for sixes to long-off and deep mid-wicket before completing a 36-ball fifty. But one run later he was bowled by Zaidi. With Glamorgan on 105/4, Graham Wagg joined Cooke, but the boundaries dried up for a while as the new ball bowlers returned, and in a bid to up the tempo, Wagg was bowled by Bopara as he attempted an expansive blow.
Craig Meschede had more success in making contact with a couple of lusty blows, but he again did not find the ropes before being run out by Callum Taylor. Steyn joined Cooke for the closing overs and swatted Riaz to third man for the first boundary in seven and a half overs, before Cooke lofted the Pakistani over long-on for six as Glamorgan ended on 140/6.
Steyn nearly had a dream start as Bopara edged the first ball to second slip where Donald dropped the head high catch, but it did not prove too expensive as the visiting captain edged the last ball of Timm van der Gugten’s opening over into Cooke’s gloves. But it was his opening partner Jesse Ryder who gave the Eagles a turbo-charged start as he twice cover driving Steyn for four before drilling the Dutchman through the covers for four before pulling him into the Grandstand for six.
Ryder then on-drove van der Gugten for four before Michael Hogan entered the attack in a bid to stem the flurry of boundaries, but Ryder clipped him to fine-leg for four. Tom Westley then greeted Wagg by dispatching him for fours through the covers and mid-off as the Eagles ended the powerplay on 58/1. Dean Cosker then entered the fray as Ryder showed that there was more to his game than brute force as he deftly worked the ball around for singles but in this slower tempo he proceeded to chip a ball to Lloyd at short mid-wicket to give the wily Cosker his 95th wicket in this format of the game.
64/2 saw Daniel Lawrence join Westley who responded by twice clipping Steyn to backward point before drilling him to long-on for a brace of resounding fours in the paceman’s third over. After a frugal over of leg-spin for Ingram, Westley drilled Cosker to the extra cover ropes but he was then bowled as he jaywalked down the wicket to Ingram. 94/3 saw Ryan ten Doeschate join Lawrence and he began by clubbing Ingram square on the off-side for four.
Lawrence then swatted Rudolph for six into the Grandstand before reverse-sweeping Ingram for four to third man. Ten Doeschate then drilled Ingram high over mid-wicket for six before glancing Wagg to fine-leg for four followed next ball by a cover drive to the ropes as the Eagles soared to a seven-wicket with 22 balls to spare.