CENTURY MAN: RAVI BOPARA pic:Essexeagles.co.uk
Lancashire Lightning saw their YB40 dreams destroyed by Essex Eagles pairing of Ravi Bopara and Greg Smith, as the two of them smashed the home bowlers all over the Emirates Old Trafford. Essex beat Lancashire by 70 runs and in doing so, saw them finish ahead of the Lightning in 2nd place, booking their place in the Semi-finals of the competition on Bank Holiday Monday.
Essex team Captain James Foster won the toss and chose to bat first, on a warm summer`s day in Manchester.
Lancashire had beaten the Hampshire Hawks last Tuesday to have a chance of qualification, as they only needed victory on their home ground to see them through to the Semi-Final stages behind Hampshire, who had all but booked their place in the YB40 Semi`s already.
Lancashire made an early breakthrough in the Essex Innings, when Kabir Ali got Gautam Gambhir out thanks to Ashwell Prince taking a blinding catch at Short-mid off to send Gambhir packing for 2.
This then saw Ravi Bopara come out to the middle alongside Greg Smith and between them, they put on a partnership of 159. The Lancashire Lightning bowlers toiled in the heat as Bopara and Smith continued to dismantled the bowling attack, despite Smith nearly getting out for 58 when a Tom Smith dived full stretch to only get a finger on it as it run away to the rope for four.
Simon Kerrigan returned to the Lancashire line-up, after his torrid week for England down at the Oval against Australia in the Fifth test.
When Kerrigan`s name came over the PA system at Old Trafford, it was greeted by a massive cheer and applause by the home fans as they shown their support to the spinner, who by many was unfairly criticised by the media over his 2 over bowling spell in the Ashes match.
Kerrigan managed to pick up a wicket in his seven over spell, when the Preston-born spinner dismissed Greg Smith for 78 when he got one to go past the advancing Smith down the pitch and Gareth Cross managed to collect the ball and whip the bails off.
Smith made a good knock for his side, as well as a good partnership with Ravi Bopara as between them they build up a very good Innings for the away side.
The South African struck four 4`s and a solitary 6 in his Innings, as he faced 77 balls with the Eagles on 160–2.
Ex-England batsman Owais Shah then came to partner Bopara out in the middle and Shah played a steady knock for his side as he struck a 6 off the bowling of Aaron Lilley in his Innings.
Shah then tried to hit one to the on-side boundary off the bowling of Tom Smith, but instead he saw it go up in the air and fall into the hands of Aaron Lilley to send the ex-England batsman back for 21.
Essex were 200-3 with Shah departing and they had built up a very commanding lead to be fair that gave Essex a terrific score with still 9 overs remaining.
Ravi Bopara then turned away a delivery to the off side as he run a couple to reach his Century and it was a very well worked Innings too. His team mate
Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate came in, he fired a score of 46 not out with two 4`s and three massive 6`s around the Emirates Old Trafford stands in his stand.
Ravi Bopara was almost out when Tom Smith made a spectacular one handed catch attempt that saw Smith get fingertips to it, but couldn`t stop the ball running away for 4 .
Bopara Innings came to an end, when Kyle Hogg slow delivery was lofted high and Lilley took the catch at backward point to get rid of the Essex danger man, which saw him walk back to a Essex changing room to a standing ovation by the Lancastrian crowd as he went for 130 off 102 balls, with nine 4`s and three 6`s to his name.
Captain of the Eagles James Foster came out to bat the remaining overs with Ten Doeschate, as the of them finished the Innings off scoring 297 with Foster scoring 8 runs not out and Ten Doeschate for 46 unbeaten as well.
Lancashire`s seemed under par with a couple of mistakes occurring in the field and the zip of pace they had at the start of the game, seemed to fade quickly as they looked tired and the pitch was unresponsive for Lancashire bowlers too.
The Essex batsmen made Lancashire pay with under average bowling as they set their hosts a target of 298 for victory in this YB40 match.
Lancashire had their target set of 298 for victory and would see them through to the next round should they reach the target.
Lancashire Lightning`s openers had to survive a couple of scares as Tom Smith edged from Tymal Mills quick delivery and went for the first boundary for of the run chase. Stephen Moore then went for a hook shot that nicked the bat and went high over Foster with the gloves for a second boundary, Smith then took a crack on the helmet from a fast Mills delivery that saw Smith needing a new helmet because of it.
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| TOM SMITH : Via :LCCC.co.uk |
Stephen Moore and Tom Smith made a quick partnership of 79 for the opening stand. Moore was first to go when an attempted hook shot was top edged by him and went up in the air towards long leg position, where Graham Napier took a diving catch to get him out for 29 having scored three 4`s and one 6 in his knock.
Smith was dropped by Foster when he got an edge on it from Topley bowling after he got his fifty. Ashwell Prince played a nervy Innings, as the South African batsman didn`t look assured of himself out in the middle. Prince was out soon after when he tried to late cut a ball off Reece Topley, but instead saw his wickets demolished as he went for 5 and Lancashire were 91 for 2.
The Lightning were far from that between the wickets with indecision between the batsmen wanting to run more than one run, the locals were not very happy at the tactics used by the home side at all as they were falling behind the run rate required in the Innings.
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| eMIRAT |
Tom Smith was creeping his way to a Century of his own, while his team mate Paul Horton was nearing his fifty too. Both batsmen`s were scoring at a very slow rate with the required rate at 8.0-8.4 an over, with the Lightning hovering around the 6.4-6.6 area and not helping their cause either.
Smith got to 97 before Reece Topley clean bowled the Lancs man and he couldn`t hide his disappointment at failing to make his hundred as the pain was etched on his face.
The home side were in a bit of bother at 186-3 and were struggling to make the boundary or hit a big score in their run chase, as they were unable to up their run rate in the Innings.
Phil Horton too failed on reaching his milestone as he tried to take the attack to the Eagles, but Horton attempted to slog down the ground and was caught out by Century man Ravi Bopara as that signalled the Lightning collapse with Tom Phillips picking up a wicket with Horton going for 45.
The Lightning found themselves 193-4 and still needing 105 with 70 balls remaining in the Lancashire Innings. Steven Croft and Karl Brown found themselves in position of having to find these 105 runs required, with a 9.4 run rate needed to get close to the target, which was a tough ask for them.
Steven Croft tried to smash one away, but like the other rest of the Lancashire batsmen they couldn`t find the rope or get good enough connect on the ball. Croft skied it up and Greg Smith took the catch off Phillips bowling dismissing the Lightning batsman for 9.
Phillips collected his 3rd wicket soon after, when Brown managed to connect on one but went only as far as Napier and Lancashire went deep in trouble now having gone from 182-2 to now 214-6.
Aaron Lilley went for a duck as he tried to smashed a delivery off Phillips bowling, with the Lightning needing big boundaries now, but he found Ravi Bopara at long-off and the end was nigh now for the Lightning run chase.
Gareth Cross was caught at cover point when he hit one right up into the Manchester sky off Tymal Mills bowling and Gautam Gambhir caught him out for 7 after he juggled the ball & much to his relief managed to hold on. With already many members of the Lightning faithful on their way to the exits, Kabir Ali and Kyle Hogg put on a bit of resistance for a few balls.
That was before Mills steamed in again and sent Hogg stumps flying out the ground for 2, making it 222-9, and had all but consigned Lancashire Lightning to the fate of missing out on the semi finals with Essex taking their spot.
Phillips completed his 5-fer when he got Simon Kerrigan out for a duck too, with Kerrigan hitting it to Mills at backward point and give Essex a win by a 70 runs, as Lancashire were bowled out for 227 in reply after 36.4 overs.
Disappointing end to their YB40 campaign for the Lightning as they now
Look ahead to the upcoming fixture against Hampshire in the LV Championship round at Southport as they look to carry on their promotion charge by to the Division 1.
Gambhir dismissal link:
Essex Innings297 for 4 (40.0 overs)
| Runs | Minutes | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gambhir | c Prince | b Ali | 2 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Smith | st Cross | b Kerrigan | 78 | 86 | 77 | 4 | 1 |
| Bopara | c Lilley | b Hogg | 130 | 120 | 102 | 9 | 3 |
| Shah | c Lilley | b Smith | 21 | 20 | 21 | 0 | 1 |
| ten Doeschate | not out | 46 | 40 | 23 | 2 | 3 | |
| Foster | not out | 8 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Extras | 0nb 9w 0b 3lb | 12 | |||||
| Total | for 4 | 297 | (40.0 ovs) | ||||
LANCASHIRE BOWLING:
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ali | 7.0 | 0 | 49 | 1 |
| Smith | 7.0 | 0 | 59 | 1 |
| Hogg | 7.0 | 0 | 55 | 1 |
| Kerrigan | 8.0 | 0 | 45 | 1 |
| Lilley | 8.0 | 0 | 51 | 0 |
| Croft | 3.0 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
Lancashire Innings227 all out (36.4 overs)
| Runs | Minutes | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moore | c Napier | b Topley | 29 | 50 | 31 | 3 | 1 |
| Smith | b Topley | 97 | 119 | 84 | 11 | 0 | |
| Prince | b Topley | 5 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Horton | c Bopara | b Phillips | 45 | 62 | 53 | 2 | 0 |
| Brown | c Napier | b Phillips | 12 | 25 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| Croft | c Smith | b Phillips | 9 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| Cross | c Gambhir | b Mills | 7 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| Lilley | c Bopara | b Phillips | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ali | not out | 5 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hogg | b Mills | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kerrigan | c Mills | b Phillips | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Extras | 2nb 8w 0b 6lb | 16 | |||||
| Total | all out | 227 | (36.4 ovs) | ||||
ESSEX BOWLING:
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters | 8.0 | 0 | 48 | 0 |
| Mills | 6.0 | 0 | 35 | 2 |
| Napier | 2.0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| Topley | 5.0 | 0 | 27 | 3 |
| Smith | 6.0 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| ten Doeschate | 2.0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Phillips | 7.4 | 0 | 42 | 5 |
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