Panthers maul poor Eagles

Malan the man for visitors, hitting unbeaten 76 in run chase

Last updated: 18th July 2012  

Panthers maul poor Eagles

Dawid Malan: hit an unbeaten half-century for the visitors at Chelmsford

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Middlesex kept alive their hopes of winning Group A in the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a nine-wicket thrashing of Essex at Chelmsford.

The Panthers bounced back from their defeat to Lancashire on Monday night with a resounding triumph on their travels in a game reduced to 25 overs-per-side due to rain.

Dawid Malan's unbeaten 76 saw them chase down a target of 147 with 15 balls to spare. Chris Rogers also played his part with the bat, the Australian hitting 64 from 60 balls with two sixes and six fours.

The opening pair put on 136 and looked set to steer Middlesex over the line for no loss until Rogers miscued a drive off Tymal Mills to be caught by a back-pedalling David Masters at mid-on.

Second place

The result moves the Panthers into second place in the standings, a point back of the Netherlands having both played nine games.

The Eagles, in contrast, are now out of the running to make the knockout stages and currently prop up the rest at the foot of the table.

Their total of 146-7 always looked below par at the halfway stage despite the efforts of Adam Wheater, who belted three sixes in his 33.

The wicketkeeper-batsman - filling in for James Foster behind the stumps with the Essex captain being given leave to attend the birth of his first child - put on a 53-run partnership with Jaik Mickleburgh for the seventh wicket.

The pair had come together with their team in trouble at 89-6, their cause not being helped by the run out of stand-in skipper Mark Pettini for 44 made at better than a run-a-ball rate.

Toby Roland-Jones (3-25) had removed James Franklin and Greg Smith with successive deliveries in his second over before returning at the death to end Wheater's onslaught, though not before the diminutive right-hander had managed to hit a maximum straight through an ice cream van's window.

Mickleburgh finished up unbeaten on 22 but his late efforts weren't enough to prevent Essex from slipping to a fourth loss in seven outings.

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