Ravi Bopara leads Essex to victory in Royal London One-Day Cup
Thursday 6 August 2015 10:15, UK
Ravi Bopara guided Essex home as they chased a victory target of 297 to beat Middlesex by six wickets in their Royal London One-Day Cup Group B clash in Colchester.
The all-rounder smashed an unbeaten 82 off 88 deliveries, while Tom Westley (56) and captain Ryan ten Doeschate (45 off 32 balls) also chipped in with crucial runs as the home side secured victory with 17 balls to spare.
Every batsman made it into double figures, with Nick Browne’s knock of 38 and a quickfire 38 off 28 balls from former New Zealand international Jesse Ryder contributing to keeping Essex in control of the run chase.
Middlesex batsman Nick Gubbins earlier missed out on his second century in a week when he was dismissed for 96.
Gubbins looked set to add another hundred to the 141 he scored against Sussex on Monday, with the 21-year-old hitting nine boundaries and two sixes in his 102-ball innings.
But he fell just short of his ton as he was caught by Tom Westley on the deep midwicket boundary as he went after a delivery from Reece Topley.
Skipper James Franklin contributed 63 from just 41 deliveries, with opener Sam Robson (46) and Andrew Balbirnie (41) helping the visitors reach 296-5, but that proved to be too small a total to successfully defend.
Elsewhere in Group B, Hampshire returned to winning ways as they held their nerve to claim a 23-run Duckworth-Lewis victory over Warwickshire in a rain-affected contest at Edgbaston.
Comfortably beaten by Essex on Tuesday, the Hawks responded by compiling 280-7 from their knock as Liam Dawson (67) and Will Smith (65 from 64 balls) put on 123 for the fifth wicket.
They then reduced Warwickshire to 4-2, with former England international Jonathan Trott dismissed for a first-ball duck.
Those early wickets proved crucial in the later stages when the Duckworth-Lewis equation kicked in as the rain fell.
The home side’s victory target was amended three times before they eventually went after 208 from 31 overs, as Warwickshire resumed on 101-2 from 26 overs.
The Bears had to go for broke and Dawson took advantage, rounding off a productive day with figures of 3-34.
The win gave Hampshire a big step towards securing their place in the quarter-finals but defeat for Warwickshire leaves them needing to win both remaining games, at home to Sussex and Kent, to qualify.
Meanwhile, bad weather meant Glamorgan's game against Sussex in Swansea was abandoned with just six overs of play possible.
The visitors opted to field first and Glamorgan openers Jacques Rudolph and Will Bragg struggled to 9-0, with seamers Alfonso Thomas and Chris Liddle bowling probing lines and lengths.
The rain began to fall though and the contest was eventually called off at 4pm.
