MATCH ABANDONED - ESSEX 198-8 (20 OVERS); MIDDLESEX 107-6 (13.4 OVERS)
The start of the friendly Twenty20 match against Essex at Chelmsford was delayed by 30 minutes following a shower of rain and the rain returned at 2.19pm forcing the match to be abandoned (Duckworth/Lewis was not being used).
After Dawid Malan won the toss for Middlesex, Ravi Bopara and Jesse Ryder opened the innings for the hosts. Nine runs came off the opening over bowled by James Fuller but Toby Roland-Jones struck in the second over when he had Ryder caught at mid-on by Dawid Malan for eight. Daniel Lawrence came to the wicket and after getting off the mark with a four off Roland-Jones, Lawrence hit James Harris for 4,6,4,4 off successive balls with Harris’s over costing 23 runs. Only four runs came off Toby Roland-Jones next over before James Fuller returned to the attack and he bowled Lawrence for 22 (off 10 balls).
In the final over of the Power-play, Ravi Bopara was caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Ryan Higgins for 12 and Ashar Zaidi joined Ryan ten Doeschate at the wicket. Toby Roland-Jones third over was a maiden and at the end of the six over Power-play, Essex was 43-3. Only a single came off the next over bowled by James Franklin but Ryan ten Doeschate hit three fours in the next over from James Harris. Twelve runs came off Franklin’s next over before the flood-gates opened with Zaidi hitting four sixes in an innings of 34 off 26 balls before he was well caught by Toby Roland-Jones deep mid-on off the bowling of James Harris.
James Foster joined Ryan ten Doeschate with the total on 110-4 after 13.1 overs and ten Doeschate accelerated the scoring-rate, hitting three sixes in an over from James Franklin and two sixes in the following over from Ollie Rayner. The total reached 164-4 before Ryan ten Doeschate was caught at deep mid-wicket by Nick Gubbins off the bowling of James Fuller for 78 (off 39 balls, 6 sixes & 5 fours).
Eleven runs came off the first five balls of the 18th over before Taylor was caught at long-on by James Harris off Toby Roland-Jones’ bowling for six. Graham Napier joined Foster at the wicket and they added 22 runs off 10 balls before Foster was run out for 16 by Dawid Malan’s direct hit on the bowlers’ end stumps. Graham Napier was then run out going for a second run off the last ball of the innings which closed on 198-8. Toby Roland-Jones was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers with figures of 3-20 in 4 overs with James Fuller taking 2-33 in 4 overs, James Harris 1-50 in 4 overs, whilst James Franklin had figures of 0-36 in 3 overs, Ollie Rayner 0-36 in 3 overs, Ryan Higgins 0-9 in 1 over and Ravi Patel 0-13 in 1 over.
In reply, Paul Stirling got Middlesex off to a flying start with three fours in the opening over from Walter and hitting David Masters for two sixes and a four in the second over. Graham Napier came on to bowl the third over and with his third delivery, he had Dawid Malan caught at mid-wicket by Ryan ten Doeschate for a single. Nick Gubbins joined Stirling and after he got off the mark with a four off Napier, Stirling was caught at short third man by Walter for 30 (off 10 balls).
Ryan Higgins joined Gubbins who hit Napier for a six before he was caught at mid-wicket by Ryan ten Doeschate for 11 to give Napier his revenge. John Simpson came to the wicket with the total on 49-3 in the 5th over and the total was boosted by two wides from Beard which went to the boundary. However, off the penultimate ball of Beard’s over, Ryan Higgins was LBW for six which brought James Franklin to the wicket on 65-4.
David Masters returned to the attack to bowl the 7th over and he had John Simpson caught at deep extra-cover for seven to reduce Middlesex to 67-5. Toby Roland-Jones joined Franklin and the pair took Middlesex to 107-5 in the 14th over before Roland-Jones was bowled by Graham Napier for 24 (off 25 balls). Ollie Rayner came in to bat but the rain intensified and the players left the field and the match was abandoned with James Franklin on 16 not out.
Graham Napier had figures of 3-13 in 2.4 overs with Aaron Beard taking 2-26 in 3 overs, David Masters 1-27 in 3 overs.
