The Brown Caps fell to their third defeat in four matches in the NatWest Pro40 against the Essex Eagles at Chelmsford. David Masters took three wickets for ten runs in seven overs to reduce the Brown Caps to 24 for four before rain came later on to finish off the game and give the Eagles a 30 run on Duckworth Lewis.

The Brown Caps chase never took off and batting second under lights on a damp evening saw yet another day-night, one-day game become a non-event. The Essex seamers, David Masters and Graham Napier, found movement that was not present for the Brown Caps bowlers and made batting very difficult. James Benning fell in the third over and then Masters picked up Stewart Walters and Usman Afzaal in successive balls to leave the Brown Caps nine for three. Scott Newman had managed to find the boundary on four occasions, but he fell to Masters, as the wickets stunted the Brown Caps progress.

Rain began to fall in Chelmsford and the players continued in some rain until eventually the players left the field on two occasions during the thirteenth over. There was a five over reduction in the overs to be bowled and a revised target set. However, after seven more balls were bowled on resumption another shower came over and play was abandoned with the Brown Caps 47 for four after 15 overs. The Duckworth Lewis par score at that stage was 77 and Eagles claimed a 30 run win.

The Brown Caps started the game after making three changes to winning side from Sunday at Chesterfield. Quick bowlers Pedro Collins and Chris Jordan came into the side and Chris Murtagh replace Mark Ramprakash, who was at a testimonial dinner. Jade Dernbach carried on from where he finished at Chesterfield two day before by picking up another wicket, that of Mark Pettini for six. Varun Chopra and Jason Gallian were hitting the ball to the boundary regularly off the front foot as Dernbach and Collins were over pitching. The Brown Caps were however, gifted a second wicket as Chopra ran himself out, as Matthew Spriegel produced some neat fielding from mid-off. Four runs later and Gallian departed after playing onto his stumps for 21, the Eagles falling to 42 for 3 in the tenth over.

After 45 minutes of play the rain swept across the county ground and the players left the field. The Eagles were 54 for three halfway through the twelfth over. Forty minutes of play was lost and the match reduced to 36 overs per side. In the second over after the restart Matthew Nicholson’s first ball did for Graham Napier as Stewart Walters took a brilliant catch in the deep. Nicholson found a better length and was causing the Eagles some trouble in trying to rebuild. Hitting the green Chelmsford wicket hard, Nicholson made run scoring difficult and went for just six runs off his first four overs. Whenever the ball was full in length it was easier to play attacking shots as the ball came onto the bat nicely. James Foster played one too many attacking shots and whipped a full ball from Jordan in the air to Murtagh at deep square-leg, who took the catch and the Eagles were 74 for five after 17 overs.

Stand in captain Jonathan Batty turned to James Benning as the conditions looked more favourable for seam than spin bowling. Benning’s inconsistency though gave Grant Flower and Ryan ten Doeschate some scoring opportunities to take the home side to 100. Benning did pick up ten Doeschate for 10 after a sharp catch by Spriegel at short extra-cover. Flower had patiently been accumulating and after using his feet to hit a boundary of Spriegel he reached 50 of 67 balls. In the next over though Jordan removed Flower for 51, caught behind, and the Eagles were 144 for 7 with five overs remaining. Dernbach and Collins returned to pick up a wicket a piece as Essex crept past 150. Danish Kaneria picked up a a six over mid-wicket from a Dernbach slower ball, as the innings then came to a close when Kaneria was run out for 12, with the Eagles all out for 167.

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