Vs Surrey

[Stringbok]

Won the toss.

I would have played Wheater rather than Lawrence. But we shall see.

[nat]

The team is a batsman light.

[SirChef26]

Can't see us chasing that. Not enough six hitters and they have a decent T20 bowling attack.

[nat]

Can't see us chasing that. Not enough six hitters and they have a decent T20 bowling attack.

You and I were correct.

[JasonP]

Can't see us chasing that. Not enough six hitters and they have a decent T20 bowling attack.

You and I were correct.

They should have won.  Porter is not cut out for this kind of cricket.  Bopara played well, although he could easily have been out on two of his sixes but none of the other bastmen looked that comfortable.  10 of the last over should been got though.

[SirChef26]

We did well to get as close as we did thanks to Ravi pummelling Dernbach in the 19th. They had that extra class we didn't in the death bowling department. Tom Curran will be an England regular in all formats in two years if not sooner. We seriously need to sort out our discipline though. Eleven runs off of wides and no balls has cost us the game.

I'm obviously not as bothered this year due to the Championship but I will be really surprised if we get through the group. Our all round game in this format just isn't good enough. Tamim should help the batting but our bowling is substandard minus Amir (when he's not bowling wides) and Ravi. I'd drop Harmer and get an extra batter in there, drop Porter and give Cook or Dixon a go.

[ytsejam]

Exciting close finish for the TV but that was a bit of a horlicks of an effort from Essex I'm afraid. What on earth Tendo was doing fannying around pushing singles for ball after ball I don't know, when we already needed  over 10 an over at that stage! To have only been 4 down in the 19th over and to not win a reasonable run chase, is not good enough really.

At the end of the day, it was a "bad day at the office" for a side that have had very few "bad days" this year but I fear there will be quite a few more in this tinpot form of the game over the next few weeks, before we can get back to what most of us real cricket fans really care about!

[CostaDelEssex]

Iqbal and Westley to open, Wheater at 3.

Westley needs to bat for the first 6 overs with the field restrictions.

[nat]

Iqbal and Westley to open, Wheater at 3.

Westley needs to bat for the first 6 overs with the field restrictions.

Agreed. Also agree that Porter is not suited to bish bash cricket.

[honkytonk]

I said before the game that I would have played Wheater over Porter and let him open.  We had Walter, Amir, Tendo, Ravi, Harmer, Zaidi, Lawrence and Westley - 8 bowling options.  The only question would have been who would open the bowling with Amir??  I would have gone Westley.  He has done it before, and would have been useful first up against Finch and Roy (who prefer pace). 

Not the end of the world, still plenty of games to go but I think we should have won that from the position we were in near the end.  As said, too many extras and also we need to sort out this timing of the overs.  Having to rush through to get them in is not ideal.

[Stringbok]

I agree with Alex. We have a squad much better suited to red ball cricket. Browne, Lawrence, Porter and Harmer (didn't realise last night was only his second T20) are not natural T20  players.

Iqbal will help but , as he's only here for eight games, he's not going to help us win the whole thing.

My fear is that a poor T20 will disrupt momentum and confidence going into the Championship run in. My hope is for an average season perhaps scraping out of the group but at least not tanking disastrously.

I know it's only the first game but I just don't see that we have the players to do much better.

[honkytonk]

Harmer?? He has played over 40 T20 games. Has an economy rate of under 7 which is pretty good

[bwildered]

Two new in batsmen at the end, did not help. Needed RTD or Ravi to have finished this game off. Exceptional bowling by the Curran boys, though they all bowled better than ourselves .
Bringing Iqbal into the top will help the batting, but the fielding will now suffer.

[Andy]

What's big Jesse doing at the moment?

[nat]

What's big Jesse doing at the moment?

Time?