Sussex (A)

[bwildered]

 Wonderful chase down with half the wickets and overs gone. The icing on the cake, both players finished with not outs, Goochie will be happy .

[nat]

A terrific win. MP has obviously got a good eye and I hope he can apply it more regularly in proper cricket. CA is an exciting talent.

Early to bed boys and get ready to dish out more of the same to the Slurry boys tomorrow.

[kingstonj1]

Brilliant from both. The benefits of giving youth a chance.

[Reddevil]

Once again Essex pull the improbable out of the bag and two players stand up to be counted. Who was saying it?s not our day. Admittedly we looked dead and buried but Essex continue to astound and astonish. Some innings from Pepper and what maturity from Allison to keep him company and see it through.
A huge win for us with other teams maybe cancelling each other out, we may have enough points already and our run rate, so often our Achilles heel might be good enough anyway.
Must avoid a damaging defeat from Surrey which could make the difference between a winning or losing run rate.
Well done lads. A real tonic of a win.

[spirali]

Pepper is the leading run-scorer in the Blast this season, with easily the highest average and strike rate (2 runs a ball across 11 innings... jeepers) compared to the other high scorers. We have a VERY special white-ball player on our hands here, one with rather more to him than just 'a good eye'. I wouldn't be holding your breath for him to prioritize 4-day cricket and despite my being something of a red-ball purist (although certainly not as hardline as some here), I don't think he should. 

[SirChef26]

Pepper is the leading run-scorer in the Blast this season, with easily the highest average and strike rate (2 runs a ball across 11 innings... jeepers) compared to the other high scorers. We have a VERY special white-ball player on our hands here, one with rather more to him than just 'a good eye'. I wouldn't be holding your breath for him to prioritize 4-day cricket and despite my being something of a red-ball purist (although certainly not as hardline as some here), I don't think he should.

Slow down there partner. He's scored naff all in franchise cricket across winter or the crisp comp. Scoring a few runs in the second tier short form tournament in England hardly constitutes a "VERY special white-ball player". Gone are the days where scoring runs in the Blast means something for one's career, especially for a player who plays on a home ground such as Chelmsford.

Having said that, it's a different Pepper this summer, since he's altered his shot selections and focused more on utilising his power, rather than just trying to be clever. His form will get him opportunities this winter, it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

As for qualification, the players need to think big, target two wins and try and get the home quarter-final. Then maybe we can pay John Stephenson's wage for another year after all! 

[spirali]

Fair enough, I'm ignorant of his past performances in franchise/crisp cricket and will have to take your word on that. But as you say, something is different this season, pretty significantly so. It's not just the volume of runs, it's the whole way he's playing, his speed of movement as he gets into position to play shots, the assurance at the crease, the whole package. So yes, I could be wrong but based on what I've seen this season, I'm prepared to bet that this is not just a player having a purple patch, and that he is indeed going to establish himself as a top white-ball player. We'll see.

[SirChef26]

Fair enough, I'm ignorant of his past performances in franchise/crisp cricket and will have to take your word on that. But as you say, something is different this season, pretty significantly so. It's not just the volume of runs, it's the whole way he's playing, his speed of movement as he gets into position to play shots, the assurance at the crease, the whole package. So yes, I could be wrong but based on what I've seen this season, I'm prepared to bet that this is not just a player having a purple patch, and that he is indeed going to establish himself as a top white-ball player. We'll see.

I agree with you, that's why I'm very intrigued to see how he goes in this upcoming winter. He's now turning all those 20s and 30s into T20 daddy scores and it's because of those alterations which sees him no longer getting out early on.

But the game has unfortunately changed. If this was 10 years ago, Pepper would be in an England white ball squad this summer, instead a good T20 Blast campaign now only leads to a winter gallivanting across the world rather than an England call-up. I'm willing to bet that he'll need to do what the likes of Salt and Jacks have done and score runs in those sort of comps (not to mention the crisp comp) before England really take notice.