Glamorgan (A)

[dazedpenguin]

The last game before championship cricket returns on Sunday. Lawrence is back with the England squad. No Rossington, so presumably he'll miss the 4 day game on Sunday too:

Harmer, Allison, Buttleman, Cook, Critchley, Das, Khushi, Nijjar, Pepper, Rymell, Sams, Snater, Walter, Westley

[essexspur]

I hope Rossington doesn’t play in the CL. He is a bang average keeper and contributes nothing with the bat. I’ve always felt we could get relegated this season but still think there may be 2 poorer sides. There will be times when Sam Cook and Simon Harmer can’t bail us out of the trouble that out poor batting gets us into. It’s time to blood Khushi, Das and Pepper and bring back Walter and get them to batter sensibly. Stylish 20s are a waste of time. Walter, Cook, Westley, Khushi, Critchley, Das, Pepper, Harmer, Bracewell, Cook and one of Snater/Porter. Fifth bowler would be Walter/Critchley. Sadly Browne will play and they’ll probably play 4 seamers meaning with have the poorest batting line up in the division

[JasonP]

I hope Rossington doesn’t play in the CL. He is a bang average keeper and contributes nothing with the bat. I’ve always felt we could get relegated this season but still think there may be 2 poorer sides. There will be times when Sam Cook and Simon Harmer can’t bail us out of the trouble that out poor batting gets us into. It’s time to blood Khushi, Das and Pepper and bring back Walter and get them to batter sensibly. Stylish 20s are a waste of time. Walter, Cook, Westley, Khushi, Critchley, Das, Pepper, Harmer, Bracewell, Cook and one of Snater/Porter. Fifth bowler would be Walter/Critchley. Sadly Browne will play and they’ll probably play 4 seamers meaning with have the poorest batting line up in the division

I would presume the reason Pepper didn't keep the other night is that he's still struggling a bit with the injury he missed the start of the T20 with.  If he's not keeping in T20 then it must be very doubtful he can keep in 4 day cricket.  Buttleman may have to play.
You would think with the dry weather we've had, we'd be able to produce a wicket that helps the spinners, which would mean only having to play 3 seamers and using Critchley a lot more.  Somerset wont have Leach and it seems very obvious that the best chance we have of winning is to produce a turner.

[dazedpenguin]

If Buttleman plays you wouldn't want him at 6, which makes playing 4 seamers a bit of a risk.

[bwildered]

 Hat tricks for the Harminator and Little Chef most recently, so what is required now is a Eagle hat trick of wins .

[JasonP]

Hat tricks for the Harminator and Little Chef most recently, so what is required now is a Eagle hat trick of wins .

Good chance it comes down to Essex or Glamorgan for who qualifies.  Somerset, Hampshire and Surrey will probably qualify.  Kent, Middlesex and Sussex probably wont.  Not sure that Gloucester are that great so it may come down to us and Glamorgan.  We play them in our next two matches.

[dazedpenguin]

Essex won the toss and will bat. Rymell in for Lawrence and Buttleman keeps again:

Khushi, Das, Pepper, Rymell, Walter, Critchley, Sams, Buttleman, Harmer, Snater, Cook

[JasonP]

Westley seems to have disappeared.  Can’t believe Rymell would be picked ahead of him.

[dazedpenguin]

Apparently Westley is fit and in the squad. It's a very inexperienced top 4. Rymell has only played one T20 game.

[SirChef26]

Hat tricks for the Harminator and Little Chef most recently, so what is required now is a Eagle hat trick of wins .

Good chance it comes down to Essex or Glamorgan for who qualifies.  Somerset, Hampshire and Surrey will probably qualify.  Kent, Middlesex and Sussex probably wont.  Not sure that Gloucester are that great so it may come down to us and Glamorgan.  We play them in our next two matches.

It's a weird South group this year. Three excellent teams, three terrible teams and three middling teams, us being one of them. As a result it will probably take a bigger points tally than usual to qualify with the net-run-rate being a problem for us. We still have to play Middlesex twice, so as long as we win one of the next two against Glammy, we should be favourites to get fourth spot with our remaining fixtures. That's as far as we'll go though, because whoever we get in the quarters will absolutely pump us.

I'm always an advocate for giving young players a go but that's a mighty inexperienced top four especially on a ground like Cardiff, where we haven't won in T20 since 2016...

[dazedpenguin]

It seems crazy to ask if 227 is going to be enough, but that pitch looks like it has a lot of runs in it. I think the Essex attack, and the fielding, should be better than Glamorgan, but with the likes of Colin Ingram you never know.

Fantastic innings from Walter and Pepper and an entertaining cameo from Das. Another hat trick would be handy.

One of the commentators said Westley is carrying an injury. Rymell did have a bit of a nightmare today, but I hope he gets a chance to make amends.

[dazedpenguin]

Phew. An easy win in the end, but after the power play I was starting to wonder. The bowlers came back well after an early mauling. A really good team performance. Well set for 4th at the moment with Glamorgan at home and Middlesex to come after the championship game. The run rate might still be a problem.

[Reddevil]

This seems a very creditable win for Essex who held their nerve after Glamorgan went off like a train, but 225 is a very challenging score, and from 158-4, The pressure told on Glamorgan, as they lost their last 6 wickets for 17 runs.

Very good match for Walter, match changing innings  and two crucial wickets. If he can keep himself fit, who knows we still might surprise a few teams.

This is typical Essex. Never know what they will dish up. Keep us guessing lads.

[nat]

Meanwhile...elsewhere...
...
Ravi is proving yet again why we were wise not to make him our captain.

[SirChef26]

Did to them exactly what Hampshire did to us. That’s what happens when you put substantial runs on the board. You can have a good start but all it takes is a couple of wickets/good overs and scoreboard pressure does the rest.