Having watched Essex at first hand tonight I do not think they want to progress in this competition, given the profligacy with which they threw away such a great start.
If only we had one or two good middle order batsmen, able to punish bad balls and tiring bowlers. But we haven’t, and there is te difference.
This was a very dispiriting performance epitomised by four catches going down at crucial moments.
The bowling was poor, fielding shoddy and the batting following the openers, totally abject. But what is new. These observations have been made the whole season.
It would help if we had a Vince who yet again was imperious, and quickly calmed any nerves his colleagues may have had. The punishment he handed out to Sams was dismissive, particularly a sequence of three fours and a six in five balls.
The ease with which Fuller, Howell and Dawson, just put bat to ball off admittedly poor bowling was salutary. Fly swatting comes to mind.
Essex should have scored at least 230 on a very good wicket, but even then, I doubt if that would have been good enough.
Maybe it is not such a bad thing I see Essex only a few times a year. Any more and I would worry with a deep depression.
