Essex Eagles chase Vitality Blast quarter-final spot

Essex will look to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast as they play their last two group games this weekend.

Simon Harmer’s men host Middlesex tonight (Friday, 7pm) and face Surrey at the Oval on Sunday (2pm).

And the Eagles are engaged in a tense battle for a top-four place as they sit in fifth, level on 14 points with Hampshire and Kent directly above them and only two points behind second-placed Surrey.

Middlesex have endured a very disappointing Blast campaign, having lost all but one of their games to occupy the basement position.

The Eagles will be looking to do the double over Middlesex after seeing them off by 22 runs in a rain affected clash at Lord’s just under a fortnight ago.

Put into bat, Essex posted a mammoth 237-6, driven by a trio of half-centuries from Daniel Sams, Michael Pepper, and Dan Lawrence.

The hosts reached 116-2 in the 13th over when the rain arrived and with no further play possible, the result was called the way of the Eagles, with Middlesex comfortably behind the Duckworth-Lewis par score.

It was a comfortable win in the last clash at Chelmsford as well, when Feroze Khushi and Paul Walter struck fifties to see Essex post 186-6 before three wickets each for Sam Cook and Matt Critchley sealed a 61-run win.

Surrey fell to Essex by 43 runs the last time the sides met at Chelmsford a year ago, when the Eagles successfully defended a total of 198-7.

Walter (49) and Pepper (48) led the way with the bat, before Aaron Beard claimed 4-29 in Surrey’s 155-9 to secure a comfortable home victory.

The last meeting between the sides at the Oval was a further year back, but also ended in an Essex victory as Sam Cook ripped through Surrey with 4-15 to dismiss them for 118.

Will Buttleman hit an unbeaten 56 in a chase that saw Essex overhaul their modest target with eight wickets in hand.

The Surrey fixture will mark the annual Pride celebration in cricket, where the players of both teams will don rainbow laces and the stumps will be adorned with rainbow colours.

It is the sixth occasion that the celebration has taken place in cricket, and is the second time since Pride in Cricket, a nationwide LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, was created.

The ECB and all counties remain committed to the aim of making cricket the most inclusive sport in the country, through the overall platform of Raising The Game.

Supporters can watch the action on Friday on Essex Cricket TV’s YouTube channel, where the coverage will be led by Simon Ward. Sunday’s clash will be streamed by Surrey, but both games will be available in the Essex Cricket Matchzone.

Teams – Essex: Harmer, Allison, Beard, Buttleman, Cook, Critchley, Das, Khushi, Lawrence, Nijjar, Pepper, Rossington, Sams, Snater, Walter, Westley.

Middlesex: Eskinazi (c), Andersson, Bamber, Cracknell, Davies, De Caires, Fernandes, Higgins, Holden, Hollman, Roland-Jones, Simpson, Walallawita.