Essex ease to victory over Leicestershire

Tuesday, August 7, 2012
10:22 AM

Essex beat Leicestershire’s 151-7 with nine deliveries to spare

Essex cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Leicestershire in their rain-affected Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A clash at Chelmsford.

In a match reduced to 25 overs each because of showers, the hosts surpassed Leicestershire’s 151 for seven with nine deliveries to spare.

Owais Shah led the way for Essex with an unbeaten 45 from 46 deliveries, which included three fours and a six.

The foundation had been laid by openers Mark Pettini and Tom Westley who shared in a stand of 62 in nine overs before both fell to medium-pacer Wayne White.

Greg Smith made 20 while helping Shah carry the total to 102 in the 19th over, at which point he was superbly taken low down by Rob Taylor at deep square leg.

Essex arrived at the final five overs still requiring 42 but Shah then stepped up a couple of gears to help see them home.

He took successive fours off medium-pacer Michael Thornely before despatching Nathan Buck for an on-driven six.

Although White emerged as the visitors most successful bowler with two wickets for 17 runs from four overs, it was left-arm spinner James Sykes who impressed the most - the 20-year-old’s five overs cost only 15.

Essex, who put their opponents into bat, used seven bowlers, the most successful of whom was off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who took three for 29 from five overs.