PCA Masters v Essex Eagles Match 2
The PCA Masters arrived at Chelmsford for the second time in a week determined to sneak a victory which would keep their hopes alive of winning the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup at Derby the following evening.
The Masters captain Nick Knight won the toss and elected to bat first and the skipper opened up with Matt Maynard, putting on an opening stand of 43 before Knight fell for 19.
Maynard was then joined by Ian Harvey who was quickly into his stride, even though the introduction of Middlebrook and Graham Napier dragged the run rate down a bit.
Maynard was next to go, run out for 24 as he visibly ran out of petrol attempting a second run. This brought Harvey and Azhar Mahmood together who blasted a very entertaining 46 run partnership before Harvey got a good one from Ryan ten Doeschate.
Phil Simmons then joined Azhar, who was going well on 36 from 23 balls when he was caught going for the boundary. With the score at 127-4 and overs running out, some good hitting was needed. Chris Lewis provided it with 25 off 13 balls and included the comical "no means yes" run out of Phil Simmons.
Darren Bicknell and Lewis closed the innings out with the Masters setting Essex a competitive 157 to win in their 20 overs.
The Essex innings started disastrously with their Captain Mark Pettini well caught by Simmons at 2nd slip from the first ball of the innings. Middlebrook made his intentions clear by hitting Martin Bicknell's first ball out of the ground for six, going on to make 25 off 17 balls to give the Essex innings a kick start.
Grant Flower fell to Mahmood in the same fashion as Pettini. Ten Doeschate made a good foil for Middlebrook, completing his 39 runs in 31 balls before falling to Such with the score at 88-4.
Essex needed something special to see them home and found it for the second time in the week from James Foster. The Essex keeper had to weather a superb spell from Dean Headley, who bowled his 4 overs for 20 runs and two wickets, before cutting lose.
Nineteen runs to were required from the last two overs which became twelve runs from the final over, bowled by Chris Lewis. A great mixture of yorkers and slower balls meant Essex needed one run off the last ball for victory, which Foster duly hit for four to complete a match winning 65 off 44 balls with Napier 14 not out the other end.
A fantastic climax to two very closely fought matches between Essex and the PCA Masters. Congratulations to the home side who duly win the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup and our thanks to Essex CCC and their supporters and players for their hospitality and to the Masters players for the great skill and entertainment shown.
The Masters travel to Derby for the final match on the 14th September hoping to end the competition, in second place with two wins.
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