Great Win To Round Off

And it started off well. Acting captain Paul Grayson lost the toss and Essex were invited to bat by Sussex’s acting captain Richard Montgomerie and The Eagles raced to 40-0 inside 8 overs, with Darren Robinson (named during the interval as Essex’s Player Of The Year) and Will Jefferson (who was deservedly awarded his County Cap before the start of play) putting anything lose away to the boundary with drives and leg-glances.

But then disaster struck, as The Eagles lost 3 wickets in each of the next 3 overs, collapsing from 40-0 to 44-3.

Paul Hutchison came back well after some early stick by knocking over Jefferson’s leg stump for 22 in the 8th over, Robin Martin-Jenkins trapped John Stephenson lbw for just 1 in the 9th and in the 10th Mark Waugh was also trapped in front by Hutchison for only 2 and Essex were in trouble.

But the in-form pair of Robinson and Aftab Habib added 45 in 10 overs to restore The Eagles hopes, before Darren Robinson snicked one behind to Ambrose off Billy Taylor for a well made 42 (49 balls) and Essex were 89-4 in the 20th over.

A brief rain break in that last partnership meant the match being reduced to a 42 overs-a-side contest, 6 overs having been lost from the match.

Larry Grayson was next and he added 14 of the 20 he and Habib put on for the 5th wicket, but when he was also trapped in front of all three by Taylor, Essex were on 109-5 after 24 overs, with only 18 overs remaining.

But the two former Leicestershire players Jon Dakin and Habib joined forces to add 63 in just 10 overs to boost The Eagles. Habib went to a well crafted 53 from 78 balls and with 8 overs to go the chances of posting at least 210 looked good.

But then the famous collapse and the last 5 wickets tumbled for only the addition of 17 runs in 5 overs.

Habib tried to drive Hopkinson into the Hayes Close houses but didn’t quite get the elevation and was well caught by Hutchison on the long-off boundary for an excellent 53, 172-6.

Off-spinner Davis then tied things down with two quick wickets, as James Foster and Graham Napier (both 1) succumbed to Davis’s flight as they were tamely bowled and caught chipping to short mid-wicket respectively and when a mix-up lead to the run out of James Middlebrook for only 2, Essex had gone from 172-6 to 187-9 inside 22 balls.

Last man Joe Grant lasted just two balls before he slogged across the line to Hutchison and was caught behind for 2 to leave The Essex Eagles 189 all out from 38 overs, with 4 overs un-used.

Jon Dakin was left stranded on 40 from only 38 balls with 4 big shots for four and if the tail had stayed with him would have taken Essex past 200 as he was just beginning to wind up.

Plenty of various end-of-season presentations were made during the interval and it was also announced that due to the rain earlier, the target for The Sharks was now 188 in the 42 overs by Duckworth/Lewis.

But The Eagles would have remembered the great team effort that saw them turn around another poor situation in the Benson & Hedges Cup South Group Match also at Chelmsford and funnily enough the first 1-day match of 2002 and went out all guns blazing.

Dakes and Napes bowled superb early on with pace and zip and it was Napes who accounted for the first two wickets, as Sussex fell to 16-2 after 6 overs.

He first got one to come back and take Cottey’s inside edge through to Foster for 3 and then a straight one in his next over to trap Montgomerie lbw for 10, but that only brought to the crease Murray Goodwin and debutant Neil Turk.

And together they added 83 in just 15 overs to put The Sharks in the driving seat. Goodwin in particular was in devastating form smashing anything an inch off line to the ropes and he brought up his 50 in only 39 balls with his 9th four.

But 6 balls later the introduction of spin duo Middlebrook and Grayson brought his downfall as he went for one shot too many and he picked out John Stephenson at deep mid-wicket with a slog-sweep shot for 55 and The Sharks collapsed to the spin from The Eagles.

99-2 became 99-3 with Goodwin’s demise and just 10 runs later, two cheap wickets left Sussex on 109-5, strangely enough also during the 24th over like Essex were!

And it was all down to Grayson. He ran out Ambrose as he threw sharply from his pot to Foster who demolished the stumps and then got Martin-Jenkins first ball next over getting him to simply chip the ball to Middlebrook at mid-wicket and it was game on.

The other crucial wicket of Turk was also taken as he attempted to loft Grayson for six but could only pick out Stephenson at long-on and he dived to take another excellent catch to leave The Sharks on 122-6. Turk made a useful 36 on debut but had it all to do and his wicket left just the tail for The Eagles to claim a great win.

Hopkinson was also snared by Grayson, bowled for 12 with a quicker one that tempted the batsman and with the score now 126-7 after 30 overs and with 62 runs needed in 12 overs with only with 3 wickets left, it was all but over.

Grayson and Middlebrook both bowled superbly in tandem and bowled their 9 overs through, Grayson having figures of 9-1-27-3 and Midders 9-2-25-1, but then came the thinking time for Grayson, risk bringing Stephenson and Grant back on for a few overs, or try more spin….He went for more spin in Mark Waugh and the Aussies star didn’t let his captain down, by finishing off the tail with 3-14 in 3.3 overs!

He got Davis to chip to Napier in his first over and bowled Yardy in his next over to leave Sussex Sharks on 144-9. After a little flurry from Hutchison which included a six over long-off from Grant, Waugh got him to smash another in the air to long-on, where Dakin took a superb catch to round off a superb season for Essex. Dakin looked to have lost sight of the ball in the air, but dived to take an excellent catch to give Essex a 29 run win, The Sharks dismissed for 158 in 38.3 overs.

So with an Essex win, it was up to Gloucs Gladiators to give The Eagles 2nd place and an extra £11,000, but it wasn’t to be, as The Surrey Lions won comfortably to give them 2nd and Essex 3rd, but still, the main aim of promotion was achieved last week and an excellent team effort finished things off in style.

So, what a weekend, County Champions of Division 2 and an excellent win in the Norwich Union League to give us 3rd place. If it wasn’t for a couple of slip-ups vs Surrey and bottom club Middlesex, it could have been two Title’s won over the weekend. But we’ll settle for what we achieved. Loads of hard work was needed and the results showed this.

Well done the lads and after the match Paul Grayson gave a few words of thanks to us supporters for giving them great support over the season.

I’m sure the celebrations that have only just started are well under way and when Ronnie Irani gets back from Sri Lanka with England, I’m sure they’ll get better and better.