MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire v Essex, Metro Bank One Day Cup
The third and final competition of the county summer kicks off tomorrow amidst significant excitement.
Lancashire v Essex
Metro Bank One Day Cup, Group One
Tuesday August 1, 2023, 11am
Sedbergh School
County squads may be decimated by the Hundred, which runs concurrently, with each of the 18 teams missing at least two players. But this is a chance to watch the next generation of talent strut their stuff at a number of eye-catching venues.
Sedbergh School in Cumbria definitely falls into that category.
The Red Rose, last season’s beaten finalists, start this season’s campaign against Essex Eagles. Both counties begin amongst the favourites for silverware.
Lancashire are missing six players because of the Hundred; Jos Buttler, Tom Hartley, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Luke Wells and Luke Wood. Richard Gleeson is also involved in the competition, but he is only contracted to the county for the Vitality Blast.
The Red Rose won yesterday’s National Counties friendly against Cumbria at Sedbergh, winning a 36-overs per side game by 47 runs having posted 272-5.
Captain for the day George Balderson top-scored with 71 added to Matty Hurst’s unbeaten 69. Then, in Cumbria’s 225 all out, new ball seamers Jack Blatherwick and Josh Boyden claimed three wickets apiece.
The likes of Hurst, Boyden and Harry Singh (2-27) and Tom Aspinwall (43 not out and 1-41), who also played against Cumbria yesterday, are yet to make their List A debuts.
Essex, meanwhile, were 154-3 in the 21st when rain forced the abandonment of their clash with Bedfordshire at Dunstable Town CC.
Opponents:
Essex are shorn of six players because of the Hundred, including England batter Dan Lawrence and all-rounder Paul Walter, the latter who is calling Emirates Old Trafford home for the next month with the Manchester Originals.
They were beaten semi-finalists in 2021 but struggled last year, winning only three of eight games and failing to qualify out of the same group as Lancashire.
The Eagles are having a good season and have just announced the overseas signing of Australian batting all-rounder Beau Webster four the duration of the One-Day Cup.
They are second in the Championship and on the coat-tails of leaders Surrey. With three games remaining, they are 17 points behind having won six of 11 outings. They also reached the final of the Blast earlier this month, beaten by Somerset at Edgbaston.
Coached by Anthony McGrath, they were captained by opening batter Nick Browne in yesterday’s washed out 50-over friendly at Bedfordshire. They were 154-3 in the 21st over when the rain arrived.
Club captain Tom Westley is expected to lead the side at Sedbergh tomorrow.
Opposing player to watch:
England Under 19s seam bowling all-rounder Jamal Richards is highly thought of at Chelmsford, as a recent five-wicket haul in a red ball warm-up game against Ireland suggests.
In late May, Richards - 19 - claimed 5-96 against the Irish as they warmed up for the Lord’s Test against England.
Richards played seven One-Day Cup games for the Eagles last summer. While claiming only two wickets, he showed his batting prowess by hitting 137 runs down the order with a top-score of 46.
He hit 55 and claimed a wicket in a Second XI Championship draw against Lancashire at Chester last month.
Richards signed his maiden senior contract at Essex in February, with coach Anthony McGrath saying: “Jamal is one of the brightest talents on the county circuit.
“He has raw pace with the ball in hand and can hit a long way with the bat too.”
Previous meeting:
Lancashire were due to play Essex at Sedbergh at the start of last season’s One-Day Cup, but the match was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain.
The season previous, the two counties met at Emirates Old Trafford in the final round of group games and played out a thrilling tie. Unfortunately, it prevented Lancashire from qualifying for the knockout stages.
Steven Croft’s 93 off 112 balls was the feature of 250-6 on a sluggish pitch.
Sir Alastair Cook then led Essex’s response with a well paced 110 off 126 balls before they fell from 212-4 in the 45th over to 227-8 in the 49th, with Croft striking twice.
Unfortunately, however, he bowled the final over and Simon Harmer hit three sixes and a scrambled two off the last ball to score 21 of the 22 needed to win.
What they said:
Keaton Jennings is relishing the start of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Captain Jennings will lead a Lightning side into tomorrow’s opener against Essex, when they start their bid to go one further than year’s final defeat to Kent at Trent Bridge.
The fringe England opener skippers a youthful looking squad shorn of a handful of players because of the Hundred, a competition which takes much of the limelight for the next month. In the eyes of some people, it has dumbed down the importance of county cricket’s One-Day Cup. Not Lancashire, though, not Jennings.
“There’s nothing about this competition that’s second rate. It’s one I want to win. End of!” said the left-hander.
“We lose a couple to the Hundred, and there’s a new and fresh set of lads coming in ready to go.
“There will be a couple of guys making their first-team debuts, and it’s good.
“It’s exciting to captain the side, and I’m incredibly proud to pull on the Red Rose shirt each day and say that I lead this group of lads.
“It’s been a really exciting competition for the last couple of years because it’s guys who are keen and haven’t played a lot. It’s been a cool mix of experienced players and young lads.
“We set out at the start of the season to try and win all three competitions. This is the start of the third one, and we have to make sure we play good cricket.”
How’s Stat!
The Red Rose are hoping the Metro Bank One-Day Cup is a case of lucky 13.
Lancashire’s current squad of players are chasing the county’s 13th knockout one-day trophy.
The previous 12 were won as follows……
Gillette Cup - 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1975.
Benson and Hedges Cup - 1984, 1990, 1995 and 1996.
NatWest Trophy - 1990, 1996 and 1998.
Refuge Cup - 1988.