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Sri Lanka A suffered a dramatic late collapse to lose by 15 runs against New Zealand A in the second one-dayer, as the hosts took a 2-0 lead in the four-match series

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Oct-2015
ScorecardKithuruwan Vithanage struck his fourth consecutive fifty-plus score on this tour•Getty Images

Kithuruwan Vithanage’s 120 off 104 balls had set Sri Lanka A on track to chase down New Zealand A’s 305, but a dramatic late collapse sparked by Adam Milne saw the hosts prevail by 15 runs at Hagley Oval. The victory gives New Zealand A a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.Sri Lanka A had required 29 runs from 33 balls and had six wickets in hand before Vithanage was caught off Milne’s bowling. They had batted deep, with Niroshan Dickwella and Chaturanga de Silva coming in at No. 7 and 8, but the visitors lost six wickets for 13 runs nonetheless. Milne claimed two more late wickets to finish with the game’s best figures of 3 for 49. Four Sri Lanka A dismissals, including two of the last five, had been run-outs.Earlier, a brisk 132-run fourth wicket stand between Michael Bracewell and Henry Nicholls had formed the body of New Zealand A’s total. Bracewell top-scored for his side hitting a 72-ball 83 that featured two sixes and seven fours. Nicholls remained unbeaten on 79 from 65, as he and Colin Munro combined to hit 35 runs from the last 23 balls of the innings. Michael Pollard and Grant Worker had contributed 54 and 40 respectively, while seamer Kasun Rajitha claimed 2 for 63 for the visitors.The chase had begun well for Sri Lanka A when Vithanage struck up a 119-run second-wicket stand with opener Danushka Gunathilaka. Both men have been on form on tour, having scored four consecutive fifty-plus scores. Vithanage also shared a 58-run stand with Chamara Kapugedara, but could not see his team through to the target. Milne’s charge left the visitors needing victories from the two coming unofficial ODIs in Lincoln to level the series.

Lawyers representing Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif are considering an appeal against his conviction which would mean he would walk free from prison should such an appeal be successful

Richard Sydenham 04-Nov-2011Lawyers representing Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif are considering an appeal against his conviction which would mean he would walk free from prison should such an appeal be successful.The lawyers for Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir on Thursday announced they would appeal on behalf of their clients, but they were expected to be against their sentences, not convictions.Asif was found guilty of conspiring to cheat and conspiring to accept corrupt payments by a jury on Tuesday and he was sentenced to 12 months in jail by Justice Cooke two days later. Butt was handed a sentence of 30 months, Amir six months and the agent Mazhar Majeed 32 months.But a representative inside Asif’s legal team revealed to ESPNcricinfo that “we are considering an appeal against conviction, not sentence”. They feel that the jury may not have been within their rights to convict Asif on the evidence they had in front of them. This appeal is expected to be lodged in the next seven days.Asif’s team feel that if it is found that the jury were right to hand down a guilty conviction then they would not be appealing against the sentence because if guilty the sentence fits the crime.Asif was adjudged to have bowled one pre-determined no-ball in the Lord’s Test match last year, while Amir admitted to bowling two. Asif denied the charges against him. Butt was accused of orchestrating the spot-fixing and Majeed of arranging the deal after taking £150,000 off an undercover reporter for the News of the World.Alexander Milne QC, who represented Asif at Southwark Crown Court in the 22-day trial, told the jury in his closing speech to “follow the money and if you follow the money you will not find any on Mr Asif”, in referring to how no marked News of the World money was discovered in his hotel room when police raided it. Butt had £2,500 found in his room and £1,500 was found in Amir’s room.Majeed said via his barrister on Wednesday that he paid £65,000 to Asif of £77,500 in total that he paid to the three players. Asif was said to have pocketed more to “keep him loyal” and prevent him from joining rival fixing rackets, inferred to be lying elsewhere within the team.

Henry Olonga, the former Zimabwe fast bowler who rebelled against the oppressive Robert Mugabe regime in 2003, has called for renewed cricketing ties with his country

Cricinfo staff16-Aug-2010Henry Olonga, the former Zimabwe fast bowler who famously protested against the Mugabe regime during the 2003 World Cup, has called for renewed cricketing ties with his country ahead of proposed visits by the Scotland and Ireland teams.Olonga moved to London after a black arm-band protest during the World Cup along with team-mate Andy Flower opposing the ‘death of democracy’ in Zimbabwe. While he ruled out the possibility of returning to his homeland, he noted that the ground situation in Zimbabwe was on the mend.”Personal safety is still a consideration for me, although the Zimbabwean government seems to be softening. The winds of change are blowing through the country. Maybe it’s time now to consider bringing Zimbabwe out of isolation from a broader perspective,” Olonga told the .Olonga however maintained his scepticism over the officials running cricket in the country, namely ZC chairman Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute. “We still have the issue of slightly suspicious gentlemen running the sport. I don’t really trust the man [Bvute] but he’s shown a genuine desire to re-engage with some of the former players.”They have extended the olive branch to players like Heath Streak and a few others, to try to get some of these players back involved in the running of cricket because their loss has cost the country,” Olonga said.Zimbabwe’s minister of culture David Coltart was set to meet the Scotland cricket officials following speculation that they were concerned about sending their side to Zimbabwe for the Intercontinental Cup fixture in October.”I have to go and speak to Scottish cricket authorities, and one of the main things they want to do is have me speak to the players because they are nervous about going out. They’ve seen pictures. One has to recognise that there is a lot of scepticism in the UK regarding this political arrangement. My main task is to try to overcome that scepticism. I can’t disregard it because in some respects it’s well founded,” Coltart said.

“I’m not sure there was a single driven four off the seamers,” he says

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Feb-2024Afghanistan’s men are just trying to build a Test record, the ongoing match against Sri Lanka being their eighth game in the format. The team is trying to get as many opportunities to play as many Tests as possible. And as captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said before this Test, they are also trying to develop seam-bowling talent, so they can be successful in this format.They will perhaps be glad to know that an opposition centurion has given them and their attack a top rating. Dinesh Chandimal, who made 107 on Saturday as Sri Lanka established a 241-run lead, said Afghanistan’s bowlers – who have played fewer than five Tests collectively – bowled far better than their experience suggests.”You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the way the Afghanistan bowlers bowled,” he said. “They did well through the course of the innings. Even in my partnership with Angelo [Mathews, who made 141], there were times when I supported him, and times when he supported me when I found it difficult.Related

• Shahidi's 'brave' Afghanistan side ready for all challenges ahead of Sri Lanka Test

“Even though a lot of their bowlers are inexperienced at the international level, they bowled very well. The seamers and the left-arm spinner especially were fantastic. From the morning yesterday until the close of play, their seamers maintained their energy and their body language. They did well to restrict us.”Part of Afghanistan’s strength was their discipline on an SSC track that did not offer much for the bowlers beyond the first session. They were especially intent that Sri Lanka’s batters did not get on the front foot, Chandimal said.”If you take my hundred or Angelo’s hundred, there really weren’t many balls where we could step forward and drive for four. I’m not sure there was a single driven four off the seamers. They bowled short to us, or bowled good lengths. Right through the day they had discipline.”Ahead of this match, Shahidi had said Afghanistan’s best route to becoming a more competitive Test nation had to do with their playing more Tests. With Afghanistan now seriously testing Sri Lanka – only 42 runs behind with nine second-innings wickets in hand – Chandimal agrees.”What their captain said is right. If they get more opportunities to play Tests, they are a much better team in the next four or five years. They are a challenge for us, and I wish them all the best for their future.”

Players not being able to sustain the amount of cricket they’re being expected to play will force changes, ICC chair believes

Osman Samiuddin27-Jul-2022The growing, unsustainable burden on players could eventually force boards into making the global cricket calendar a more manageable one, according to ICC chairman Greg Barclay.Barclay was speaking after the conclusion of the ICC’s AGM where the Future Tours Programme (FTP) has been going through the final stages before it is published, and where a major thread of discussion among members has been around the balance in the calendar between T20 leagues and international cricket.More relevantly, he was speaking just over a week after Ben Stokes, the England Test captain, decided to retire from ODI cricket, at just 31, blaming what he said was an unsustainable workload. Stokes’ decision came 16 months out from England’s defence of their World Cup title, which he was vital in securing in 2019.Related

• Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan look up to ICC working group to address lack of Tests

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• ICC: 'The volume of ODIs and T20Is in the calendar is very much up to every member'

• ICC FTP: Bangladesh land Test and ODI jackpot in 2023-2027 cycle

The new FTP, from 2023-2027, has not been made public yet, though ESPNcricinfo has a copy of a near-complete draft. The calendar, as it stands, is marked by an unrelenting schedule of ICC events and bilateral cricket and, increasingly, unofficial windows which are being earmarked by boards for their own T20 leagues; that is apart from a two-and-a-month window for the IPL, which is all but formalised.”The fact is that we have a limited amount of time in the calendar,” Barclay said. “There’s 365 days in a year, there’s more cricket being played through ICC events, through bilateral cricket, a proliferation of T20 leagues so there is a lot of pressure on that calendar. Are we at a tipping point?”I’m not sure but it is an issue for members to work their way through. There’s a lot of cricket to fit in there and it’s simply not all going to fit. It’s not an issue so much for this organisation [the ICC], but certainly for members to try and work their way through optimum outcomes is going to be a challenge.”What they also need to take into account is that the players themselves will simply not be able to sustain the amount of cricket they’re probably going to be expected to play so that’s going to force some changes as well.”The ICC believes it has witnessed a strong commitment to the international game among members at this AGM. But for a growing number of members that commitment is clearly tussling with a newfound zeal for their own domestic products, whether a T20 league or the Hundred. Both CA and ECB have carved out – or tried to – little windows for the BBL and the Hundred in this FTP.”There are a number of members who are putting particular attention on their domestic leagues,” Geoff Allardice, the ICC CEO said. “The one thing over the last few days is the commitment to international cricket and bilateral cricket is as strong as it has ever been. But each of them has to manage that balance between domestic competitions, their international schedules and the management of their players. Each of those boards is in a slightly different situation. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to that balancing situation and each country attacks it slightly differently.”If something does eventually give way, the speculation has been on ODI cricket. Without the context of the Super League in the next cycle, the format is back to being a bilateral staple. But that has not been evident just yet, and not in the draft version of the FTP.”We talked a fair bit about the structure,” Allardice said. “One of the things about the three formats and the way they are incorporated in the FTP is that members and fans in countries have slightly different preferences for formats. At this stage, there was some discussion about the mix of formats, not specifically ODIs in the calendar. Countries are still scheduling a healthy number of ODIs as well in their FTPs, so in the FTP you won’t see significant changes to the number of ODIs, or proportion being played.”The Super League has been scrapped because the 2027 World Cup has been expanded into a 14-team event; that has rendered a 13-team Super League redundant. The current cycle of the league has been hit by severe disruptions because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has prevented it from really taking off.That might be rectified as we approach the end of league, with nine months still left, a number of series still to be played out and a number of big-name teams potentially having to play a qualifier to get into the 2023 World Cup.One of those could be South Africa, who did not help their own cause by pulling out of a three-match ODI series against Australia, in order to get their own T20 league off the ground. The ICC had no say in the fate of that series, and is not yet clear on how points will be awarded, but is looking forward to a tight fight for qualification towards the end.”We’ve still got nine months in the window available to complete the Super League,” Allardice said. “The ICC’s role in that competition is to say here are the eight teams you are playing against. The timing of those series and how those series are scheduled is between the two members to resolve.”We saw the announcement by CA and CSA and as we head to the end of the competition we will deal with that. Whether Australia and South Africa have come to some arrangement around making up some series – there may be some discussions still going on – the competition still has nine months to run and we’ll be dealing with [how the points are to be awarded] towards the end.”The ODI Super League was a way to provide context to ODIs. It has another nine months to play out and I’m sure as we approach cut-off date, the last couple of spots in 2023 will become quite exciting.”

She retires as the leading women’s run-scorer for South Africa in T20Is, and the second highest in ODIs

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2022Lizelle Lee, the hard-hitting South Africa opening batter, has announced her retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. In a statement shared by CSA, she said she would continue to play domestic T20 cricket around the world.”It is with a lot of mixed emotions that I announce my retirement from international cricket,” Lee, 30, said on Friday. “From a very young age, I have lived cricket, and wanted to represent my country at the highest level. Over the past 8 years, I was able to live that dream, and I feel I have given everything I could to the Proteas.”I feel that I am ready for the next phase in my career, and will continue to play domestic T20 cricket around the world.”Lee’s announcement came ahead of South Africa’s ODI series in England starting next week. South Africa drew the one-off Test ahead of the white-ball series, where Lee returned scores of 0 and 36.She made her international debut against Bangladesh at home in 2013, and went on to play exactly 100 ODIs – the last of which was against England in the World Cup semi-final earlier this year. She also played 82 T20Is in addition to two Tests. Lee scored her ODI best score – an unbeaten 132 – which was her third century in the format, against India in Lucknow last year when South Africa won the series 4-1.”It has been an incredible journey, and it would not have been possible without everyone who has supported me during my international career,” Lee said. “I want to thank my family, especially my wife Tanja for all the sacrifices they have made for me to live out my dream to represent my country.”Thank you to CSA, SACA and all stakeholders involved for the opportunities and support you afforded me to make my dreams of playing for the Proteas come true. My fellow Proteas teammates, thank you for the wonderful memories we have made together. You have made this journey incredible, and I could not have done this without you. I will always be supporting you; we will always be rising together.”Lastly to my fans, I am the person I am because of the love and support you have given me throughout my international career. I look forward to continuing this journey with you in the different leagues around the world.”Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee formed a fantastic opening pair for South Africa•BCCI/UPCA

During the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020, Lee became the second from her country to score a century in women’s T20Is [Shandre Fritz was the first], and the first to do so in the global event. She retired as the leading run-scorer among South African women in T20Is with 1896 runs, and second-highest from her country in ODIs with 3315 runs.”It is with great sadness that we have to bid farewell to a titan of South African cricket at a relatively young age,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA director of cricket, said. “However, we wholeheartedly respect the individual’s decision and her desire to move onto the next chapter of her playing career.”Lizelle has given this nation countless memorable moments on the field of play, most notably in 2021 when she was leading from the front with the bat towards being named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in an effort to help South Africa soar to second place on the ICC ODI Rankings. We wish her and her young family nothing but the best from here onwards.”Lee is the second high-profile South Africa player to call it quits following the World Cup after Mignon du Preez also hung up her boots from ODIs and Tests.Lee will play for Manchester Originals in The Hundred this season as her next assignment, having also represented them in the inaugural season in 2021.

Maratha Arabians role is Flower’s first in franchise cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2019Andy Flower has been named as head coach of Maratha Arabians in the upcoming Abu Dhabi T10, days after ending a 12-year association with the ECB.Flower left his role as technical director in the England set-up on Saturday, and had hinted that he was more likely to take up roles on the franchise circuit than return to international cricket. There had been speculation that he would head to the IPL, but this is his first coaching role since leaving the ECB.”I have just come off a tremendous run with English cricket and am now looking ahead to the future with hope,” Flower said.”Anything that is new and is innovative like T10 cricket always has an automatic appeal. From a coaching perspective it presents new challenges to test yourself against in a world-class environment.”Flower departed the ECB after 12 years in the national team set-up. He started out as Peter Moores’ assistant in 2007, before taking over in 2009. His reign saw England win their first men’s ICC world tournament – the 2010 World T20 – as well as away Test series in India and Australia, as England rose to become the ICC’s No.1-ranked Test team. After the 2013-14 Ashes, he took up a role as technical director, which involved overseeing the Lions side.The league also announced that the Arabians had retained captain Dwayne Bravo, along with Lasith Malinga and Afghanistan pair Hazratullah Zazai and Najibullah Zadran. They have also signed Chris Lynn as an ‘icon player’ ahead of Wednesday’s player draft.The Arabians reached the semi-finals last season, finishing fourth after losing to Bengal Tigers in the third-place playoff.The league has moved to Abu Dhabi from Sharjah this season, and starts on November 15.

Defeat dulled the enjoyment the allrounder could take from his innings, but it was important on a personal level

Sidharth Monga27-Jun-2019Jimmy Neesham likes to call it the “fastest 47” in ODI cricket, and he’s not wrong. After having being in the funk for two years, almost having given up on cricket and then setting himself right, Neesham came back to smack 47 off 13 balls against Sri Lanka on his return. That innings, he says, was 18 months in the making, a reward of all the hard work he had put in when he was away. Yet it was just a score of 47 in a career whose highest score was 74.The chance to play this World Cup, he admits, was sooner than he expected when he set on path to recovery. He was more philosophical about success and failure. He had now learnt to deal with personal failures much better by looking at his efforts through the team of the prism. He was happier nicking off first ball if New Zealand won than scoring a hundred in a defeat. Deep down, though, there must have been some desire to prove himself in more trying circumstances than walking in at 316 for 5 and smashing the ball around.Jimmy Neesham smashes a six as he leads the counter-attack•Getty Images

It is not ideal but this World Cup has provided him these challenges. There was the tense chase against Bangladesh where he ended up holing out to long-off. They lost two wickets in the first over against West Indies where he did better and added 41 for the fifth wicket Kane Williamson for the fifth wicket and himself ended up with 28 off 23 balls.WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – Jimmy Neesham’s unbeaten 97At Edgbaston against Pakistan, though, Neesham found himself with a much bigger task. He walked in to join Williamson at 46 for 4, and would soon lose Williamson too. In difficult batting conditions, he battled through, especially when facing the red-hot Shaheen Shah Afridi, and ended up unbeaten on a career-best 97 to give New Zealand a competitive score of 237. This was the longest innings of Neesham’s 55-match career. It must give New Zealand some confidence as they continue to struggle with their openers.On a personal level, that has to feel satisfying. “I’m pretty tired now,” was Neesham’s immediate reaction after having bowled three overs to go with it. “That’s sort of my emotions at the moment, I think. Yeah, obviously, I suppose there’s external noise about whether you have the ability to guide an innings like that, and I sort of have the belief in my own ability that I have the ability to come out at 40 for 4 and guide our team to 200-plus and also the ability to come out at 310 for 3 with two overs to go. So it’s just about putting it out there, I suppose, and having belief in your own processes.READ MORE: Second spinner might have helped New Zealand, admits Santner“Obviously, we had a large period of time where we had to soak up pressure. That was the nature of the wicket and the nature of the bowling attack. We certainly had a belief, if we could get through that hard period, we’d be able to score some runs at the back end, and obviously that’s what ended up happening.”Neesham did soak up all the pressure, getting beaten multiple teams by Afridi, but then turning it on towards the end. He scored 26 off the first 58 balls he faced followed by 71 off the next 64. This was a near perfect rearguard in conditions ideal for both seam and spin, for which he was congratulated by Pakistan fielders even as he walked off in the innings break. He, in turn, sought out Afridi to congratulate for the spell he had bowled.However, Neesham was not willing to draw too much pleasure out of the knock. “It [this innings] is something I’ll probably reflect on after the tournament is finished,” Neesham said. “I think, obviously, the whole point of trying to graft out our partnership like that is to try to get ourselves in a position to win the game. I feel like we potentially did that. We potentially had a score that was defendable. Obviously, in a game where you lose, you don’t take a whole lot of pleasure out of stuff like that.”

Trevor Bayliss has provided the clearest hint yet that Jake Ball has earned the final spot in England’s XI for the Brisbane Test

George Dobell in Townsville18-Nov-2017Trevor Bayliss has provided the clearest hint yet that Jake Ball has earned the final spot in England’s XI for the Brisbane Test.While Ball has bowled only 22 first-class deliveries on the tour – he sprained his ankle early in the Adelaide warm-up game and was subsequently deemed unfit to play in Townsville – Bayliss is content he has now proved his fitness and suggested he had done enough to win selection ahead of Craig Overton.Ball bowled 15 overs at full pace on Saturday. And, while England’s bowlers claimed only one wicket in the entire day on a slow Townsville pitch, Ball bowled Moeen Ali within a few minutes on the same surface in a practice session that followed the game.”I thought Ball was our best bowler in Perth and he started off that way again in Adelaide too,” Bayliss said. “He’s fine now. He bowled on Friday and got through a few spells in the nets today [Saturday]. He should be fit and raring to go for Brisbane.”Is it Ball v Overton for selection? I see it just like that, yes. Ball is fine now. He’s fully fit and will be available for selection. I’m pretty close to knowing the XI in my mind, yes.”Bayliss insisted he was not overly concerned by England’s lack of penetration on the final day in Townsville, instead crediting some fine batting from the two Cricket Australia XI centurions and a flat surface that offered bowlers little. He also suggested England’s batsmen had failed to fully capitalise on it the previous day.”We are always a bit disappointed when we don’t take 10 for 90, but the wicket was very flat,” he said. “And those two young guys batted very well. There were two young guys out there that batted very, very well. All credit to them. They looked good. It’s good for Australian cricket.”If you play cricket long enough those days will happen. They stuck at it and that’s all you can ask.”We lost a few wickets at the end of that first innings and probably should have scored a few more runs. From the bowling point of view, we tried a few different things, but I’m sure in the Test matches we’ll be back bowling line and length.”It’s not really damaging to us before the first Test. It was good to spend some time in the field. We will probably have another one or two of them in the Test matches. It was probably good to experience it and the heat as well.”Although the surfaces and the opposition have left England short of experience against the sort of pace anticipated in the Test series, Bayliss considered himself satisfied with their progress.”Over the three games we have got as much out of it as we possibly could,” he said. “We started slow, then built it up over the last couple of games. A Test match – an Ashes Test – will see our intensity rise as high as it possibly can.”A number of guys spent time in the middle with the bat and the bowlers got a lot of overs under their belts. Hopefully everyone now has got their rhythms right and they can come out next week and go from ball one.”Mark Stoneman has been our most consistent batsman. He looks like he’s made for this. He’s tough and nuggety and likes to get on with it when he gets the opportunity.”Bayliss also admitted a couple of selections in the Australian squad had surprised him. But while he was respectful of the opposition – conceding he was close to several members of the Australian team – he made it clear friendships will be put to one side.”There were one or two names in there we maybe weren’t expecting,” he said. “But they are all good players. No matter who Australia pick, they will be good players and we will have to play well to win.”Australia, whether batting or bowling, like to hit the opposition hard early. And we have been talking about going hard ourselves. We are not here to make up the numbers. We are here to win.”I do know some of the guys in the opposition team, but I’m sure they fully respect that I’ve got a job to do. I liken it to playing backyard cricket years ago against your brothers and your best mates. It was full on in the backyard, but you walked away mates. I’m sure the same will occur after the five Tests.”We’ve played some good Test cricket over the last few years. There has been the odd game where we haven’t performed, but we’re very confident, and have played very well against Australia for the last few years.”

Sussex won a high-scoring game by 19 runs against Essex at Hove to go clear at the top of the Friends Life t20 South Group

24-Jun-2012
ScorecardSussex won a high-scoring game by 19 runs against Essex at Hove to go clear at the top of the Friends Life t20 South Group.Chris Nash made 52 and Joe Gatting 45 not out as Sussex set a daunting total of 209 for 6, the second highest in the competition this season. Some big hitting from Mark Pettini (44) and James Foster (47) kept Essex in contention but they fell short in the end, with Chris Liddle taking 3 for 35.Sussex’s former Essex player Scott Styris took the Man of the Match award after making a quickfire 36 and claiming 2 for 28.Luke Wright and Nash set the tone by smashing 21 runs off the second over from Graham Napier as Sussex raced to 74-0 after the six-over Powerplay. Wright carried on where he left off against Middlesex on Friday night when he made 91 as he hit sixes off David Masters and Napier before slapping a full toss from Ryan ten Doeschate straight to long off for 40 off 21 balls.The departure of Wright did not slow the scoring rate, however, as Nash and Styris continued to take the attack to Essex. Nash made his runs from 41 balls, including two fours and two sixes, before being stumped by a smart piece of work by Foster off a leg-side wide from ten Doeschate.Styris enjoyed himself against his old side as he crashed sixes off ten Doeschate and Reece Topley before being caught in the deep for 36 off 20 balls. Gatting ensured Sussex’s innings did not lose momentum as he hit a career-best score from just 22 balls, including four fours and two sixes, as the Sharks posted their second-highest total ever in the competition.Essex made a slow start in reply but remained in contention thanks to Pettini, who made 44 off 31 balls. The Eagles were well behind the run rate at halfway on 74 for 2 but some powerful hitting from Greg Smith and Foster gave them hope of pulling off a sensational win.Smith hit three sixes in his 26-ball 39 before being bowled by Will Beer while Foster hit four sixes in a row to reduce the deficit to 25 off the final over but Essex’s hopes disappeared when their captain was caught on the boundary with three balls to go.