England’s domestic 50-over tournament, the Royal London One-Day Cup, is now well underway, and Monday afternoon and evening saw three fixtures across the country.
In the South Group, Essex cruised to a 5-wicket win against Sussex at Hove, and Gloucestershire fell 52 runs short at Cardiff against Glamorgan.
The day’s only game in the North Group saw Nottinghamshire kick off their campaign in dramatic fashion with a 20-run victory over Northamptonshire in the 2nd-highest scoring List A match of all time.
One-Day Cup Round-Up:
South Group:
Hove: Essex (275/5) beat Sussex (271 all out) by five wickets
Essex won their second One-Day Cup game in a row by chasing 272 against Sussex, after an impressive bowling performance had earlier restricted the hosts to 271 all out.
David Masters (1-27 in ten overs) set the tone for the innings with an excellent selection of cutters and slower balls which Chris Nash (9) and Ed Joyce (73) found tricky to get away, and despite patient knocks from Joyce, Luke Wright (50) and Ross Taylor (50), Sussex were still on only 190-4 heading into the final ten overs.
Chris Jordan’s 22-ball 36 injected some life into the innings, at the expense of Kiwi Matt Quinn (4-71 in nine overs), but Quinn and Ravi Bopara (2-35) bowled well enough at the death to keep Sussex to a below-par total.
In response, Essex started serenely. Fresh from a match-winning ton against Hampshire, Tom Westley (32) took the back seat in an opening partnership of with Nic Browne (44), as the visitors reached 52/0 at the end of the powerplay.
Despite tight spells from Danny Briggs (0-47) and Will Beer (2-51), Essex always looked likely to pull off the chase, and the experience of Jesse Ryder and Ryan ten Doeschate was telling in the end. The pair put on 83 runs in 9.3 overs, and despite Ryder being bowled by Chris Jordan the ball after reaching a 109-ball ton, ten Doeschate (48* off 30) and Ashar Zaidi (10*) were able to steer the Eagles home.
Cardiff: Glamorgan (289 all out) beat Gloucestershire (237 all out) by 52 runs
Gloucestershire suffered their second defeat in as many days at Cardiff, as Will Bragg’s 75 provided the backbone of a strong Glamorgan total of 289.
The hosts built a strong platform thanks to Bragg and Jacques Rudolph (53), which allowed Colin Ingram (35), Graham Wagg (49) and Timm van der Gugten (18) to accelerate towards the end of the innings.
Gloucestershire brought in Liam Norwell to replace David Payne in the only change from the side that lost by one wicket to Somerset, and his 2-45, alongside Benny Howell’s 2-37 and 1-32 for Matt Taylor, helped the visitors no end. However, Craig Miles went for 76 runs in 9.5 overs, and the left-arm spin of Tom Smith and Chris Dent went for a combined 1-94 in the ten overs they bowled.
The Gloucestershire chase suffered two early setbacks, with Wagg removing both Dent (12) and Gareth Roderick (2) before the score had reached 25. Despite the best efforts of Michael Klinger (52) and Howell (67), Gloucestershire were always well behind the run-rate.
van der Gugten took three wickets for Glamorgan, and Colin Ingram, Craig Meschede each managed two more.
North Group:
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire (445/8) beat Northamptonshire (425 all out) by 20 runs
Michael Lumb (184 off 150) and Rikki Wessels (146 off 97) put on 342 in 39.2 overs for the first wicket at Trent Bridge, and despite a flurry of wickets in the last ten overs, Nottinghamshire amassed a gargantuan 445-8 in their opening fixture against Northants.
Ben Sanderson (1-94), Azharullah (0-82) and Steven Crook (1-84) came in for particular punishment as Dan Christian (31 off 14), Samit Patel (29 off 18) and Brendan Taylor (21 off 12) kept the hosts’ momentum going in the final overs of their innings as Nottinghamshire snuck past Sri Lanka’s 443/9 against Netherlands in 2006 to record the second-highest List A total of all-time.
It was always likely to be a big ask of Northamptonshire to chase down such a total, but they gave a few home fans a real scare.
The visitors reached 94/1 in the powerplay – the big-hitting Adam Rossington and Josh Cobb (29) both found the boundary with ease on a flat pitch – and despite losing Ben Duckett (15), Alex Wakely (8) and Rob Keogh (27) before the end of the 20th over, the Steelbacks succeeded in keeping the required run rate below ten.
Rossington, the ex-Middlesex batsman, eventually departed for a 69-ball 97, which included ten fours and three sixes, and his demise to Steven Mullaney’s medium pace brought the big-hitting South African bowler Rory Kleinveldt to the crease.
Batting with a runner, Kleinveldt hit one of the most remarkable innings in recent memory, slamming a 45-ball century whilst sharing partnerships off 92 off 50 with Crook (48) and then 98 from 65 balls with Graeme White (40).
He eventually fell for a 63-ball 128, which included ten fours and nine sixes, and White fell in the following over, both caught by substitute fielder Anuj Dal.
Richard Levi came out to bat with a broken wrist and hit a six off England hopeful Jake Ball, but soon fell to Harry Gurney (3-69) to seal Northants’ fate. No bowler was spared a beating in the game, but Mullaney’s 10-over spell for a relatively low 68 runs definitely helped the Nottinghamshire cause.
