Worcestershire Royals bounced back from their opening CB40 loss against the Netherlands with a seven wicket victory over Essex Eagles at Chelmsford.
The Royals put the Eagles into bat but Mark Pettini and Alastair Cook started well for the home side as they put on 84 for the first wicket until Daryl Mitchell ran out Cook with a direct hit for 47.
Alviro Petersen was trapped lbw off Shaaiq Choudhry for 1 and then Adam Wheater was also lbw to Mitchell for 11, with the score on 110-3. Pettini got to his 50 off 62 balls but the Eagles didn’t build on their promising start as the Royals bowlers pegged them back in the second half of the innings.
Greg Smith was the fourth wicket to fall when he was caught by Mitchell off Choudhry for 8, Pettini’s innings came to an end when he hit Moeen Ali to Vikram Solanki at long-on for 64, off 76 balls, and when Graham Napier was run out for 0 at the non-strikers end when David Lucas deflected a drive from James Foster onto the stumps the Eagles had reached 146-6.
Lucas then got his first wicket of the innings when Michael Comber was caught by James Cameron for 6 and then Jack Shantry accounted for both Tim Phillips (3), caught by Ali, and James Foster (26), caught by Lucas, as Essex Eagles ended their 40 overs on 190-9, with Shantry (2-37) and Choudhry (2-48) the only Royals bowlers to take more than one wicket.
The Royals response began well as Ali and Solanki both took the attack to the Eagles bowlers as their opening partnership of 104 came in 16.4 overs when Solanki was bowled by Phillips for 48, off 52 balls, with 7 fours.
Ali got to his 50 off 52 balls, with 5 fours and 1 six, and along with Michael Klinger they maintained the aggression as they put on 79 for the second wicket but on 99 Ali was caught by Smith off Petersen to end a fine innings, which included 7 fours and 3 sixes, off 99 balls.
Cameron was stumped by Foster off Phillips for 0, with the score on 184-3, but Klinger (27), and Mitchell (6) took the Worcestershire Royals to their first win in all competitions this season, with over 6 overs to spare, to complete a good all-round performance.
