SOME explosive late hitting from Ravi Bopara helped Essex to victory in their T20 opener this afternoon (Saturday) at Middlesex.
Bopara smashed a succession of sixes and boundaries to fire his side to victory at Lord's with Mark Pettini hitting the winning runs to end the innings on 95.
After winning the toss, Essex chose to bowl first, but despite a wicket in the third over for debutant Oliver Newby (1-12), Middlesex made an impressive start.
Opener Dawid Malan anchored the innings, while England's Eoin Morgan raced along to his 50 from just 30 balls in a superb partnership, with the pair bringing up a 100 partnership in a costly 14th over from the Eagles' new overseas star Jesse Ryder, which saw 20 runs come from it.
Morgan and Malan looked to be taking the game away from Essex with some superb shots, including five sixes between them.
But when Morgan holed out a Graham Napier (1-47) delivery to Newby for 77 from 43 balls, the wheels just started to come off for Middlesex.
Malan kept going and played a few nice shots to move on to 86 not out from 57 balls, but three wickets for Reece Topley (3-26) in his final two overs, including two in two balls, stemmed the run rate a little as the Panthers ended on 180-5.
In reply, Essex skipper Mark Pettini and England captain Alastair Cook got the Eagles off to a flyer, with Pettini in particular playing some fine shots as he found the gaps in the field with consummate ease.
The Eagles skipper led from the front and played the majority of the shots as he raced to an impressive 50 from just 23 balls, enthralling the healthy crowd at Lord's.
The introduction of spinners Ollie Rayner and Ravi Patel stemmed the run rate somewhat, while Alastair Cook found Eoin Morgan at short mid-wicket to give the Panthers their first wicket as Patel struck in the ninth over.
But Essex continued to score runs, taking singles where possible and mixed in with a few boundaries as they brought up their 100 in the 12th over.
However, just as Ryder looked set to cut loose after launching a huge six, he holed out to Toby Roland-Jones in the deep next ball to leave the Eagles 112-2 and the game finely poised in the 13th over, as Patel ended with figures of 2-26 from his four overs.
Pettini continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over though and together with Ravi Bopara, the pair set up a tense finale.
A run a ball was not going to be good enough as the required run rate crept up above 11 an over, but the Middlesex bowlers were not giving much away.
However, a huge six from Bopara paved the way for a final push in the last two overs, and he duly obliged, smashing two more sixes either side of a boundary to put Essex on the verge of victory.
And fittingly, Pettini finished it off with a boundary to give Essex an incredible eight-wicket win.
