ESSEX cruised to a six-wicket victory in their Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Lancashire Lightning at Chelmsford today (Tuesday).
The Eagles easily chased down the Lightning's 247-7 with Jesse Ryder smashing 71 not out off 52 balls. However, it was Tom Westley who top-scored with his 84 coming from a slightly slower 91 deliveries.
Essex were looking to bounce back after suffering successive defeats against Leicestershire in the One-Day Cup and Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals.
Winning the toss, skipper Ryan ten Doeschate put the visitors into bat and the Eagles' bowling attack managed to restrict the Lightning, whilst also taking wickets at regular intervals.
After Usman Khawaja (14) and Ashwell Prince (18) had fallen early, Karl Brown 47 and skipper Paul Horton put on 58 for the third wicket before ten Doeschate struck to former the former for 47.
Horton found support from Steven Croft and the pair put on 63 for the fourth wicket before Matt Salisbury, who finished with figures of 4-55 from his ten overs, neatly caught and bowled the Lancashire captain for 49.
Croft went onto make 51 before he was caught behind by James Foster off Salisbury with the score on 217-5.
Jordan Clark hit a straight six in his unbeaten run-a-ball 21 but more wickets fell as the concluded on 247-7.
In reply, Mark Pettini fell cheaply for two but in form Westley and Greg Smith put on 66 for the second wicket before the latter was out for 27.
Kishen Velani made 23 from 24 balls as he and Westley put on 53 before the youngster fell with the score on 121-3.
Westley and Ryder than accelerated the scoring rate but only added 48 before the former became Arron Lilley's second wicket of the match.
Ryder continued to attack and together with ten Doeschate's brisk 26 not out from 29 balls, they eased home with 11 overs to spare.
The result leaves Essex joint top of Group A with Gloucestershire having taken four points from three matches.
