BBC SPORT | Cricket | Counties | Irani inspires Essex

B&H Cup semi-final, Chelmsford
Worcestershire 124 all out (33.4 overs)
Essex 262-9 (50 overs)
Essex win by 138 runs

Essex beat Worcestershire by a huge margin in a game utterly dominated by the home side.

Captain Ronnie Irani produced a stellar performance after weather forced the match to be straddled over two days.

Irani grabbed three wickets after topscoring with 57 off 55 balls in the home team's imposing total.

"We've got a fantastic club here and I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's been a difficult two or three years and at the moment these are the best days of my cricketing career.

Irani smashes Lampitt for six over mid-on

"I'm loving it and so is the rest of the team. It's great to see smiles in the dressing room again," said Irani.

Worcestershire's bowlers failed to capitalise in what were good bowling conditions after captain Graeme Hick won the toss and chose to bat first.

The match did not start until mid-afternoon on Thursday, and the Essex batting triumvirate of Irani, Nasser Hussain and Andy Flower defied the gloomy weather to post a fine score.

Opening bowlers Allan Donald and Alamgir Sheriyar were expensive throughout.

Hussain hit 35 off just 30 balls before he was the first man to go, spectacularly held by Anurag Singh at mid-on off Kabir Ali.

The team spirit has been unbelievable - even before we bowled a ball

Ronnie Irani

Flower produced some classy, deft touches but wasted the opportunity to go on and make a really big score when he was run out for 45.

By then, Irani was really getting going - three trademark sixes over mid-wicket advancing him to 57 off 56 balls.

But just as he looked to take Essex to a huge score, a collapse halted the home team's progress.

Irani was stumped in strange fashion off Sheriyar when he set off for a run thinking Rhodes had missed the ball.

Hussain carts Sheriyar for four through the covers

And Ali returned to dismiss most of the tail, returning to excellent figures of 4-34.

Essex's bowlers then bowled a far better line than Worcestershire's had done.

And Irani grabbed the first two wickets as the pressure told.

First, he had Anurag Singh lbw with one that jagged back, and Graeme Hick caught at backward point for a golden duck.

Ashley Cowan struck when he dismissed Vikram Solanki lbw and Irani put the cap on a fine day for Essex by trapping Ben Smith, who again fell lbw.

On Friday morning, Jon Dakin and John Stephenson both struck blows before a run out saw an increasingly-desperate Worcestershire lose their seventh wicket.

With the cause hopeless, topscorer Steve Rhodes - who hit a brave 41 - was eventually caught and bowled by Andy Clarke.

And the end came when Graham Napier caught Donald to give Clarke his third wicket.

"We came into it with confidence but Essex played well, got the momentum going, and we didn't play as well we can in all three departments," Worcestershire skipper Hick commented.

Essex: R C Irani (capt), N Hussain, D D J Robinson, A Flower (wkt), A P Grayson, J P Stephenson, G R Napier, J M Dakin, A Habib, A P Cowan, A J Clarke.

Worcestershire: G A Hick (capt), S J Rhodes (wkt), V S Solanki, A Singh, B F Smith, D A Leatherdale, G J Batty, Kabir Ali, S R Lampitt, A A Donald, A Sheriyar.


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