Half-centuries from Mark Pettini, Ronnie Irani and Ravinder Bopara helped Essex to a convincing win in the opening match of their Pro40 campaign.

Chasing 280, Northamptonshire never recovered from losing Sourav Ganguly and Rob White to successive Andy Bichel deliveries with only 14 on the board.

Earlier, Essex had been given a fine start by Pettini and Irani sharing in an opening stand of 95 in 14 overs.

Bopara and James Middlebrook shared a mid-innings stand of 73 in seven overs.

Pro40 is the new name for county cricket's one-day league, known for a long time as the Sunday League.

Marketeers hope the new format will help young fans step up from the hugely successful Twenty20 to a game twice as long.

Essex won the tournament in its last incarnation, the 45-over Totesport League, last season.