Essex cruised to victory by nine wickets against Middlesex but the match was marred by injury to Chaminda Vaas.

The Middlesex bowler collided with the boundary boards on attempting to catch a Ravi Bopara drive at long-off and was taken to hospital with a neck injury.

Eoin Morgan starred for the visitors as he struck 100 in what looked to be a challenging total of 277-7 in 50 overs.

But Mark Pettini (103no) and Varuna Chopra (102) made it look easy as Essex wrapped it up with 28 balls to spare.

Bopara hit an unbeaten 56 off 42 balls to follow his century against Ireland last week as Essex completed their third win out of four matches in the Friends Provident Trophy.

But the home side's innings was delayed by 27 minutes as Sri Lanka star Vaas received treatment on the field, before he was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.

"Chaminda unfortunately fell back into the boards and hit his head. He's been taken to do some neurological tests," said Middlesex coach Richard Pybus.

"He was conscious and could feel his fingers and feet. You've got to be very careful with an injury like this, it can sometimes be 48 hours to do the checks."

The 33-year-old paceman was assessed by a consultant at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford before being released at around 1930.

Middlesex had made a bright start to the match, openers Ed Joyce and Nick Compton putting on 52 in 10 overs before Morgan arrived at the crease to stroke a sumptuous century.

David Nash was also among the runs with 51 while Danish Kaneria was the pick of the home bowlers, finishing with figures of 4-49.

But Essex made light of the visitors' total as openers Pettini and Chopra put on 193 in 34 overs, both batsmen recording their highest one-day score against docile bowling, Ben Hutton taking the only wicket when he had Chopra caught at deep square leg.