By Dave Buxton
March 31 2003

Essex lost their second match on tour, this time to Western Province's Academy by the margin of 30 runs at Belville CC on Thursday. A new look team saw the new faces do well, with Justin Bishop picking up 3-37 & Barry Hyam with 37*. It still wasn't enough to prevent defeat in the 45 overs contest.

Essex Lose One-Day Academy Match

Essex again fielded 12 men in this match, the second on tour, with Adrian McCoubrey just fielding and bowling and Darren Robinson just batting. Essex fielded a few new faces from the defeat to the WP 'B' team, seeing Mark Pettini in after recovering from injury, new signings Adrian McCoubrey and Nick Denning make their Essex debuts, while Joe Grant, Barry Hyam, Zoheb Sharif and Justin Bishop also came in for their first start of the tour.

Paul Grayson lost the toss again and the team were asked to field first. The match was delayed by 15 minutes because of due on the outfield, so the the losing of the toss looked as if it might have not been a bad thing.

The pitch was slow and Essex bowled tightly, although would have been disappointed to see the home side reach 197-8 off their 45 overs.

The two debutants bowled very economically, with McCoubrey bowling 9 overs for just 32 and Denning 7 for just 23 with 2 maidens. Unfortunately, none of them took a wicket.

It was Justin Bishop who was the star, with excellent figures of 9-1-37-3. Surely he's the man to replace Mark Ilott now. Joe Grant took 2-39 off 7, while a rare bowl for Ravi Bopara saw him take 2-29 from 6 overs. The only spinner used was Zoheb Sharif with his leggies and he picked up 1-33 from 7.

Still, 198 seemed a target within Essex's reach, although losing two early wickets of Will Jefferson and captain Grayson (both 2) didn't help, as both men struggle for form on tour.

Darren Robinson looked good again for 22, but when he went it was left to Aftab Habib and the rest to take Essex home.

This was not achieved, although Habib with 32, Mark Pettini with a good 34 and Barry Hyam with an unbeaten 37 tried their best, but none of them pushed on and the support from the rest was lacking, as the county fell short by 30 runs, in making 167-8 from 45 overs.

So, a second deafeat, but a good effort by the new players coming into the side. Next up, is the full Western Province team on Sunday, who are lead by new South African skipper Graeme Smith. They are also the champions of the SA one-day competition, so it'll be a hard task.

WESTERN PROVINCE ACADEMY INNS: 197-8 (45 Ovs) -

Bishop	.........	9-1-37-3
Grant	.........	7-0-39-2
McCoubrey	.........	9-0-32-0
Denning	.........	7-2-23-0
Bopara	.........	6-0-29-2
Sharif	.........	7-0-33-1

ESSEX INNS: 167-8 (45 Ovs) -

D.D.J. Robinson	.........	22
W.I. Jefferson	.........	2
* A.P. Grayson	.........	2
A. Habib	.........	32
M.L. Pettini	.........	34
R.S. Bopara	.........	4
Z.K. Sharif	.........	6
+ B.J. Hyam	.........	37 Not Out
J.E. Bishop	.........	9
N.A. Denning	.........	1 Not Out
Did-Not-Bat:	J.B. Grant

RESULT: ESSEX LOST BY 30 RUNS

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Date: 27/3/03

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