Royals Hopeful of Skipper's Return for Essex Clash

Jun 27 2013

It is hoped Dimi will be fit enough to play

Essex Eagles V Hampshire Royals
Friends Life t20
Friday 28th June (19:00hrs start)
Essex County Ground

Friday night at "Fortress Chelmsford" and an expectant Essex Eagles supportership awaits the Hampshire Royals for their second fixture in the Friends Life T20.

Hampshire Royals:
The visitors are optimistic that captain Dimitri Mascarenhas will return to the side for this clash having missed the team’s opening night victory over Surrey at The Ageas Bowl.

But even if the all-rounder hasn’t fully recovered from the back spasm he suffered against Durham in their Yorkshire Bank 40 match last weekend, they’ll be comforted by the knowledge that not only did stand-in skipper Neil McKenzie make the job of leading the team look easy on Wednesday, he also batted with the effortless grace and power fans of the South Coast side have grown to expect.

Another batsman for whom Friday night’s omens look good is Michael Carberry. The opener top scored with 60 last time out and also, along with James Vince, propelled the Royals to an emphatic victory when these two teams met at the Essex County Ground in the YB40 competition in May.

The Opposition:
For the hosts, this will be their first excursion in the shortest format this season and the first opportunity for overseas player Shaun Tait to show what he's made of. The last time the Royals came up against him was as a Dragon, when he went wicketless from four overs as Glamorgan beat Hampshire at the SWALEC in 2010.

It's not yet clear whether the match will come too soon for second T20 specialist, Hamish Rutherford to play as he will be involved on Thursday night for New Zealand against England at the Kia Oval.

However, now that they have Ryan ten Doeschate and Owais Shah back from the IPL the Eagles will not be left wanting for powerhitting!

Recent Form:
The Royals could barely be in better form in the limited-overs competitions this season. They lie second in Yorkshire Bank 40 Group B with a game in hand and top the Friends Life t20 South Group, albeit after only one game.

As defending Champions in both competitions, confidence is understandably high – this team just seem to know how to win one-day matches from any situation.

Essex, for whom this match will count as their first outing in the shortest format, have had a mixed limited overs season so far. A humbling at the hands of the Royals in their opening 40-over match has since been followed by high profile victories, not least of all against Surrey – a match in which Graeme Napier took four wickets in four balls!

They currently lie fourth in YB40 Group B with four wins and three losses.

Full Squad:

Coverage:
There will be NO live text commentary available via the Hampshire Cricket Twitter and Facebook pages.

However, there will be ball-by-ball commentary available on BBC Radio Solent online at bbc.co.uk and via the Tune-In radio app (search for BBC Live Event number 17).

There will be no TV coverage of this match.

Weather Forecast:
Weather Forecast for Essex can be found here

Tickets:
This match is sold out.