Feroze Khushi inspires Essex to Blast victory over Glamorgan

Essex made it four wins in a row by beating Glamorgan by four wickets in the Vitality Blast.

Academy graduate FerozeKhushi crashed a 37-ball 61 as Essex comfortably chased down 175, despite losing three early wickets thanks to Jamie McIlroy’s four for 36.

Khushi is in prime position to become a guaranteed first-team player after Dan Lawrence announced he was to join Surrey from next season and showed his incredible promise with four huge sixes.

Paul Walter continued his fine form against Glamorgan with 43, before Matt Critchley and Daniel Sams saw off most the remaining runs with 24 balls to spare.

Having been stuck in on a fresh pitch, Kiran Carlson got the visitors off to a flyer with 43 off 25 balls, which included a straight six off Sams and a swatted pull maximum off Sam Cook.

Sam Northeast, who had earlier been meekly dropped, was the first of three catches for Paul Walter at long-on – with Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke also picking out the tallest man on the field – as Glamorgan reached 55 in the powerplay.

Good start

Glamorgan’s good start was dented by Ingram and Carlson falling in successive overs as Essex claimed control of the middle overs to see the visitors reach 122 for four after 15 overs – with Cooke falling to Harmer.

Critchley lured Billy Root to swing to wide long on but Timm Van Der Gugten smashed Harmer for two sixes in an 18-run over to push Glamorgan closer towards par.

Van Der Gugten was eventually run out in the final over after a brutal 14-ball 33 as Glamorgan ended up on 175 for six – with Sams and Critchley both boasting economical figures of one for 20 to keep the total narrowly in the Eagles’ favour.

Essex took an aggressive approach to their batting, with its result coming in two forms.

On one side they lost two wickets in the first over and three in the powerplay, leaving them 35 for three.

Robin Das slogged his first ball to deep square leg and Michael Pepper ramped the next ball behind. Jamie McIlroy could not get a hat-trick but Josh Rymell chipped to mid on in the left-armer’s following over.

On the other, you had Khushi pinging three sixes in the first three overs as he claimed 33 off his first 11 balls, although took fewer risks to reach his third half-century in 29 balls.

Paul Walter joined Khushi and the pair found a nice rhythm in a 80-run stand from 47 balls.

Walter had scored 58 and 78 in his previous two innings against Glamorgan, he struck 42 before his fourth attempt at a six top-edged to short third.

Khushi was sensationally caught and bowled by Van Der Gugten five balls later to leave 59 off 51 balls.

But Sams and Critchley made sure the result was not in danger, with the former finishing with 41 off 16 and Essex scoring 57 off the last 24 balls they faced.