Crafty Howell looks set to hurt Essex

Essex v Gloucestershire
Sky Sports Cricket, 7pm Saturday

Essex have a thrilling Twenty20 side on paper but it’s not clicking for the Eagles out on the field and they are uneasy favourites to beat Gloucestershire at Chelmsford.

Ryan ten Doeschate’s side slipped to a fifth defeat in seven completed matches at Lord’s on Thursday when they were pulverised by Middlesex’s Brendon McCullum (63 off 28 balls) and Tom Helm (5-11).

Essex have won two of their last three games at Chelmsford although their bowlers took a pounding from Glamorgan in front of their own crowd as the Welsh visitors chased down 220, hitting a four and a six off the last two balls.

Opener Varun Chopra made a century in a losing cause that day but youngster Dan Lawrence could be the value to be Essex’s top runscorer.

Lawrence has made decent contributions in his last three Blast outings at number three, making 29 off 16 balls against Middlesex last time out – the second-highest score of the innings.

He top-scored with a fluent 47 in the home win over Hampshire and struck 24 in a low-scoring defeat at Surrey where Ten Doeschate’s 28 was the best Essex effort.

Gloucestershire, who finished top of the South Group in 2016, were in action against Hampshire on Friday night and their underrated Twenty20 side is epitomised by all-rounder Benny Howell.

The Bordeaux-born Howell is enjoying a vintage summer in the Blast, taking nine wickets at just 15 runs apiece in his first five games and contributing 108 runs at an average of 27.

He is 12-1 with bet365 to be named man of the match and his crafty medium-pace bowling could reap rewards at a venue where Ravi Bopara, a similar type of performer with the ball, took 4-19 against Hampshire.

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