da aposte e ganhe： Essex have lost more wickets than anyone else in the Blast but their batters just keep coming
da cassino online： Alan Gardner14-Jul-2023There are three things that it is worth knowing about Essex’s 2023 Vitality Blast campaign. The first is that they squeezed through to the quarter-finals with their last hit of the group stage, as Feroze Khushi’s cow-corner slog was carried over the rope by Chris Jordan to secure a three-wicket win against Surrey. Even then, progress wasn’t confirmed until Kent lost at Somerset later that night.The second and third are linked, and tell you a bit about that dramatic finish at The Oval. No team has gone harder from the start of their batting innings than Essex, a powerplay run rate of 10.30 more than half a run per over above the next team on the list. And similarly, no team has lost more wickets in this year’s Blast. You can land your punches but Essex just keep coming.It may not the perfect strategy, but it clearly suits a group of cavalier young players balanced out by a few senior heads. In that Surrey game, for instance, Essex lost a wicket from the second ball of their chase of 196, then freewheeled along at more than 12 an over until the departure of Dan Lawrence in the 12th; from which point they lost 6 for 48 to put the result back into the balance right up until Khushi’s finisher.Leading the way in a line-up that clearly likes to buckle its swash is Michael Pepper, who powered the Oval chase alongside Lawrence with 75 off 39 balls. A 25-year-old who styles himself on AB de Villiers and speaks with a similar, though less-pronounced, twang – Pepper was born in the UK to an English father and South African mother – he has been Essex’s leading run-scorer in each of the last three editions of the Blast. Over the last two summers, he has 830 T20 runs at a strike rate of 168.35. Only one player has scored as heavily at a quicker rate – Somerset’s Will Smeed (900 at 169.17).Related
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“It’s definitely fearless cricket, just trying to take the game on as much as you can,” Pepper tells ESPNcricinfo. “Always looking to be positive and trust your instincts when you are out there, and it’s definitely helped by our batting line-up batting so deep. Literally anyone in almost the top nine or 10 can win you the game from a lot of different positions. So the fact that we have just that depth the whole way down [means] we can continue being aggressive and that’s definitely our mantra, of trying to take the game on as much as we can.”In fact, according to Daniel Sams, the Australia allrounder who is one of those match-winners down the order – and currently the most valuable player in the competition according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats – Essex have tried to dismantle one of T20’s most-established axioms: if you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you are likely to lose the game.”We have lost three wickets in six overs probably more than once this tournament but I’m pretty sure at least one of those games, after six overs we were still going at tens and we still won the game,” Sams says. “So I think that mentality of old – lost a few wickets and we need to hold back – doesn’t really work anyway. The buy in is, ‘Let’s just be bold, let’s be brave and just keep doing what we would do, regardless of the situation.’ Because all the situations or scenarios, that’s just a distraction from how you can best play your game.”Michael Pepper brings out his trademark reverse•Getty ImagesAs befits a team that prizes strike rate above average, Essex have been three down in the powerplay six times this season, and won three of them – including a rocky start of 31 for 4 in 4.2 overs chasing 151 at Canterbury (victory achieved with four wickets and 10 balls to spare).It is four years since Essex won their maiden T20 title with a team, again led by Simon Harmer, featuring club greats Ryan ten Doeschate and Ravi Bopara. Pepper was an unused squad member for Finals Day in 2019 but is now foremost among a clutch of players aged 22-25 – including Khushi, Robin Das and Will Buttleman – who are looking to repeat the feat. Lawrence, 26, who starred in the quarter-final win over Birmingham and is in his last season for the club having agreed a move to Surrey, will also be key, although Khushi has been ruled out of involvement due to a fractured hand.Pepper has already had a taste of the franchise world that is opening up for short-format cricketers, playing in the Hundred and Abu Dhabi T10. But he has not contemplated taking the route Smeed opted for in signing a white-ball-only contract with Somerset and hopes to attract the interest of England – and perhaps one day the IPL – through the established pathways.”I don’t like tipping myself as just a T20 player,” Pepper says. “I’m still trying to get in all the Essex teams. I’ve still got quite a heavy focus on four-day cricket, but it [T20] just seemed to be the one that’s come the most natural to me – [where I’ve] just excelled, being able to go out and express myself, playing on natural feel.”
A treat for your eyes: Six outrageous Michael Pepper sixes #Blast23 #FinalsDay pic.twitter.com/Aki5Epazbm
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