Warwickshire gain consolation for championship defeat at Chelmsford

Warwickshire gained consolation for their championship defeat when they cruised to a six wicket win against Essex in their National League encounter at Chelmsford.

Skipper Neil Smith was the key figure as he turned in figures of 3-27 with the ball before turning his attentions to fashion the Bears success with an undefeated 75 to steer his side to their victory with more than nine overs to spare.

Essex won the toss and elected to bat but only Paul Grayson and Danny Law provided any challenge to the visitors attack. The pair posted 78 for the 7th wicket after the Eagles had lost their first four wickets for just 22 runs with Saturday's heroes, Ronnie Irani and Stephen Peters managing only 3 runs between them.

Grayson gathered 64 runs with object shot selection whilst Law aided his side's cause with 34 as the pair brought some semblance of respectability as the home side were dismissed for 152 in the 42nd over.

Warwickshire's reply was always well paced, despite the loss of two early wickets to Ashley Cowan whom removed both openers, and although the home side captured the fourth wicket with 88 on the board in the 23rd over, the arrival of Trevor Penney to join his captain triggered the subsequent domination of bat over ball.

Penney was content to play a supporting role as Smith took control as he struck 7 boundaries including a six from the 106 deliveries that he faced. The final six overs were played out in progressively fading light although the gloomy conditions failed to affect the batsmen's total authority.