Tom Westley and Matt Salisbury starred for Essex Eagles as they easily beat Lancashire Lightning by six wicketsin the Royal London One-Day Cup at the Essex County Ground to claim their second win in the competition.
After the 21-year-old right-arm seamer picked up a career-best 4-55 in his allocation of 10 overs, Westley struck a superb 84 as his side got home with 71 deliveries to spare.
On a pitch containing very little pace, the 25 year-old right-hander was on course for his third limited-overs century of the summer until he hit off-spinner Arron Lilley to deepish midwicket, where Steven Croft dived forward to pull off a fine catch.
Until that moment, Westley's only moment of indiscretion came when he edged a Kyle Jarvis no-ball into the hands of Ashwell Prince at second slip with only four to his name.
Westley went on to drive and pull with increasing authority to take the game away from the visitors.
His runs came from 91 balls, with the help of 10 fours, and he shared in half-century stands with Greg Smith (27) and Kishen Velani (23) before he was dismissed.
Westley's departure came with the total on 169 in the 30th over but that brought together Jesse Ryder and Ryan ten Doeschate, and they hit a flurry of boundaries to condemn Lancashire to their third defeat in as many matches in the competition.
MEN OF THE MATCH - Tom Westley and Jesse Ryder shared the @WoodlandGroup award, presented by Mark Kirby #EssvLanpic.twitter.com/bTHIUpZh1a
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) August 5, 2014
Ryder finished unbeaten with 71 from 52 balls that contained 10 boundaries, including one six, while his skipper ended with 26 during an unbroken stand of 80 in nine overs.
Lancashire's batsmen had earlier struggled to make an impact, managing only 31 in the 10 overs of powerplay, during which they lost Usman Khawaja when he drove Graham Napier to mid-on.
Karl Brown needed 79 balls to make s 47 before he was caught behind by James Foster off Ten Doeschate, the bowler having put him down in the covers shortly before. That left Lancashire 114 for three in the 30th over.
Paul Horton required 55 deliveries to make 49, driving a return catch to Salisbury while the young paceman also got rid of top-scorer Croft for 51 from 59 balls with the help of wicketkeeper Foster.
Salisbury's other victims were Wayne White for nought and Prince, who drove to Ten Doeschate stationed at mid-on to end an innings of 18 which comprised 40 deliveries.
The visitors’ only six came off the last ball of the innings when Jordan Clark lifted a Salisbury delivery into the crowd
Essex's success was only their second victory in the last seven limited-overs matches and ended a run of four successive defeats at Chelmsford to get their white ball season back on track.
SHOTS OF THE ACTION: @kishenvelani8 in action today in the One-Day Cup & hit 23 runs v Lancashire Lightning #EssvLanpic.twitter.com/zS0DJ7MeMW
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) August 5, 2014
Westley said: "It was a convincing performance and a fine all-round effort. I thought our bowlers executed their skills particularly well to restrict Lancashire to less than 250.
"Personally I was disappointed to get out for 84 because I felt that I should have gone on to make a century, but Jesse Ryder and Ryan ten Doeschate played superbly and got us comfortably over the line."
Lancashire assistant coach Gary Yates said: "It felt as though we were short with 247, no doubt about that.
"It was a good toss to win because the pitch was a bit sticky this morning and there was a slight bit of dampness. Napier and Masters are quality bowlers, and they exposed it.
"In hindsight, we were short of some bigger shots at the start of the innings. Credit to their two bowlers, they put us 25 runs behind where we wanted to be."