ALEX Gidman was left to rue a sluggish start with the ball as a Ravi Bopara-inspired Essex eased to an eight-wicket CB40 victory over Gloucestershire.
On his return to the Eagles line-up the England star stroked an imperious unbeaten 120 as the hosts powered through to win with 19 balls to spare.
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Kane Williamson hit 73 for Gloucestershire
Earlier a superb 73 from Kiwi star Kane Williamson and gutsy half-century from Ian Cockbain helped Gloucestershire post a competitive 224 for five.
But despite claiming the early wicket of Mark Pettini, thanks to a catch from skipper Gidman off Ian Saxelby the Eagles took control.
Bopara took control, combining in a partnership of 185 for the second wicket with Terry Westley (82) to punish some errant bowling as the hosts took firm control.
"We didn't bowl as well as we can at the start of the Essex innings. If you give class players easy scoring opportunities they will take them," Gidman said.
"The pitch stayed pretty consistent all through and if you bowled at the top of off stump it was hard to score. Essex did that better than us."
Gidman was happy with the way his side wrestled back their innings after a slow start in which the Essex bowling attack got on top.
Kiwi star Williamson, who will leave for New Zealand's tour of the West Indies at the end of the month, again looked in fine form.
There were also telling lower order contributions from Ian Cockbain, who hit an unbeaten half-century, and seasonal debutant Jack Taylor who blasted 22 off 12 balls.
"I felt momentum was with us at the end of our innings. We are a developing batting unit and have guys who can strike the ball well in the closing overs," Gidman said.
"It might have been a slightly below-par score, but if we had taken a few wickets early on it would have been competitive.
Dspite defeat Gidman remains confident that Gloucestershire can challenge for the top positions in their CB 40 group this term.
The Netherlands have raced away at the top of the table, but with plenty of home games to come, not least a triple header at the county's Cheltenham Festival fortress, Gidman is taking an optimistic outlook.
"It's a blow, but only the Netherlands are on a roll in our group, with the rest of the teams beating each other, so we are still well in it," he said.
Gloucestershire return to CB40 action on Sunday when they make the short trip to New Road to face Worcestershire.
The Friends Life t20 then kicks-off on Thursday with the visit of local rivals Somerset to Bristol for a game that star t20 signing Muttiah Muralitharan is set to play.
Source: www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk
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