ESSEX host Glamorgan in a do-or-die Twenty20 match at Chelmsford tonight.
Only victory against the Dragons will keep alive the Eagles’ hopes of reaching the lucrative knock-out stages.
Essex’s hopes were dealt a major blow on Wednesday as Hampshire won their rain-affected match at the Rose Bowl.
The county now must win against Glamorgan tonight, and Kent next Friday, and hope a clutch of other results go their way.
Both games are at home and Essex coach Paul Grayson says they need to need to make that advantage count.
He said: “Our lack of consistency within the side is a real concern. It seems that whenever we put on a really good performance we follow-up with a disappointing display in the next game.
“We haven’t played the sort of cricket we wanted in the competition this year but I still fancy that if we can get those two wins, then we are capable of going on to win this competition.”
Graham Napier is still ruled out with a hamstring problem, but there is a chance that Scott Styris could recover from a calf injury to play.
Club captain James Foster will serve the second of his two-match ban disciplinary ban, so Ravi Bopara will deputise as skipper.
Reece Topley is also unavailable having joined the England under-19 squad ahead of their one-day series against South Africa.
The Eagles won the reverse fixture in Cardiff last month by six wickets as Owais Shah scored 60, and spinner Tim Phillips claimed 3-18.
But the Dragons won on their last t20 visit to Chelmsford when a brutal 89 from Mark Cosgrove saw them chase down 192 with 14 balls to spare.
Cosgrove faces a fitness test on a side strain before tonight’s match.
But one man who will definitely be missing for Glamorgan will be their leading wicket-taker Robert Croft.
The 41-year-old former England off-spinner has decided to step aside to give some of the club’s younger players an opportunity to play.
Tonight’s match starts at 7pm, with gates opening at 5pm.
Essex squad: Pettini, Wheater, Shah, Bopara, Walker, ten Doeschate, Styris, Westley, Phillips, Southee, Wright, Masters, Craddock.
Glamorgan squad: Petersen, Cosgrove, Allenby, Rees, Walters, O’Shea, Cooke, Brown, Wallace, James, Harris, Jones, Jones, Owen.
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