Paul Walter and Jamie Porter blasted out fragile Middlesex for 149 to claim career-best one-day figures and lay the foundations for Essex’s comfortable seven-wicket Royal London Cup victory today.

Walter marked his List A debut on Wednesday with three wickets at the death against Sussex, and bettered that with four front-line Middlesex wickets for 37 from eight overs. At one stage he had taken four wickets for 21 runs from 27 balls.

Porter weighed in with his four-penneth-worth, claiming his four wickets for 40 as Middlesex, put in, slumped from 54 for one to 117 for nine. Only a last-wicket stand of 31 between Steven Finn and Ravi Patel, the second best of the innings, took Middlesex to a seriously below-par 148. To compound their humiliation, they left nearly 10 of their 50 overs unbowled.

Alastair Cook saw Essex through to their fifth win in six as the day-night match ended with more than 20 overs remaining and still in bright sunlight. Cook finished unbeaten on 67.

After the win, Porter said: “We had the better of the conditions there. The rain definitely livened it up a bit with a bit more zip. The moisture made it grip which suits me because I’m looking to hit the seam, so it definitely helped.

“But, honestly, I think we can all do a lot better with the ball and we’ll admit we didn’t bowl our best. But we managed to bowl the right balls at the right time and got crucial wickets at good times.”