ESSEX are looking to maintain their unbeaten record in the Clydesdale Bank40 competition when they entertain Glamorgan at Chelmsford this evening with the match scheduled to start at 4.40pm.

The home side have yet to be beaten in their six matches although two of those have been abandoned, the latest coming at Trent Bridge on Sunday after the third of three rain interruptions had ended the Nottinghamshire innings on 124 for seven from 23 overs.

Set a Duckworth/Lewis target of 74 to win in 10 overs but with light drizzle falling, Essex were denied the opportunity of starting their innings when umpires Richard Illingworth and Peter Hartley called the game off shortly after 6.50pm, the latest time that the match could have resumed.

That decision left Essex head coach Paul Grayson fuming and it was the ground staff who felt the full force of his angst as he went out onto the field and publicly remonstrated with them.

“I was not at all happy after our game with Nottinghamshire was abandoned,” he said.

“Obviously I felt that we had a good chance of chasing down those runs. I was very disappointed and I expressed my opinions to the ground staff who said that they couldn’t get the covers off in time.

“They said they didn’t have the manpower to do so in such a short period of time and I told them that I had 12 players who would be quite happy and willing to give them a hand like people do in club cricket.

“I’m going to speak to our chief executive David East to see whether we can write a formal complaint to the relevant people about what happened (at Trent Bridge).”

Grayson’s outburst comes just two weeks after club were fined �5,000 by the ECB for a series of disciplinary issues by their players which also attracted a two-match ban for skipper James Foster who was held responsible for the discipline of the players during this period.

Following their head coach’s spat with the Trent Bridge ground staff on Sunday, the club will now have to wait and see if there is any reaction from the ECB which could attract further disciplinary measures.

Essex have named a 13-man squad for tonight’s encounter that includes New Zealand international Scott Styris who agreed to extend his t20 contract with the county to embrace Sunday’s match at Nottinghamshire and this fixture with Glamorgan.

Essex (from): J Foster (cap/wkt), M Pettini, A Wheater, O Shah, R Bopara, R ten Doeschate, S Styris, G Napier, D Masters, T Phillips, C Wright, T Craddock, T Westley.

Glamorgan (from): A Petersen (capt), G Rees, J Allenby, S Walters, C Cooke, N James, M O’Shea, M Wallace (wkt), J Harris, W Owen, D Cosker, A Jones, S Jones.