ESSEX Eagles head coach Chris Silverwood is leaving nothing to chance as they look to secure a home quarter-final in the Royal London One-Day Cup against Gloucestershire today.

The Eagles travel to Bristol for their final qualifying group match with the knowledge that victory will guarantee a place in the quarter-finals and a home tie at The Essex County Ground.

They start the final round of matches in second place, two points behind leaders Somerset but four teams are closely packed behind the Eagles and retaining hopes of extending their interest in the 50-over tournament.

And Silverwood admits that the agonising four-run defeat at Lord’s on Sunday by Middlesex has put pressure on his side.

“Everything had gone very well for us in that game until the Middlesex bowlers strangled us the second-half of our innings,” he said. “We needed 126 runs off the last 30 overs and you expect our batting line-up to be able to get that.

“It wasn’t an easy wicket to score on and credit to their bowlers particularly, James Franklin and Toby Roland-Jones but just over four runs an over from that stage should have been well within our capabilities.

“Had we won, it might have given us the opportunity to give one or two of our players a bit of a rest ahead of the vital Championship game with Sussex later in the week and give a youngster or two an opportunity.

“Now we need to play our strongest available team for today’s match because we don’t want to leave anything to chance and it’s now all about winning that game.

“Our destiny is in our own hands.”

Essex have named a 15-man squad for the match against the West Country side Gloucestershire who are currently one place off the foot of the table and with no chance of making the last knockout stages.

Essex squad: Bopara, Foster, Masters, Browne, Napier, Westley, ten Doeschate, Lawrence, Mickleburgh, Porter, Taylor, Ryder, Quinn, Zaidi