Shane Snater played an incisive role as Essex beat Gloucestershire by 63 runs in a one-sided Metro Bank One Day Cup contest in Bristol.

Called into the side after missing the competition opener against Warwickshire four days earlier, the 28-year-old seamer took three wickets in 13 deliveries in a devastating new-ball burst that fundamentally undermined Gloucestershire's top order.

Chasing 263, the home side lost wickets with haste thereafter, five top or middle-order batsmen falling in single figures as last season's beaten semi-finalists were dismissed for 199 in 36.2 overs, Snater claiming 3-39 and Jamal Richards 2-33.

Put into bat, Essex posted 262-8, thanks in the main to half-centuries from Luc Benkenstein and Robin Das, who staged a restorative partnership of 88 in 17 overs to rescue the visitors from 86-4.

Das contributed 52 from 71 deliveries and Benkenstein a career-best 67 from 62 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Gloucestershire seamer Dom Goodman returned impressive figures of 4-43, his best in List-A cricket.

Buoyed by their first win in the 50-over competition, Essex will attempt to strengthen their position when they embark upon successive home matches against Leicestershire and Glamorgan on Wednesday and Sunday respectively.

A heavy defeat in front of their home crowd appeared an unlikely scenario when Gloucestershire won the toss and Ajeet Singh Dale removed Nick Browne in the first over.

But Feroze Khushi and Tom Westley weathered the storm and mustered eight fours and a six between them in a second-wicket partnership of 59 in 61 balls, until Khushi pulled a short delivery from Singh Dale to mid-wicket and departed for a 29-ball 31.

Goodman struck with his first delivery to bowl Westley for 23 and, when Charlie Allison edged behind off Smith, Essex were 86-4.

Das and Benkenstein combined clever placement and hard running to rebuild the innings, putting on 50 in 52 balls.

Initially the more aggressive, Das went to his half-century from 64 balls as the innings gained momentum in the middle overs. But Das hit Smith high to long on where Cameron Bancroft parried the ball before stepping over the rope to enable Ollie Price to complete a remarkable catch.

Although Benkenstein raised his 50 in style, slog-sweeping Smith for six, he was unable to convert a substantial score into a truly meaningful one, lofting Goodman to deep cover and becoming part of a mini-collapse that saw Essex slip from 174-4 to 211-7 in six overs.

Goodman accounted for Noah Thain and Snater, before Ben Allison and Richards staged a useful unbroken stand of 23 for the ninth wicket.

Any suggestion Essex might have fallen short with the bat was quickly dispelled as Snater took a wrecking ball to the top order, pinning Miles Hammond lbw, bowling Price and then having James Bracey caught behind to reduce Gloucestershire to 28-3 in seven overs.

The only top-order batsman to reach double figures, Bancroft nicked Ben Allison behind as the hosts subsided to 33-4 and that became 43-5, Jack Taylor chopping on as Richards claimed a wicket with his third ball from the Bristol Pavilion end.

Graeme van Buuren and Ben Charlesworth added 30 runs in 7.4 overs before a further body blow.

It was self-inflicted, van Buuren pushing a ball from Thain to mid-on and setting off for a single, only to be run out by Das for 21. When Charlesworth holed out to deep square leg later in the same over, Gloucestershire were 76-7 and heading for a second defeat in four days.

Singh Dale (63) and Smith (29 not out) restored a vestige of pride in a stand of 85 in eight overs, a club record for the last wicket in List-A matches, eclipsing the mark set by David Graveney and John Mortimore in a contest against Lancashire at Tewksbury in 1973.