Cricket

TWENTY/20

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20 June 2008

ESSEX 

Surrey (0) lost to Essex (2) by seven wickets

A STUMBLING performance from beginning to end saw the Brown Caps Twenty20 campaign get off to the worst possible start.

Surrey much vaunted batting order of hitters failed to get into gear, with the top three of Scott Newman, James Benning and Mark Ramprakash all scoring a solitary run leaving Surrey on 10-3 with the overs already ticking by.

It left Ali Brown and Usman Afzaal to do some repair work before they could open their arms for some lusty hitting, but when they did it led to their downfall.

Afzaal, 25 off 24 balls, at least managed a couple of huge sixes before going for one too many, and skied a catch to Ravi Bopara who had dropped a chance just one ball earlier.

Ali Brown soon followed for 35, when wily spinner Danish Kaneria outwitted him and cleaned out his stumps.

It was left to Jon Batty and the mixture of bowlers cum all rounders to muster a decent total, but wickets continued to fall at a steady rate and the home side could only muster 126 for 9 off their allotted overs.

Surrey have defended low totals in the past with some sterling bowling efforts, but any such thoughts were banished with Mark Pettini stamping his authority all over the Surrey attack.

The opener managed 66 off 52 balls and his efforts meant that Essex were always within reach of the low total.

Hopes were briefly raised when Varun Chopra edged Matt Nicholson to Batty behind the stumps. But this bought the prolific Ravi Bopara, fresh from a one day double hundred, to the crease and the stand of 82 between Bopara and Pettini effectively won the game.

Pettini was the star of the show hitting five fours and five sixes in his effort, and he was particularly harsh on the returning Chris Lewis who looked sadly out of his depth.

KENT 

Surrey (0) lost to Kent (2) by thirteen runs

ALTHOUGH THE home team raised their level of performance in their second outing, it was not enough to overhaul a decent total set by the current Twenty20 champions, who clinched this game by thirteen runs.

Surrey were once again on the back foot from the outset of the Spitfires openers Joe Denly and Robert Key put on a quickfire 80, but Surrey showed backbone that they failed to do in their opening fixture.

Denly was particularly destructive hitting a half century off just 33 balls before succumbing to Surrey's new recruit Abdul Razzaq.

Razzaq and Chris Jordan were doing a fine job of choking the runs in the middle overs and turning the game back Surrey's way, but a knock of 31 off just 24 balls from Darren Stevens saw the Kent reach a stiff target of 182 for victory.

The home team got off to a good start with openers Benning and Newman both striking boundaries before the former was bowled by Ross McClaren when on 17.

Skipper Ramprakash came to the crease and continued with the attacking tempo set by the openers, including hitting Simon Cook for a massive six.

Just as thoughts turned to a possible successful run chase, Ramprakash holed out in the deep for 18.

The pattern was repeated throughout the innings, as Kent continued to eek out wickets just at moments when victory was on the home side's radar.

Particularly refreshing was the hitting of Chris Jordan and Matt Spriegel who were required to hit 25 off the last over.
Spriegel hit a six off Azhar Mahmood's first ball again raising hopes of victory, but with the Surrey old boy tightening up for the remainder of the over the two youngsters fell just short.

SUSSEX

Surrey (2) beat Sussex (0) by five wickets

SURREY CHALKED up their first win of their Twenty20 campaign at the attempt, and were indebted to Abdul Razzaq, their new overseas signing, for getting them home.

With the home side posed on 90-5, chasing a target of 142, Razzaq hit five fours and a couple of sixes off twenty balls as his 39no won the day.

Earlier the Brown Caps bowlers had to work overtime to peg back the Sussex innings, with opener Chris Nash hitting a half century off 40 balls.

It was left to the spin twins of Matthew Spriegel and Usman Afzaal to slow the innings down, as both gave away just sixteen off their allotted overs and picked up three wickets.

As with Surrey's innings the Sharks were poised to collapse on 100-5, but skipper Chris Adams and Michael Yardy managed to get the Sussex total to 141. Four of Surrey's top order all managed to get starts in their response but as with their previous encounter with Kent, they were losing wickets at crucial moments.

West Indian Dwayne Smith was proving to be a particular thorn in the side, ending up with impressive figures of 3/14 off his four overs.

Scott Newman again proved to be the backbone of the early efforts by the Brown Caps, but when Jon Batty fell to Robin Martin-Jenkins leaving the home team with five wickets down the game could have gone either way.

But up stepped Razzaq, supported by Usman Afzaal, to wipe away any doubts as the home team reached their target with two overs to go.

MIDDLESEX

Middlesex (2) beat Surrey (0) by five wickets

SURREY VENTURED to Lords to take on the unbeaten boys in pink, looking for a victory that would bolster their qualification for the knock out stages.

Despite only setting Middlesex  only 142 for victory, the game was never one-sided and it was not until an Ed Joyce and Dawid Malan put on 57 in just eight overs that the game went their way.

Surrey, who was put into bat, got off to a stinker when Scott Newman was caught behind with just one on the board. His opening partner and Chris Jordan, pushed up to number three, then put on a stand of 60 before Jordan finally succumbed on 31.

Once again the rest of order reverted to type by getting starts before holing out, and Surrey will have been unhappy with their total having recovered from a dodgy start.

As with Surrey's innings, Middlesex failed to get out of the block week and found themselves two down with just seven on the board.

It was left to the Irish pair of Eoin Morgan and Joyce to repair their innings, before Abdul Razzaq took a couple of quick wickets to leave the home side tottering on 63-4.

But the fifty stand between Joyce (47) and Malan (41no) saw them almost reach the finishing line, before Joyce fell again to Razzaq.

Despite this Malan saw his side home with six balls to spare, leaving the Brown Caps on the brink of elimination from the competition.

South Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Middlesex	4	4	0	0	0	8	+1.285
Kent	4	3	1	0	0	6	-0.283
Essex	4	2	2	0	0	4	+0.113
Hampshire	4	2	2	0	0	4	+0.100
Surrey	4	1	3	0	0	2	-0.616
Sussex	4	0	4	0	0	0	-0.634

 

 

 

 

 

 

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