Cricket

TWENTY / 20

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26 June 2008

HAMPSHIRE

Surrey lost to Hampshire by 4 wickets 

DESPITE PRODUCING their best batting performance of the campaign so far, a loose bowling performance continued Surrey’s poor Twenty20 run.

Winning the toss and batting, the Brown Caps bounced back from the early losses of Ali Brown and Scott Newman with Mark Ramprakash (60) and first Usman Afzaal (19) and then Abdul Razzaq (65, pictured) putting the sword to the visiting bowlers.

However, with wily Aussie Ian Harvey bowling the last over for just one run – dismissing Razzaq and Jonathan Batty in the process – Hampshire had the momentum going into their reply.

Surrey started well, Pedro Collins trapping Harvey LBW for one, but the twin forces of the brutal Michael Lumb (45 off 21 balls) and the more elegant Michael Carberry (45 off 33 balls), Hampshire made themselves a good platform.

This was capitalised on by Zimbabwean Sean Ervine whose quickfire 46 glossed over consistent wicket losses at the other end and, when he was joined by Greg Lamb at the other end, Hampshire breezed in with six balls to spare.

Particularly culpable for leaking runs were Chris Jordan, twelve an over; Pedro Collins, thirteen an over and the returning Chris Schofield, who took two wickets but still went at a heady eleven runs per over. The pick of the bowlers was Saqlain Mushtaq, who took three wickets at a rate of just six runs per over.

SUSSEX

Sussex beat Surrey by 6 wickets

F THE Essex defeat was simple and crushing, the nature of Sunday’s loss to Sussex was anything but.

After the early loss of Newman, Brown (51, pictured), Ramprakash (33) and Afzaal (38) combined to leave Surrey on 102/2 after ten overs.

With the wealth of batting talent beneath them, this should have provided the Brown Caps with the perfect start to set an intimidating total and do the double over their south coast rivals.

However, once Ramprakash was run out by an excellent direct hit from Robin Martin-Jenkins, the lack of forward momentum caused the innings to fall apart. First Abdul Razzaq took an uncharacteristically tardy seventeen balls to make just twelve runs and then, when he was gone, an inexperienced tail was unable to add any serious runs. Gary Wilson in particular had a day to forget, with his three ball zero including a run out of his senior partner (Afzaal), a failed reverse sweep and ended up with him being stumped for a duck.

Spriegel and Schofield made the best of the last over but despite some streaky hits, could only end the innings on 164/8.

In reply, the early dismissals of Chris Nash and Chris Adams gave Surrey both hope and momentum but this was soon stamped out by brilliant performances from Murray Goodwin (79 not out) and Matthew Prior (56) who took the score from the troublesome 28/2 to the match winning 145/3.

Again, no Surrey bowler particularly distinguished himself but Jade Dernbach, who took both early wickets and eventually nailed Prior, deserves credit for never giving up during his 3/32.

ESSEX

Essex beat Surrey by 70 runs

MEETING THEIR ultimate bogey team at such a crucial stage in the competition was never going to be ideal and so it proved, with Essex recording yet another numbing victory over Surrey.

After winning the toss and putting the hosts in, the Brown Caps were able to take consistent wickets, but a series of decent starts allowed Essex to put good runs on the board. With all of the Eagles’ top six breaking into double figures, consistent wickets from the likes of Saqlain (pictured), Razzaq and pace bowlers Jordan and Jade Dernbach were having a negligible impact and when James Foster (41) and Ryan ten Doeschate (35) combined to take the score to 138, Essex were on top. A great over from Saqlain put the brakes on, but two late blows from James Middlebrook left Essex on a defendable 164/9.

If regular wicket taking had little effect on Essex, it was disastrous for Surrey with only Ali Brown (22) and Mark Ramprakash (18) getting out of the blocks. Realistically with Newman, Afzaal, Razzaq, Batty, Schofield and Jordan not breaking into double figures, the Brown Caps were never in with a shout and only a late fourteen from Saqlain secured any dignity as Surrey slumped to just 94 all out from seventeen overs.

HAMPSHIRE

Hampshire beat Surrey by 6 wickets

WITH QUALIFICATION for the knock out stages now a mathematically impossibility, Surrey slumped to yet another defeat against Hampshire.

In an all too familiar story, a senior player at the top of Brown Caps order delivered early runs –Scott Newman (pictured) leading the way on 52 – and Brown (20), Ramprakash (19) and Afzaal (12) all got in, scored a few, and then got out again without pushing on to score big.

Once these four were through, Razzaq was dismissed for two and Schofield and Wilson also failed, leaving Matthew Spriegel (10 not out) and Stewart Walters (10 not out) to pick up the pieces and leave the total on 147/7.

The total was always likely to be too low to cause Hampshire any serious problems and so it proved. Michael Lumb (63) and Ian Harvey (34) set the platform and although both fell to the spinners, Michael Carberry (28 not out) shepherded the middle order home to hand the home side the win with eleven balls remaining.

Chris Schofield, with 1/27, enjoyed his most successful spell since returning to the competition that made his name last year and Pedro Collins also bowled better than he has in previous games this year, with an economical 0/18 from three overs.

SOUTH DIVISION
Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Middlesex	8	6	2	0	0	10	+0.777
Kent	8	5	3	0	0	10	+0.516
Hampshire	8	5	3	0	0	10	+0.829
Sussex	8	2	6	0	0	4	-0.700
Surrey	8	1	7	0	0	2	-1.095

 

         

  

 

 

 

NEXT MATCH 
Middlesex (H) – T20 – June 27 – 5.30pm 
Kent (H) – County Championship – June 29  – July 2 – 11am

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