Surrey 148-6
Essex 149-2Essex win by eight wickets
ESSEX were victorious over Surrey this evening, securing a 149-2 scoreline to win by eight wickets with seven balls to spare.
Surrey won the toss and elected to bat first on a beautiful evening in south London, and it was a good start from opening batsman Jason Roy, who hit two consecutive fours in the first over.
However, his batting partner Davies was caught out from just his first ball, hitting a high shot into the air which was easily caught by Essex's Graham Napier.
In came Ricky Ponting at number three to a huge ovation, but it was Roy who continued to impress, hitting another consecutive fours after three overs.
Ponting was looking sharp and was up to speed with his partner, hitting another four as Surrey moved into the fourth over at 30-1.
Roy continued to wow the crowd as Surrey upped their score but he was eventually stumped out by Essex wicketkeeper Foster thanks to ten Doeschate's quick reactions in the eighth over.
In came fourth batsman Glenn Maxwell to partner Ponting, and the game began to slow down slightly for Surrey as they moved up to 64-2 after 9.3 overs.
Ponting lit up the game shortly after with another couple of fours to increase the score to 82-2 after 12 overs, while Maxwell began to get into a rhythm alongside him.
And the Australian showed his true class in the 13th over with a superb looping shot which he hit behind him to fool the Essex fielders and past the boundary for yet another four.
However, that wasn't the case for Phillips in the Essex fielding, who produced a fantastic one-handed catch deep in the field to dismiss Maxwell for 98-3.
Azhar Mahmood replaced him and was soon clicking with Ponting to move Surrey up to 114-3 after 15.2 overs.
Ponting continued to show his authority in the game as Surrey moved through the overs but he was finally dismissed following 65 runs thanks to another catch from Phillips.
In came Gary Wilson, who sparked further life into Surrey's plays with two fours consecutively to take the hosts up to 143-4 after 18.4 overs.
But the batsman was run out by Napier as Surrey went into the interval 148-6 after 20 overs.
Essex came back out after a ten-minute break and opening hitter Rutherford was certainly in the mood early on, hitting two fantastic sixes after three overs to give them a score of 23-0.
And from the first six, an eagle-eyed spectator in the crowd caught the flying ball to earn himself £1,000.
It was a good start from Essex, who moved up to 34-0 after four overs, with Rutherford scoring 27 and partner Smith on seven.
However, Rutherford was stopped in his tracks as he chased a third six when he was superbly caught by Ansari on the border for 42-1.
But Smith had other ideas as he hit two sixes in quick succession, and just like Rutherford, his effort was well caught by a supporter in the crowd to earn another £1,000 prize from sponsors Kia.
At ten overs, Essex required 60 more runs from 66 balls to beat Surrey, and it was proving to be an expensive night for the sponsors as yet another £1,000 was awarded to anotherfan moments later as Essex pushed up into fifth gear.
At 100-1 after 11.5 overs, Essex needed 49 runs to win with Surrey needing to come up with an answer to stop them in front of the 14,000 spectators inside the Oval.
After 13.4 overs, the requirement became 32 runs from 38 balls as the Oval crowd began a Mexican Wave in front of the Prime Minister David Cameron.
It was certainly looking good for Essex as they moved up to 13-1 after 15.3 overs and requiring 18 runs for victory.
Ponting and Roy looked like a good partnership at the crease for Surrey but Shah and Smith had built up a fantastic score, hitting 90 runs from 64 balls between them.
But Smith was finally dismissed when Maxwell did well to catch his shot from short range to take the score to 140-2.
Ravi Bopara came on to replace Smith for Essex, and with just eight runs needed to win, the crowd could sense victory after 17 overs.
And indeed it was Bopara who sealed the win with seven balls remaining to secure a 149-2 win for Essex, who were victorious by eight wickets.
Surrey: Roy, Davies, Ponting, Maxwell, Wilson, Mahmood, Ansari, de Bruyn, Batty, Lewis, Dernbach.
Essex: Smith, Rutherford, Shah, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Foster, Napier, Phillips, Masters, Topley, Tait.
↧