SURREY V KENT -
Royal London One-Day Cup - 12 May 2017
Surrey 251-7 (41 Overs). Kent 204 (35.4 Overs). Surrey won by 44
runs (D/L method).
Ben Foakes added to his growing reputation with a
highly-responsible 82 not out as Surrey kept alive their hopes of
reaching the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-finals by beating Kent
Spitfires by 44 runs at the Kia Oval.
The 24-year-old Foakes, who hit a six and six
fours from 80 balls, was joined in a sixth wicket stand of 79 in 11
overs by Sam Curran as Surrey rallied from 141 for 5 to reach 251
for 7 in an innings reduced to 41 overs by a delayed start and then
two further rain interruptions.
In reply Kent could reach only 204 all out from
35.4 overs as they chased a Duckworth-Lewis adjusted target of 249,
despite 69 from 65 balls from Sam Billings in his first appearance
for the county this season following stints in the Indian Premier
League and in England’s short one-day international series against
Ireland.
Kent lost Daniel Bell-Drummond early, for 11, when
he missed a hoick at Tom Curran, but Joe Denly played well for a
40-ball 34 before inside-edging into his stumps an attempted drive
at Ravi Rampaul.
Sam Northeast put on 38 with Billings but was then
run out for 17 when his partner refused a short single into the
offside, Darren Stevens was leg-before for 5 to what looked to be a
Scott Borthwick googly and Alex Blake briefly glittered with three
fours in a quickfire 22 before mishitting Sam Curran to mid on.
The same bowler castled Calum Haggett (11) and, at
170 for 6 with ten overs left, Kent’s hopes rested with Billings
and the tail.
Those hopes were extinguished when Sam Curran went
around the wicket to have Billings caught on the pull by his brother
Tom at long leg. Billings had struck three sixes and two fours but
his dismissal was symptomatic of Kent’s profligate batting and
they sit at the bottom of the South Group with just one win from six
matches.
The end came soon afterwards with James Tredwell
and Charlie Hartley removed for ducks and Matt Coles last out for a
jaunty 25. Stuart Meaker, who had Coles caught behind hooking at a
bouncer, finished with 4 for 37 and he and Sam Curran (3 for 43)
were the pick of Surrey’s attack.
Sixteen runs came from the first over of the
match, with Roy plundering three high-class boundaries off Coles
after edging the paceman’s second ball just wide of a diving
Tredwell at second slip. A clip through mid wicket, a back foot
cover drive and a thundering pull were all despatched to the ropes
with withering power and a huge total on a fine pitch looked
certain.
Coles, however, hit back to concede just 12 runs
from his next four new ball overs – an excellent effort – and
Haggett, though expensive, snapped up the wicket of Mark Stoneman
for 10 with a fine ball, brilliantly held by keeper Billings as he
flung himself in front of slip.
The first of two rain interruptions came with
Surrey on 58 for 1 off 7.4 overs and, by the time of the second,
they were struggling at 115 from 20.2 with Stevens snaring both
Kumar Sangakkara (19) and Rory Burns (11) in a typically canny spell
of medium pace from the Vauxhall End.
Roy had also by then fallen for a 44-ball 44,
caught at deep square leg off Ivan Thomas after failing to kick on
from his flying start while both Sangakkara and Burns found it
difficult to find fluency against the accurate Stevens and also a
steady six-over spell by Thomas.
Hartley and Tredwell also began tightly but, after
Borthwick (17) had chipped Hartley’s whippy fast-medium to short
mid wicket a Surrey rally was launched by the in-form Foakes.
The right-handed keeper-batsman found a busy
partner in Sam Curran and the sixth wicket pair added 79 in 11 overs
to revive the innings. Foakes reached his fifty from 57 balls, with
successive fours off Hartley, and the younger Curran brother drove
Haggett and Tredwell for sixes to long off and long on respectively
before, on 39 from 37 balls, edging the returning Coles to Billings
who completed the catch at the second attempt.
Thomas removed Tom Curran in the closing overs but
was also pulled superbly for six by Foakes as Surrey eventually
hauled themselves past the 250 mark in what had been a stop-start
innings, and not just because of the weather.
Most of Surrey’s innings was watched by 5,000
local schoolchildren, enthusiastically attending as part of the club’s
annual Schools Day, but by the time Kent replied in warm afternoon
sunshine they had long gone.
Surrey captain Gareth Batty said: "I was a
bit frustrated by Duckworth-Lewis to be honest - we could only bat
for 41 overs in the end but reached 251, and then somehow they only
had to chase 249 in the same number of overs! Amazing! Anyway, it
was an okay pitch and we thought we could defend it if we bowled
well. We started well, which was important, and then we kept taking
wickets at regular intervals. Kent are a dangerous team, but we
stuck at it well and this was a good win. Ben Foakes has played
incredibly well in our white-ball cricket so far. He has power
hitting and deft touches, which he showed again today."
Kent's Sam Billings said: "It's a very
disappointing result. We just weren't there today in all aspects of
the game. It was a pretty good pitch although the odd one stopped a
little bit in the surface, and I just tried to take it as deep as
possible but picked out long leg. We had fought back well in the
field after a poor start and the win was well within our grasp. It
was a big opportunity but no one really put their hand up."
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