SUSSEX V SURREY -
Royal London One-Day Cup - 7 May 2017
Sussex 300-8 (50 Overs). Surrey 205 (41.1 Overs). Sussex won by 95
runs.
Chris Nash’s 82 from 87 balls, with three sixes
and eight fours, spearheaded a fine all-round effort by Sussex at
Hove as they first reached 300 for 8 and then bowled out Surrey for
205 to win what was an important Royal London One-Day Cup South
Group match for both sides by 95 runs.
Mark Stoneman batted well for 60 in Surrey’s
reply, and Ollie Pope offered late defiance with 55 off 63 balls but
their challenge quickly faded after the former Durham left-hander
pulled David Wiese straight to deep square leg.
Stoneman had already seen Scott Borthwick and Dom
Sibley depart cheaply to edges behind, and soon Surrey had lost
their top five with Ben Foakes brilliantly held for 3 by keeper
Michael Burgess off an inside edge, with Wiese again the successful
bowler, and Rory Burns falling for 31 when Danny Briggs dived to his
left to hold a low one-handed catch off his own bowling.
The slump then continued to 146 for 7 with Sam
Curran bowled by a George Garton near-yorker and Tom Curran skying
Briggs to mid off. Gareth Batty, on 14, was held on the deep mid
wicket ropes but the 19-year-old Pope reached a creditable 55-ball
fifty, swinging Briggs for six and then late-cutting him
delightfully for four.
Garton finally got Pope, well held by Jofra Archer
at long on, and Wiese wrapped up Sussex’s third victory from five
group matches by castling last man Ravi Rampaul to finish with 4 for
29. Sussex, who also have a No Result point in the locker, now have
seven points in a group led by Somerset and Essex.
Put in on a good pitch, Sussex were also indebted
to Harry Finch for a 78-ball 61 – he and Nash put on 85 for the
second wicket – and Laurie Evans for a violent 37 from 23 balls
with three legside sixes off Tom Curran, two in a 45th over which
cost the Surrey seamer 24 runs.
That assault by Evans, plus useful late hitting
from Burgess and Wiese, propelled Sussex to the 300 mark after their
momentum had been temporarily stalled by Nash’s departure at 149
and the dismissals of both Finch and Stiaan Van Zyl in the 39th
over.
Sussex’s innings was given a fine start by Nash
and Luke Wright, who tucked into the Curran brothers in the initial
powerplay overs – Nash taking three successive fours off Sam
Curran in the fourth over and Wright then hitting Tom Curran for two
boundaries in the next over.
Wright departed for 34 in the 12th over,
inside-edging a drive at Rampaul, but Nash reached his fifty by
lofting Batty’s off spin effortlessly over long off for six, and
repeating the stroke in the Surrey captain’s next over.
Nash had also pulled Tom Curran for six but, after
another powerful pull for four off the younger Curran, he top-edged
a hook in the same over high towards long leg and saw Tom Curran run
in to pull off a brilliant, athletic sprawling catch as he dived
forward across the turf.
Van Zyl was another to fall to the short ball,
top-edging to fine leg, while Finch nicked an excellent ball from
Tom Curran to the keeper.
Evans, fresh from a spectacular match-winning
hundred against Kent two days before which had included eight sixes,
showed he was a man in form by beautifully extra-cover driving
Stuart Meaker for an early four, before picking up a length ball
from Tom Curran for his first six.
Umpire Nigel Llong did well to avoid a crashing
straight four from the next ball, and the over ended with Evans
flicking a full toss from Curran high over fine leg.
Burgess, after a straight six off Rampaul, skied
to deep mid wicket on 23 and Evans was leg-before to Sam Curran in
the same over that Archer was run out for 1.
There was just time for Wiese to club a huge six
over long on off Rampaul before he was caught on the straight
boundary for 23 from the last ball of the innings.
Seamer David Wiese, who took 4 for 29 in Sussex’s
win, said: "Qualifying for the quarter-finals is what it is all
about and hopefully one or two more victories in our last three
group games will clinch that. We’ve turned around our fortunes in
this competition and I think that’s largely because all the senior
players in the team sat down and decided we had to take more
responsibility for the team’s performances and be accountable.
Today was a very enjoyable day and I thought it was an excellent
team display. All facets of our game clicked and we batted, bowled
and fielded well. A total of 300 was always going to be a
challenging target, and today was my day with the ball and everyone
else also performed too in support. Our top order played nicely
earlier, with Chris Nash and Harry Finch batting especially well,
and that set it up for some of us to come in and push on in the
closing overs."
Michael Di Venuto, the Surrey head coach, said:
"At the halfway point we were actually quite happy with their
score, which we felt was twenty runs or so light of what it should
have been on a very good pitch. But we just didn’t bat well, and
our highest partnership was 44 or something which is just not good
enough when you are chasing a decent total. Our batsmen have been in
good touch but no one really went deep into the innings today after
getting starts. I thought Ollie Pope played very well, though, at
the end, and it is great to see a younger guy come in and take his
opportunity to get a score."
GO TO:
BACK TO:
|