THE STORY OF SURREY'S TWENTY20 CUP CAMPAIGN by
Marcus Hook
Brit Oval 22 June: Surrey (168-4) beat Middlesex (163-6) by 6 wickets
As they did in the inaugural year of the Twenty20 Cup, in 2003, as well as last
season, Surrey kicked off their new campaign with victory over their North
London rivals. But things could have been all together different had it not been
for a breathtaking innings from Mark Ramprakash, who lifted a crowd of nearly
18,000 with a brilliant 85 not out off 52 balls. After collapsing to 24-3 in
response to the Crusaders' 163-6, the former Middlesex man masterminded his
side's recovery with the help of Jonathan Batty, who contributed a valuable 49
to a fourth wicket partnership worth 110 in 12 overs. But when Batty was stumped
off Ben Hutton in the 17th over, the Brown Caps still needed 30 more in failing
light. Azhar Mahmood started the next over by cutting Murali Kartik off his
stumps for four before giving centre stage over to Ramprakash, who nutmeged Nick
Compton at long-off and then flicked the ball through mid-wicket for another
boundary in Tyron Henderson's last over. That left the Brown Caps requiring just
six to win in as many deliveries. Thanks to Ramprakash, who cover drove Tim
Murtagh for four and then hit him over long-off for six to end the match, they
did it in just two. In what was a great advertisement for Twenty20 cricket, it
could also be argued that the difference between the two sides was the
contrasting fortunes of the spinners. Compared with Nayan Doshi and Chris
Schofield's combined 2-52 off eight overs for Surrey, Kartik and Dalrymple
conceded 70 runs off seven and failed to take a wicket. Jamie Dalrymple did a
least have the consolation of knowing that his 61 off 44 balls had given the
visitors a total they could defend after winning the toss and electing to bat in
spite of the heavy cloud cover.
Brit Oval 24 June: Surrey (75-4) beat Hampshire (72-8) by 6 wickets
With rain affecting most of the country, the crowd of 14,276 were lucky to see
any cricket at all. But Surrey convincingly grabbed two points from a contest
reduced to ten overs per side after Hampshire had won the toss and opted,
surprisingly, to bat first in the damp conditions. The Hawks, who, two weeks
earlier, had put the Brown Caps out of the Friends Provident Trophy, made just
72-8, which proved to be well within the compass of the Brit Oval outfit once
Alistair Brown tucked into Greg Lamb's off-spin. In hindsight, the visitors
should also have backed their seamers to do the job. But, with Shane Warne
missing due to an injured left hand, Dimitri Mascarenhas was suckered into
throwing the ball to Lamb after seeing Surrey's Nayan Doshi and Chris Schofield
apply the brakes for the home side. Hampshire made a useful start. In the second
over Michael Lumb swung Jade Dernbach over the boundary at backward square leg
for six and Michael Carberry soon had the measure off Matt Nicholson. But
Dernbach eased any concerns the hosts may have harboured when he accounted for
Lumb. Doshi came on in the fifth over and immediately had Adam Voges stumped.
Schofield accounted for Carberry and Mascarenhas in the sixth and other than two
lusty blows from Sean Ervine the Hawks failed to find the boundary again. The
Brown Caps lost both James Benning and Mark Ramprakash to run outs, Ramprakash
without facing a ball, but the match swung Surrey's way when Brown hit Lamb for
two sixes in the fifth over of the hosts' reply. In the next over Brown, chasing
a wide ball, was caught at gully off Mascarenhas, thus leaving Azhar Mahmood to
apply the finishing touches to another six-wicket victory. Doshi, who went to 50
wickets in the competition with figures of three for six, was named Sky TV's man
of the match.
Chelmsford 28 June: Essex (175-7) beat Surrey (174-4) by 3 wickets
A rare off-day in the Twenty20 for Nayan Doshi coincided with a timely reminder
from Adam Hollioake that Surrey's initial success in the competition was founded
on some inspirational moments from the former Brown Caps' skipper. When James
Benning and Mark Ramprakash's second wicket partnership of 103 was in full flow,
a total of around 200 seemed to be on the cards. But with Benning departing for
69 in Hollioake's first over, the 14th of the innings, and Danish Kaneria
conceding just one boundary in his four over stint, the visitors were restricted
to 174-4. Ramprakash finished with an unbeaten 74, which included two straight
driven sixes off Martin Saggers and another off Hollioake. But, crucially, the
former Middlesex man had faced just 48 deliveries in his 18 overs at the crease.
Mark Pettini collected two fours in the first over of the Eagles' reply and then
pulled Jade Dernbach for six. But with Matt Nicholson adding the scalps of
Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate to that of Grant Flower, Surrey appeared to be in
charge when James Foster joined Andy Bichel in the sixth over. Bichel was the
first to threaten the Brown Caps' one hundred per cent record in this year's
competition, but Chris Schofield limited the Queenslander to 35. Foster then
found a useful ally in Tim Phillips. Together the fifth wicket pair put on 48 in
five overs by clubbing Doshi to all parts. After Foster departed, to a catch
behind off Schofield, Hollioake meted out further punishment, hitting 21 in 12
deliveries to leave his new employers needing 17 to win in two and a bit overs,
which they knocked off with ease thanks to James Middlebrook and Graham Napier.
Hove 29 June: Surrey (168-6) beat Sussex (68) by 100 runs
Surrey lost both of their clashes with Sussex in last year's Twenty20 Cup. But
if there were any concerns due to that, the previous night's defeat at
Chelmsford or the absence of both Azhar Mahmood and Rikki Clarke, the Brown Caps
did not allow them to show as they sunk the Sharks by 100 runs. At the halfway
stage their total of 168-6 looked a tad below par. It was hardly helped by the
top of one of the floodlight pylons catching fire and billowing out plumes of
smoke. After making a solid start, however, Sussex slumped from 42-2 to 68 all
out in the space of eight overs. The rot began when their skipper, Chris Adams,
was bowled by Chris Schofield. Nayan Doshi then had Rana Naved-ul-Hasan stumped
for 25, which Schofield followed up with the wickets of Hopkinson and Hodd in
the 11th over and that of Martin-Jenkins in the thirteenth. The former England
leg-spinner finished with the amazing figures of 4-12. In complete contrast to
the night before, Doshi conceded just 13 runs in his four overs of left-arm
spin. Matt Nicholson applied the coup de grace by having James Kirtley caught
behind to give Jonathan Batty his fourth victim of the night, which represented
a personal best in the Twenty20 Cup for the Surrey wicketkeeper. Earlier, the
highlights for the Brown Caps had been James Benning's 41 from 39 balls,
intelligent innings from Alistair Brown and Mark Butcher in the middle of the
order and some lusty blows from Nicholson at the end. The tall Australian hit an
unbeaten 16 off eight deliveries, including a huge six straight down the ground
off Kirtley.
Beckenham 2 July: Surrey (132-4) beat Kent (131-8) by 6 wickets
Surrey went clear at the top of the South Division following what ultimately
proved to be a comfortable six-wicket victory over Kent. As a dark bank of cloud
threatened to dump its contents on Beckenham, the Brown Caps cruised home with
14 balls to spare. However, just five overs earlier the game appeared to be
heading for a very different outcome when Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher
departed to successive balls from Simon Cook. With Azhar Mahmood and Rikki
Clarke, both returning to the side following injury, enjoying an unbeaten 63-run
stand for the fifth wicket, the visitors maintained their one hundred per cent
record against the Spitfires in the Twenty20 Cup. Cook also starred with the
bat, helping to lift the home side from 98-8 to 131-8 with an undefeated 25 off
13 balls after Chris Schofield (3-18) had turned in another impressive display.
But the bowling honours belonged to Kent's South African speedster Morne Morkel,
who initially pegged Surrey back to 62-2 off 11 overs with figures of 4-2-9-1.
But the game turned upon Neil Dexter's introduction to the attack in the
fourteenth over. The 22-year-old conceded a disastrous 27 off two overs. When
the Brown Caps manager, Alan Butcher, announced that the club would be
dispensing with Mahmood in favour of Harbhajan Singh just over a week earlier,
he said he would not put it past the Pakistan all-rounder to provide some
fireworks. And so he did with a match-clinching 39 off 19 balls, which included
six fours and a six over long-off off the hapless Dexter. Clarke, who has had
his critics of late, was also there at the end, following up his tight four-over
spell with an unbeaten 22 in 13 deliveries.
Lord's 3 July: Middlesex (73-2) beat Surrey (85-5) by 8 wickets (D/L)
When play finally got underway at 6.10pm, with the loss of one over per side,
Surrey made an encouraging start thanks to James Benning, who displayed an
uncanny knack of finding the gaps to hit six fours. With Alistair Brown striking
three boundaries in the opening two overs, memories came flooding back of the
148-run stand between the same Brown Caps openers at Lord's a year earlier.
Unfortunately, for the visitors, they were soon brought back to earth with a
bump when Brown was caught at mid-on off Tim Murtagh and, in the eighth over,
Benning lost his off stump to Tyron Henderson. Surrey played on through a brief
shower, but as far as runs were concerned they dried up. Had Azhar Mahmood not
glanced Murtagh for four just before an even heavier downpour arrived, the last
eight overs of the visitors' dig would have been boundary-less. When the
elements relented, Middlesex were handed a Duckworth-Lewis target of 73 in ten
overs. After they overcame the early loss of Ed Smith, to a looped catch to
square leg off Matt Nicholson, the Crusaders cruised to victory. Ed Joyce took
fours off the last three balls of the second over, bowled by Jade Dernbach. Eoin
Morgan then tucked into Nicholson and after three, the hosts had already knocked
off thirty runs. Chris Schofield accounted for Joyce, who was caught at deep
mid-wicket, but Morgan and man of the match Jamie Dalrymple simply picked off
the runs to see their side home with 14 balls to spare. Afterwards the Surrey
manager, Alan Butcher said: "At some stage we were probably going to fall
foul of the weather and tonight was the night unfortunately. Nevertheless it
wasn't one of our best performances, but we've still got two opportunities to
qualify. We'll have the advantage of both of those being at home, so we're still
in with a great chance."
Brit Oval 5 July: Sussex (65-3) beat Surrey (60-6) by 5 runs
Just when it seemed as if this match was about to be called off, with nightfall
descending, the umpires surprised everyone by passing the conditions fit for a
five-over slog. Surrey's only other five-over contest in the Twenty20 Cup, at
Chelmsford in 2005, was played out in front of the television cameras. If the
presence of Sky TV was not the mitigating factor on that occasion, it certainly
appeared to be this time round. It had been raining steadily since an hour
before the scheduled start and the crowd was easily 25 per cent down on the
expected 14,000, based on pre-sold tickets. The Brown Caps' skipper, Mark
Butcher, was so taken aback he did not appear to have had sufficient time to
decide what wanted to do if he won the toss. When he did eventually make up his
mind, he figured that it would be easier to field first in the dark. Ultimately
the outcome hinged on Sussex's ability to hold on to their catches. Azhar
Mahmood and Mark Ramprakash, both of whom threatened to make it a Surrey double
over the Sharks, perished to catches in the deep in the final over, which was
sent down by James Kirtley. Chris Nash, who held on to Mahmood, was named man of
the match for his unbeaten 24 off nine balls, which included three fours and a
six over long-on off Jade Dernbach; whose only over went for 20.
Brit Oval 6 July: Kent (148-4) beat Surrey (145) by 6 wickets
For the first time in the history of the Twenty20 Cup, Surrey and Leicestershire
failed to reach the knockout phase of the competition. The Foxes - who faced
less than fifty overs over eight fixtures - were left ruing the weather. The
Brown Caps just needed to win one of their last three group games, yet suffered
defeats in all of them. As was the case at Lord's, they lost their way with the
bat after making a positive start. 31 without loss after three overs soon became
41-2 in the fifth once James Benning had been roughed up by Morne Morkel and
Alistair Brown bowled by an inswinging yorker from Ryan McLaren. Mark Ramprakash
was just beginning to put things right when both he and Azhar Mahmood, making
his last appearance for Surrey, departed in the thirteenth over. With the hosts
registering just one further boundary hit, their total of 145 meant that they
could ill afford a loose over. Unfortunately, Neil Saker was the fall guy. The
22-year-old came on in the sixth over of the Spitfires' reply. After being
launched straight down the ground for six by Matt Walker, who then hit him for
fours either side of the wicket, the visitors were 58-1 when the fielding
restrictions ended. Chris Schofield and Nayan Doshi kept Kent in check by
picking up the scalps of Walker and Martin van Jaarsveld, but Darren Stevens
proved to be a tougher nut to crack. The former Leicestershire man struck an
unbeaten 46 off 34 balls as the Spitfires broke their Twenty20 duck against
Surrey and marched into the quarter-finals with five balls to spare. Given their
disappointing start to the championship campaign, the Brown Caps badly needed to
finish the group stage of the Twenty20 Cup on a high, but it was not to be. They
will undoubtedly feel hard done by to have been pressured into a five-over slog
against Sussex. Had that fixture being rained off, Surrey would have gone
through to the last eight at Worcestershire's expense.
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