Our latest Essex Archives focusses on a special fixture that lives long in the memory of Eagles supporters. It was a T20 match that had everything and concluded with a nail-biting finish thanks to some fireworks from Overseas player, Scott Styris.
The New Zealand international announced himself to Chelmsford with a magnificent innings, and we hope you enjoy our extended highlights of the action.
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This latest Essex Archives match is supported by Woodland Group.
Essex Eagles v Surrey Lions
Friends Provident T20
Monday 25 June 2010
The Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford
Essex Team: Ravi Bopara, Alastair Cook, Matt Walker, Scott Styris, James Foster (c & wk), Grant Flower, Jaik Mickleburgh, Tim Phillips, David Masters, Danish Kaneria & Chris Wright
Surrey Team: Rory Hamilton-Brown (c), Steve Davies (wk), Jason Roy, Mark Ramprakash, Andrew Symonds, Stewart Walters, Chris Schofield, Gareth Batty, Andre Nel, Chris Tremlet & Tim Linley
Toss: Essex won the toss and elected to field first
Umpires: Jeff Evans, Nick Cook & Barry Dudleston
Result: Essex Eagles won by 6 wickets
Watch:
In front of the Sky television cameras, Essex and Surrey served up a thriller with New Zealander Scott Styris proving the star act with an unbeaten century to give the Eagles a last-gasp victory.
Steven Davies had underpinned the Surrey total with an impressive innings that seemingly put his side in the driving seat for much of the match until, as so often in this form of cricket, the final few overs and the intervention of Kiwi Styris and his flashing bat.
Davis dominated the first half of the proceedings with an innings spanning just 50 balls that included three sixes and eleven boundaries. He shared stands of 64 in 38 balls with Jason Roy and then 82 in eight overs with Mark Ramprakash who were both stumped by James Foster when facing the leg-spin of Danish Kaneria. The Pakistan twirler also brought about the downfall of Davies when the opener picked out Grant Flower at deep mid-wicket.
The final over of the Lions innings was sent down by Chris Wright who produced effort superb a and it proved to be a crucial one for his who what proved to be a defining was bowled by Chris Wright when he sent down the 20th and final over of the Surrey innings. He conceded just five runs and picked up two wickets including the dangerous Andrew Symonds.
In reply Essex lost Alastair Cook (11) and Matt Walker (1) cheaply but Ravi Bopara was joined by Styris and they gradually made inroads into the target. They put on 47 in seven overs before Bopara, who had opened the innings holed out to Stuart Walters on the mid-wicket boundary for a less than fluent 27 from 33 balls.
Now requiring 113 from 10.5 overs, Tim Phillips join Styris and offered excellent support as the Black Cap moved up through the gears. His half-century arrived from 32 balls and was completed with his third maximum blow but still Essex were faced with the daunting task of 79 runs required from the last five overs.
The free-scoring duo then went for broke hitting 54 between overs 16 and 18 only for Chris Tremlett to reel them back from their destructive efforts when he sent down the penultimate over which cost just three runs. The final ball of that over also brought about the downfall of Phillips and bringing in skipper Foster.
Needing 22 off the last 6 balls, Styris carried the responsibility on his own shoulders as he faced Australian all-rounder Symonds in the final countdown. A boundary came from the first ball, then Styris brought the crowd to its feet when clearing the boundary at mid-wicket to tip the scales in favour of the home side.
Styris settled for two runs for the third ball before finding the boundary at deep mid-wicket once again to complete his 100 from 49 balls: his second coming off just 17 deliveries. He had now reduced the target to a mere 6 from two deliveries.
Amidst great tension in the crowd, the Essex hero coolly backed away to leg when receiving the next ball and drove the ball high over extra cover for his eighth 6 of the innings to complete a remarkable victory with one ball to spare.
“That was probably my best innings in 2020 cricket,”
Styris acknowledged afterwards. “it was a great batting wicket and with that short boundary, you never felt you were out of the game.
“I was delighted that I could help the boys across the line.”
