Essex v Surrey
Metro Bank One Day Cup
The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford
Friday 09 August, 2:00pm
Team News
Essex: Nick Browne, Feroze Khushi, Tom Westley*, Robin Das, Luc Benkenstein, Noah Thain, Simon Fernandes+, Shane Snater, Jamal Richards, Ben Allison, Jamie Porter
Surrey: Dom Sibley*, Ryan Patel, Ben Geddes, Cam Steel, Josh Blake+, Ollie Sykes, Adam Thomas, Conor McKerr, Nathan Barnwell, Yousef Majid, James Taylor
Match Details
Umpires: Simon Widdup & Bilal Shafayat
Match Referee: Jason Swift
Scorers: Paul Parkinson & Debbie Beesley
Toss: Surrey won the toss and elected to bat first
Result: Surrey won by 89 runs
Scorecard: View here
Interview: Jamie Porter
Match Highlights
Match Report
Josh Blake registered a sensible run-a-ball century to carry Surrey to only their second Metro Bank One-Day Cup victory of the season at Chelmsford.
The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman survived a life on 40 when Luc Benkenstein floored a chance at deep square leg, but having come in at 53-3 after 14 overs, had doubled his previous highest score and was still there on 100 not out when Surrey closed on 306-4.
Blake put on 98 in 20 overs for the fourth wicket with opener Ryan Patel (83 from 106 balls) and then an unbroken 155 in 16 pulsating overs for the fifth with the hard-hitting Ollie Sykes, who hit five sixes in an unbeaten 87 from 56 balls.
Defeat meant neither team could qualify for the knock-out stages and Essex never looked likely to record their second win of the tournament. Only captain Tom Westley offered much resistance with 78 from 84 balls as dispirited Essex fell 90 runs short of their target with more than three overs unused.
Surrey elected to bat and got off to a slow start, meandering to 39-2 in the first powerplay. But they upped the tempo in the second half of the innings when they added 192 in 25 overs, 117 of them in the final 10 as Blake and Sykes smashed the toiling Essex bowlers to every corner of the Cloud County Ground.
Patel had held things together early on, but his innings was comparatively sedate by what came later. He reached his fifty from 68 balls with his seventh four, a cover drive off Tom Westley. He followed that with No8, cutting Jamal Richards to the longest boundary on the ground, to bring up Surrey’s 100. But by that time he had lost three partners before forming the alliance with Blake.
Jamie Porter, with a white ball in hand for the first time in a year, took two of that trio, bowling Dom Sibley shouldering arms to one that swung in and took oft-stump, and claiming a second when Cameron Steel moved across to give himself room and was lbw to a straight delivery. In between, Shane Snater had Ben Geddes pinned in front, playing down the wrong line.
Though the boundary to the Pavilion side was less than 50 yards from the wicket, Essex defended it resolutely and it was not until the 33rd over that Blake pierced the field with a reserve-sweep off Westley. Next over, though, brought the downfall of Patel as he drove Noah Thain uppishly to wide mid-off where Westley took a diving catch.
Sykes had scored eight in his List A debut on Tuesday, but eyed up the shorter side where he deposited Thain twice for sixes in an over that cost 15. He added a third off Richards before lofting Porter over the longer midwicket boundary. A fifth over midwicket off Snater took the 19-year-old to a 34-ball fifty.
Blake was not hanging around either, and lifted Snater over cover point for his only six to sit alongside nine fours before a single in the last over took him to three figures from 100 balls.
Essex’s pursuit of 307 never really got going as wickets fell regularly. Nick Browne slashed Conor McKerr to slip, Feroze Khushi swung at James Taylor to be caught behind, and Robin Das was stumped by the alert Blake off a legside wide from Patel.
Benkenstein pulled Nathan Barnwell to deep square leg with the floodlights now on and the run-rate rising. Noah attempted to reverse-sweep Cameron Steel and fell lbw, Simon Fernandes tickled McKerr behind, while Westley’s two-hour knock ended when he slashed Steel to short mid-off. Snater lasted three balls before he was bowled by Yousef Majid, Richards was stumped, Ben Allison lofted the only six of Essex’s innings in a career-best 32 not out before Steel claimed his fourth wicket for 50 when Porter hammered to long off.
School’s out, cricket’s in: 50-over cricket in Chelmsford this summer
White-ball action in Chelmsford is not finished for 2024, with The Cloud County Ground set to host one more Women’s London Championship match during the summer holidays.
Don’t miss out on a family day out in the middle of the city by securing your seats to next week’s clash.
Wednesday 14 August, 11:00am: Essex Women v Sussex – buy here
