A full round-up from Friday night’s Vitality Blast South Group meeting between Surrey and Kent Spitfires at The Kia Oval.
WHAT HAPPENED
Kent Spitfires restricted Surrey to just 128 for 7 before strolling to a nine-wicket victory at the Kia Oval and strengthening their position at the top of the Vitality Blast’s South Group.
Daniel Bell-Drummond went on to a 37-ball 53 not out after he and Joe Denly (31) put on 64 in eight overs for the first wicket to set up a comfortable chase that ended with 4.3 overs to spare.
Ollie Robinson also struck a breezy unbeaten 45 from 30 balls and Kent have now won eight of their 12 group matches while Surrey look unlikely to qualify for a quarter-final place.
Jordan Clark managed an unbeaten 37 from 31 balls, and there were brief flurries from Jamie Overton and Tim David as 86 came from the last ten overs, but otherwise Surrey’s batsmen could not handle an impressive Kent attack on a sluggish surface.
Adam Milne, the New Zealand fast bowler, was outstanding both with the new ball and in the final overs to take 2 for 13.
Surrey, put in, were in trouble even before the end of the six-over powerplay, in which they failed to hit a single boundary while staggering to 17 for 3.
Jamie Smith (1) top-edged a pull at Milne to extra cover in the second over, Ben Geddes fell for 8 when pulling Fred Klaassen’s left-arm seam to deep mid wicket and Laurie Evans departed for 6, skying Matt Milnes’ first ball to mid wicket at the start of the sixth over.
After nine overs Surrey had only reached 28 for 3 but then came three successive boundaries – the first of the innings – as Rory Burns first missed with a reverse swipe at Jack Leaning’s off spin, the ball running away for four byes, before connecting with two more reverse sweeps to ironic cheers from a 5,000 crowd.
Qais Ahmed bowled four overs of leg spin for 22, although driven straight for six by David, and Surrey slumped further to 59 for 5 in an extraordinary 12th over.
David, a big-hitting 25-year-old Australian-raised Singapore international signed for two Blast games in place of injured New Zealand paceman Kyle Jamieson, clubbed Darren Stevens for a big six before being brilliantly held by a diving Jordan Cox at long on for 20 from the next ball.
Stevens found himself on a hat-trick when Burns (19) was then magnificently caught left-handed by Klaassen, flinging himself to intercept a sliced cut at short third man, but Overton defended his first ball before swinging Stevens for the first of his three sixes in the veteran all-rounder’s second over.
Klaassen and Denly were hit for Overton’s other sixes before he mishit a knee-high full toss from Milne to extra cover to go for 23 in the 17th over.
POST MATCH REACTION
Director of Cricket Alec Stewart speaks to @backandacross after tonight’s defeat. pic.twitter.com/BCHa91XT2L
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) July 9, 2021
LINEUPS
Surrey XI: Smith, Geddes, Evans, Burns, David, Clark, Overton, Clarke, Atkinson, Batty, Moriarty
Kent XI: Denly, Bell-Drummond, Robinson, Cox, Leaning, Blake, Stevens, Milne, Ahmad, Milnes, Klaassen
UP NEXT
Surrey complete their South Group campaign against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham at 2:30pm on Friday 16th July.
Before then though, Somerset will come to The Kia Oval between Sunday and Wednesday for the final County Championship Group 2 fixture.
