A look at everything that happened during the Vitality Blast encounter between Surrey and Hampshire in Southampton on Wednesday.
WHAT HAPPENED
Surrey moved to the top of the Vitality Blast South Group after their bowlers successfully defended a target of 147 and kept Hampshire Hawks rooted to the foot of the table.
In the first Blast match to be played in front of a crowd at the Ageas Bowl in 22 months, the home side looked to have given themselves a great chance of securing a second win of the season after holding Surrey to 146-7 after winning the toss and elected to field.
However, a Jamie Overton-inspired Surrey restricted the Hawks to 126-8 to seal a 20-run victory with the former Somerset all-rounder finishing with figures of 2-14 from four outstanding overs and Gus Atkinson pitching in with 3-21.
On a sluggish pitch, Hampshire’s attack also bowledwell with the visitors scoring just 36 runs in the final seven overs of their innings.
A fantastic spell from Scott Currie halted Surrey’s hopes of posting an imposing total when he dismissed Jamie Smith, who top-scored with 59, and England batsman Ollie Pope for 22, within three balls.
Currie grabbed 3-21 from three overs with Chris Wheal taking two wickets and Mason Crane and Chris Wood one apiece.
D’Arcy Short and Hawks skipper James Vince got the hosts off to a flying start in their response as they scored 23 off the first three overs.
However, Australian opener Short’s struggles with the bat continued when he thumped a full toss straight back at Overton to be caught and bowled for 13.
Short’s departure brought 18-year-old Tom Prest to the crease but the talented teenager struggled to get bat on ball against Surrey’s experienced bowling attack as the visitors put the brakes on the Hawks’ run-scoring as they limped to 40-1 after the powerplay.
Veteran spinner Gareth Batty then grabbed the crucial wicket of Vince when he rattled the stumps of the England batsman, who departed for 19.
Overton’s tight bowling in conjunction with Atkinson and giant New Zealand quick Kyle Jamieson shut down the Hampshire batsmen with boundaries hard to come by as Prest departed for 20 and Colin de Grandhomme for six.
Joe Weatherley tried manfully to up the run rate with a glorious shot that found the rope only to find himself back in the pavilion after the next ball thanks to a stunning flying catch on the boundary from Pope off Overton.
Hampshire scored just one four in the final five overs as wickets continued to fall leaving the Hawks needing 27 runs from the final six balls for victory as Surrey closed out an impressive victory.
POST MATCH REACTION
“We thought we were 15 light but the boys stuck at it really well to get that win.”@JamieOverton reviews the night with @backandacross. pic.twitter.com/e4BuRjSPiE
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) June 30, 2021
TEAMS
Surrey XI: Jacks, Smith, Evans, Pope, Burns, Clark, Overton, Jamieson, Atkinson, Batty, Moriarty
Hampshire XI: Vince, Short, Prest, de Grandhomme, Weatherley, Fuller, McManus, Wood, Currie, Crane, Wheal
UP NEXT
Surrey travel to Canterbury on Friday to face Kent Spitfires in a 7pm start. This match will be streamed live by our hosts and shared on kiaoval.com and the Surrey social media accounts.
