With five games down and five more to come, Surrey sit in second in the South Group in the Vitality Blast.
We’re halfway through the truncated group stage campaign and Surrey have two wins, one defeat, one tie and one no result to their name so far.
With the top two guaranteed to reach the quarter-finals and the best two third placed teams across the three groups to join them, the race is on to make the final eight.
WINS SO FAR
The first crowd of the summer brought Surrey’s first win of the summer. 2500 saw Surrey beat Hampshire at The Kia Oval in an 11-over rain-affected fixture largely thanks to Will Jacks’ unbeaten 45.
Just two days after that first win, Surrey were back at home and London rivals Middlesex were the visitors. A fine bowling display kept the visitors to 113/9 and, after an early wobble, Ben Foakes & Jamie Smith led Surrey to victory.
OTHER RESULTS
The competition began with a washed out fixture at Sussex Sharks before a tied match at home against Essex Eagles. Our only defeat so far came at Kent Spitfires, when their dangerous batting line up chased down our 161 total at Canterbury.
TOP PERFORMERS
Having played three matches so far, Hashim Amla is currently our top scorer with 115 runs to his name. Ben Foakes is quite close behind with 108 runs from his three innings. Having batted just twice, Jamie Smith has 68 runs and has only been out once.
Gareth Batty & Daniel Moriarty have both taken six wickets so far from 16 and 17 overs respectively. Batty has conceded 92 runs while 101 runs have come off Moriarty’s bowling. Gus Atkinson has five wickets from his 13 overs & Reece Topley is the only other man to have bowled 10 overs.
FIXTURES TO COME
After this week’s Bob Willis Trophy closer with Sussex, Surrey travel to Essex Eagles who are the only side in the South Group yet to win. However, the current reigning champions started slowly last year so they’ll still very much be a dangerous proposition at Chelmsford on Friday 11th September.
Then it’s a rare two consecutive days off for Surrey before the reverse London derby at Lord’s. Surrey haven’t won a T20 fixture at the home of their biggest rivals since 2014 so it’s fair to say we’re due one. With an average of just 12.93 per wicket, Gareth Batty loves Lord’s and will be hoping to do the business once again.
Our penultimate home fixture comes on the 16th September with the visit of Sussex Sharks. Surrey have found the winning formula recently but will be forced into a change for this one, with Laurie Evans not permitted to play due to an agreement between the two clubs. The Sharks are currently in third place but have a game in hand over Surrey.
For our final away match, we travel to the Ageas Bowl. The ground that has seen plenty of international action this summer will by this point be available for county cricket and we’ll be hoping to put on a showing of international quality. Hampshire have won one of their four matches so far.
Rounding off the South Group is a visit from our oldest rivals Kent on Sunday 20th September. All matches on that day will begin at 1pm, meaning it could get quite tense as wickets fall and matches are decided throughout the afternoon. We’ll keep you up to date on our official Twitter feed.
Quarter finals will be played on Thursday 1st October before the Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday 3rd October.
Click here for full information on the make up of this year’s Vitality Blast.
Both of Surrey’s remaining home fixtures will be streamed live on kiaoval.com and Facebook Watch.
