Ollie Pope struck his first half-century of this yr’s T20 Blast as Surrey coasted previous Middlesex in a one-sided South Group derby at The Oval.
Pope, who completed unbeaten on 51 from 33 balls, shared a second-wicket stand of 74 from 44 with Jason Roy (46) as they made brief work of their chase to get Surrey’s T20 marketing campaign again on observe following successive defeats.
Earlier, Surrey’s seamers all the time seemed on high and restricted their metropolis rivals to a modest 130-7, with Reece Topley (1-21) and Sean Abbott (2-16) the choose of the bunch.
Middlesex all-rounder Luke Hollman, with an unbeaten 31 from 29 balls, top-scored in a shedding trigger for the second successive sport as Surrey triumphed for the twelfth time in 14 Blast conferences between the perimeters.
Though the forecast rain by no means really materialised, Sam Curran put the guests in after successful the toss and was rewarded as his bowlers gave little away, decreasing Middlesex to 54-5.
Max Holden was bowled by Jordan Clark as 4 wickets fell in 25 balls, though Adam Rossington (20) managed to clear the fence twice within the powerplay earlier than miscuing Topley to mid-on.
Former Surrey batter Ben Geddes – having made a duck on his return to the bottom in final yr’s Blast – was run out for one this time, whereas Josh de Caires was unfortunate to pull a pull off Abbott on to his stumps.
With Leus du Plooy skying Clark (2-31) to mid-on, Middlesex’s prospects of posting a aggressive rating seemed forlorn, regardless of a valiant partnership of 47 from 39 by Hollman and Ryan Higgins (27).
Using his luck at instances, Hollman landed some precious blows and, though Sebastian Morgan thumped Tom Curran’s ultimate ball over cowl for 4, the guests’ complete by no means seemed remotely sufficient.
Will Jacks, having survived a low caught and bowled probability to Noah Cornwell within the first over, offered a stable base with 24 from 17 earlier than Tom Helm (1-25) nipped one again to hit the highest of the stumps.
However Roy dabbed Eathan Bosch to the third man boundary to take Surrey previous 50 on the finish of the powerplay and, with an absence of scoreboard strain, he and Pope have been capable of be selective with their pictures.
Roy missed out on a primary fifty of the match, spearing Cornwell to mid-on, however Pope stepped up a gear as he dispatched Morgan for 2 leg-side sixes earlier than slamming a 4 to achieve his half-century and clinch the win.
