Rex Features- 30 minutes ago
A fine bowling display helped Hampshire Hawks win at Surrey on the DLS method in the T20 Blast, while Middlesex’s game against Kent was abandoned.
On a slow pitch in the second game of a soggy south London double-header at The Oval, Hampshire put the hosts in and then stifled them with the ball, limiting Surrey to just 14 boundaries in a modest total of 141-7.
The miserly Scott Currie and Chris Wood picked up two wickets apiece as no Surrey batter passed 37, while in reply Toby Albert and James Vince steered the Hawks to 63-0 in the ninth over before the rain intervened, giving the visitors a 15-run win via DLS to go top of the South Group.
Meanwhile, Zak Crawley smashed 57 from 34 balls after Kent were put in, but three wickets apiece for Tom Helm and Luke Hollman reduced the Spitfires to 172-9, and though they picked up their first points of the campaign, the elements denied the hosts the chance to end their 11-match winless streak at Lord’s.
Hawks find their groove to stay perfect
With the prospect of weather playing a part, Hampshire won the toss and asked Surrey to bat first.
Dom Sibley cracked James Fuller over the ropes as Surrey put on 18 from the opening two overs of seam but South African spinner Bjorn Fortuin, making his debut in place of Liam Dawson, tempted Sibley into sweeping straight to John Turner for 13 in the third.
Jason Roy began to warm up as the hosts reached 43-1 at the end of the six-over powerplay but Currie tempted Ollie Pope into stepping across his stumps and trying to scoop, only to nick straight into the hands of keeper Albert and depart for 11. Pope has now made 25 runs across three games opening the batting and left his side 51-2 from eight overs.
Roy was joined by skipper Sam Curran but his side were 64-2 at the midway point as the Hawks bowlers slowed their progress – limiting the hosts to just 10 boundaries and four sixes across the 20 overs.
The pressure told as Roy tried to take Turner over the mid-wicket boundary, only to find Joe Weatherley just inside the rope and depart for 37 to leave his side 67-3 in the 12th over – though Roy finished as his side’s leading scorer for the third straight game.
Laurie Evans and Curran struggled to get to grips with the Hawks attack and Surrey were 91-3 with five overs remaining, though both cut loose in Turner’s final over, with Curran launching back-to-back sixes to make it 21 runs from five balls before miscuing the final ball into the sky for Vince to catch and send Curran packing for 34 from 25 balls.
Tom Curran picked out Weatherley with a skier to deep square off Wood (2-27) and Ollie Sykes was caught by Currie for one three balls later while Weatherley picked up his third catch to dismiss Chris Jordan for eight off Currie (2-17) to end the 19th over.
Roy put down a sharp chance at second slip off the opening ball of the reply from Dan Worrall, giving Albert another life, but the Surrey bowlers kept the Hawks in check until the rain began to fall
The final over of the powerplay, Sam Curran’s first, cost 16 runs amid some errant fielding and saw the Hawks reach 50-0.
With 10 wickets in hand, Hawks were well ahead of the DLS rate of 48 when they were eventually called off after 8.2 overs with the score 63-0.
Vince finished unbeaten on 33 from 28 deliveries with Albert on 28 from 22 at the other end as the Hawks picked up just their second T20 win over Surrey in the past 11 meetings.
Hampshire bowler Scott Currie, told the ECB Reporters’ Network:
“It is a good win. It is always good to come here and put a good performance on the board and come away with the result.
“Obviously it is a shame it ended the way it did with the weather, but it is not for us to complain at this point, it’s four more points on the board and another good performance from everyone.
“I think we were happy at half-time; we felt we were in the game. We got a good start and we were ahead of the rate. I felt we were in control of that game throughout.”
Getty ImagesMiddlesex wait for Lord’s win goes on
Seven miles to the north, Middlesex won the toss and opted to bowl first after a slightly delayed start, seeking their first win in 12 at Lord’s – a run going back to 2022.
Daniel Bell-Drummond top-edged an attempted cut off paceman Helm through to the keeper for seven to leave Kent 21-1 in the third over.
Tawanda Muyeye hit back-to-back boundaries off debutant Josh Little in his first over to move into the 30s while Crawley ended the over with a mighty six over deep square to take Kent to 54-1 at the end of the six-over powerplay.
Moments later, Muyeye departed for 34 from 26 balls as a low delivery from Zafar Gohar clipped his off stump and Joe Denly was soon stumped by Jack Davies at the second attempt off leg-spinner Hollman to leave the score on 69-3 at the end of the eighth over.
Sam Billings joined Crawley but was pinned lbw for eight attempting a reverse sweep off Hollman as the Spitfires reached 87-4 at the midway point.
Chris Benjamin helped his side into three figures on the 13th over but was run-out for a run-a-ball 15 and seemed to suffer a shoulder injury as he unsuccessfully dived to make his ground to beat Ben Geddes’ throw from the deep.
Crawley followed up his blistering 37 in Kent’s opening win at Gloucestershire with a 32-ball half-century which he brought up with his second six off Hollman.
He followed it up with another but his attempt at a third in succession saw Ryan Higgins take a fine catch inside the rope to depart for 57 from 34 balls
Tom Rogers made a breezy 16 but holed-out off Helm as Kent slipped from 112-4 to 155-9 as Helm had Grant Stewart and Wes Agar caught in the deep in consecutive deliveries, though Nathan Gilchrist survived the hat-trick ball.
Kent’s last man added 17 from the final nine balls along with Fred Klaassen (14*) and slashed a six off the final ball from Noah Cornwell to finish unbeaten on 10 and see Kent close on 172-9.
Middlesex were hoping for a five-over slog to reach 57 for victory but the rain did not relent before the 21:26 BST cut-off and the sides had to settle for two points apiece which helped the hosts get off the mark after two straight defeats, while Kent remain unbeaten after two matches.
Middlesex captain Stephen Eskinazi told the ECB Reporters’ Network:
“We haven’t walked away with the full points tonight but I’m really pleased with the way we managed to bounce back from a confidence perspective. In the field we were buzzing around and the bowlers did their job.
“Hopefully that’s a bit of a springboard for us to take into a really busy period over the next few weeks. I’m over the moon with the way we approached this game and certainly it’s the benchmark for us moving forward.”
Kent batter Zak Crawley:
“At times it felt like a really good wicket, at other times it was a bit of a challenge. I think that was quite competitive in the end, we felt it would have been a 50-50 game so it was a shame not to get back out there.
“I felt in good touch, it was a shame to get out when I did. I was a bit greedy, eyeing him up a little bit too much there – I had to calm myself down! But I was pleased with how I played, hopefully next time I can get a bigger one.”
