Surrey beat Middlesex off final ball to go second in South Group
- Published
Surrey's victory lifted them to second in the South Group behind Essex
NatWest T20 Blast, Lord's |
Surrey 138-8 (20 overs) beat Middlesex Panthers 137-8 (20 overs) by two wickets |
Zafar Ansari scrambled a single off the final ball as Surrey beat Middlesex at a sold-out Lord's to close in on a home T20 Blast quarter-final.
Eoin Morgan hit 43 to leave the hosts handily placed at 108-2 but was one of four victims for Stuart Meaker (4-30) as Middlesex stuttered to 137-8.
Surrey looked well placed at 113-4 in reply before slumping to 133-8.
Simpson's safe hands |
|---|
Middlesex wicketkeeper John Simpson recorded the sixth instance of a keeper taking five dismissals in an innings in English domestic T20 cricket. |
Simpson caught Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rory Burns and Azhar Mahmood and stumped Jason Roy and Gary Wilson. |
Then with one required off the last ball, Ansari dived to make his ground and seal a two-wicket win.
Victory for Surrey, for whom Kevin Pietersen, Rory Burns and Azhar Mahmood all hit 28, lifted them above Hampshire, who have completed their fixtures, and into second place in the South Group.
However, Hampshire could still finish second in the group on net run rate if Surrey are thrashed at Kent on Friday.
The match was played in front of a capacity crowd at Lord's making it the highest for any domestic Twenty20 fixture in the UK since the format was launched in 2003, surpassing the 26,812 that watched Middlesex and Surrey in 2005.
T20 Blast: South Group | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Played | Won | Lost | Tied/NR | NRR | Pts | |
Essex | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | +0.485 | 20 |
Surrey | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | +0.543 | 18 |
Hampshire | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | +0.136 | 18 |
Glamorgan | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | -0.169 | 13 |
Somerset | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 | -0.218 | 11 |
Kent | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 | -0.336 | 11 |
Sussex | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | -0.078 | 10 |
Gloucestershire | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | -0.081 | 10 |
Middlesex | 13 | 2 | 10 | 1 | -0.400 | 5 |
Top four teams qualify for quarter-finals | ||||||
Surrey captain Gary Wilson:
"It was great to get over the line there at the end, but it was very close and full marks to Middlesex for making us fight all the way.
"It is important to get a home quarter-final tie, which we virtually have done now, because we think we know how to win matches at the Oval."
Middlesex captain Eoin Morgan said:
"We would have liked about 20 more runs and we should have got more. We also dropped a couple of catches early on, which didn't help us.
"It's been a disappointing campaign but we just haven't played well enough at certain times of most games.
"Steven Finn, though, bowled with international-class pace and bounce tonight and Harry Podmore has been one of the plus points for us from the Twenty20 group stage."
- Published15 May 2018
