Surrey top of Blast group after beating Middlesex

Will Jacks scored 97 when Surrey beat Middlesex in the reverse fixture in June

Vitality Blast, Lord's

Surrey 189-9 (20 overs): Jacks 52, T Curran 47; Higgins 4-33

Middlesex 181-6 (20 overs): Eskinazi 53; Jordan 2-28

Surrey (4 pts) beat Middlesex (0 pts) by eight runs

Match scorecard

Surrey moved to the top of the South Group in the T20 Blast with an eight-run win over Middlesex at Lord's.

An opening partnership of 66 in the first six overs between Will Jacks, who top-scored with 52, and Ryan Patel got Surrey off to a quick start after choosing to bat first.

Tom Curran added a rapid 47 off 22 balls before being dismissed by Ryan Higgins (4-33) as the visitors posted 189-9 from their 20 overs.

Stevie Eskinazi (53) and captain Leus du Plooy (29) led Middlesex's chase but both fell in the same Chris Jordan over to signal the end of their victory hopes.

Du Plooy was narrowly run out by a direct hit before Eskinazi was caught at gully two balls later.

Some big-hitting from Luke Hollman (32 not out) gave Surrey nervous moments late on but his effort came just too late as Middlesex fell short on 181-6.

Surrey had already booked their spot in the last eight and are now above Somerset on net run rate with one match left to play.

Middlesex, meanwhile, are unable to qualify from the South Group.

Four more fixtures will be played on Thursday and a further eight are scheduled for Friday, when the group stage will conclude.

The top four sides in each group will progress to the quarter-finals to be played in September. Finals Day is at Edgbaston on 13 September.

Thursday fixtures

North Group

Worcester: Worcestershire Rapids v Nottinghamshire Outlaws (17:30 BST)

Headingley: Yorkshire v Lancashire Lightning (18:30 BST)

South Group

Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Sussex Sharks (16:00 BST)

Chelsmford: Essex v Hampshire Hawks (19:00 BST)