Emdad Rahman
Centurion Jason Roy and Aaron Finch scored the biggest stand in the competition this season as Surrey beat Kent by 37 runs in a blistering Natwest T20 Blast clash at The Kia Oval.
A sell out 25,500 crowd witnessed the brutal Roy remain unbeaten on 120 as Surrey racked up 212-4, but despite his brilliant knock, it was Essex who marched through to the quarter-final after their abandoned game against Chelmsford gave them the point required to leapfrog Surrey.
In his highest ever T20 score, Roy struck three sixes and 15 fours. The fantastic partnership with Finch was just five runs short of equalling the 192 between Kevin O’Brien and Hamish Marshall for Gloucestershire against Middlesex at Uxbridge in 2011 – the highest partnership in English domestic T20 cricket. Roy’s 50 took 29 balls, Finch’s 38.
Surrey’s 212 from 20 overs came largely due to the 17.2-over 187 partnership between Roy and Australian Finch, the world’s second ranked T20 batsman, who scored 79 with four fours and four sixes. Roy scored from all but nine of the 62 deliveries he faced.
Daniel Bell-Drummond smashed six fours, scoring 31 of the first 35 runs, off just 17 balls, before losing his wicket. Joe Denly was run out for 20 and Sam Billings for two. Alex Blake was bowled by Chris Morris for 19 and Roy took two superb catches for the dismissals of Darren Stevens and Matt Coles.
Kent slipped to 111 for 6 but rallied to reach 175 for 7 – mainly thanks to captain Sam Northeast scoring his fourth T20 50 of the summer (59) and Will Gidman (30 not out). Despite the mouthwatering spectacle, both teams bow out as Essex progresses through to the last eight and a meeting with Notts at Trent Bridge on 8th August.
Surrey: Roy, Finch, Sibley, Burns, Morris, Mahmood, Foakes , S.Curran, T.Curran, Batty, Dernbach
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