T20 Blast: Surrey beat Middlesex by eight wickets

Ollie Pope struck his first half-century of this 12 months’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 quick work of their chase to get Surrey’s T20 marketing campaign again on observe following successive defeats.

Earlier, Surrey’s seamers at all times appeared on prime and restricted their metropolis rivals to a modest 130-7, with Reece Topley (1-21) and Sean Abbott (2-16) the decide of the bunch.

Middlesex all-rounder Luke Hollman, with an unbeaten 31 from 29 balls, top-scored in a dropping trigger for the second successive recreation as Surrey triumphed for the twelfth time in 14 Blast conferences between the edges.

Though the forecast rain by no means truly materialised, Sam Curran put the guests in after profitable 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 12 months’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 appeared forlorn, regardless of a valiant partnership of 47 from 39 by Hollman and Ryan Higgins (27).

Using his luck at occasions, Hollman landed some beneficial blows and, though Sebastian Morgan thumped Tom Curran’s closing ball over cowl for 4, the guests’ complete by no means appeared remotely satisfactory.

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 had been capable of be selective with their photographs.

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 succeed in his half-century and clinch the win.