Laurie Evans explains why Surrey CCC have no fear chasing down a total in T20 cricket

BY MARCUS HOOK

Despite suffering their first defeat in the Vitality Blast, Surrey’s record batting second in T20 cricket both this year and last remains mightily impressive. Star batsman Laurie Evans says it’s because chasing down a target is no longer as daunting as it once was.

“If you look at T20 cricket around the world, most guys seem to be winning the toss and wanting to chase,” said the 33-year-old, who has made more than 4,000 runs at an average of 34.44 in the format. Jason Roy, by comparison, is averaging 27.91.

Speaking before the stomach bug that sidelined him for the eight-wicket loss to Essex on Monday, Evans added: “It gives the batters a target and with the power people possess now no target is unchaseable.

“People don’t seem to fear the pressure of a run chase as much as back in the day when the sayings were ‘runs on the board’ and ‘scoreboard pressure’. That doesn’t seem to exist nowadays with the fearless nature of batters, so chasing is a lot easier in T20. But whatever we do, we’ve just got to be better than the opposition on the day.”

White-ball cricket is when Evans comes into his own. Having started his career at Surrey, before stints with Warwickshire and Sussex, one of his targets is helping bring the trophy back to the Oval.

“It’s always exciting when you get rid of the white pads and bring out the black ones,” said Evans:

“I’m desperate to win the competition at some point for Surrey.

“Last year, it was a great experience for a lot of the guys who hadn’t experienced getting all the way to the final.

“It was quite a new team, even though there were some familiar faces. There were some young guys who were playing different roles for the first time and it took a while to find our feet in the competition. But once we got a couple of wins and people started playing we went on a great run.

“Once you get on a bit of a roll with some momentum T20 is a great format to play in because it’s game after game after game, and it relies on people being able to nail their skills under pressure. The more confident you are at doing it, the more momentum you get behind you. It’s something we’ve built on from last year.

“Individuals win you games and once you get a couple of individuals playing well the rest of the team feeds off that, and the confidence just grows from there. It was important we got going as quickly as possible this year, but, equally, it’s important we peak at the right time at the back end. So we need to be ready to strike at crucial times.”

Since returning to the Surrey fold, Evans has been instrumental in terms of engineering successful chases for the South Londoners. One that stands out was the last-gasp victory against Essex last September which Evans, who hit an unbeaten 88, feels was pivotal.

But he reckons Surrey would never have won it but for Gus Atkinson’s 10 not out from five balls at the end.

“I called him M S Dhoni after that, because I was exhausted at the other end,” said Evans. “I couldn’t hit it, so luckily he came in – ice cool and just pounded it to the boundary, and got us over the line.

“When you look back to last year, that was almost the game that turned things around. From there we built some nice momentum and got going.

“People played parts like that all the way through. Will Jacks obviously played a large part. You can go through the whole side. That’s what you need in T20, you need people to dovetail, because you can’t always be the one performing game after game.

“We’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of explosive players, so my job is to win as many games and, by being there at the end, I can do that. But I don’t just preserve my wicket to the very end.

“It’s important we’re scoring at a good rate. I’ve picked up enough experience over the years to know what that is and pace my innings accordingly.

“No matter who I’m playing for, it never changes. I want to win games under pressure and, as a senior player – a senior batter – it’s my job to get us into a position where we can win games.

“If I can do that on my own, or with a couple of other people then that’s great. You’ve just got to affect as many games as possible and find a rhythm.

“I love performing in front of big crowds and I love finals days and the big pressure games.

“One of the main draws with Surrey is playing in front of big crowds, but, obviously, Covid stopped that last year. I think we’ve got a few guys in the dressing room who also enjoy that, so we can wait to see the Oval full once again.”

STAR MAN

Will Jacks – the visit of Sussex to the capital saw just five overs of action, but that did not stop him lighting up the Oval with a delightful 18-ball 38 not out.

BEST MOMENT

Will Jacks hitting Sussex fast bowler Tymal Mills for three successive sixes – the first over midwicket and the next two clearing wide long-off.

UPCOMING FIXTURES

June 25: Surrey v Middlesex at the Kia Oval (Vitality Blast)
June 27: Sussex v Surrey at Hove (Vitality Blast)
June 29: Glamorgan v Surrey at Cardiff (Vitality Blast)
June 30: Hampshire v Surrey at the Ageas Bowl (Vitality Blast)

SURREY V MIDDLESEX – PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Surrey
Amla, Jacks, Evans, Pope, Geddes, Clark, Overton, Smith (wk), Clarke, Batty (capt), Moriarty.

Middlesex
Eskinazi, Stirling, Cracknell, Simpson (wk), Hollman, Green, Sowter, Cullen, Finn (capt), Murtagh, Mujeeb.

KEY PLAYERS

Gareth Batty (Surrey) – the veteran spinner has a great T20 record against Middlesex, 32 wickets at an average of 15.37 and an economy rate of just 6.72 an over.

Chris Green (Middlesex) – averaging 30.66 with the bat and 18.00 with his off-spin in this summer’s T20. In 2015, the 27-year-old Australian cut his teeth in the game by making eight second XI Championship appearances for Surrey.

FORM GUIDE

Middlesex are propping up the South Group, with just one win from their first five. Only one other team (Northants) has a net run rate that’s inferior to the North Londoners’. Surrey have suffered their first setback – an eight-wicket loss to Essex in which all of the seamers used failed to make any impression for the now Curran-less outfit.

STAT

Tonight’s derby carries added significance because whereas Surrey have qualified for the knockout phase of the domestic T20 eight times, they’ve only done so once – in 2017 – after losing to Middlesex in the group stages.

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD