Cricket: Surrey end One-Day Cup on a high note

Surrey completed their One-Day Cup campaign on something of a high note, registering two wins out of three – the last of which, against Essex, was engineered by two of the Oval outfit’s support cast, Josh Blake and Ollie Sykes.

Blake, who hit a maiden century, found a useful ally in 19-year-old Sykes (87 not out from 56 balls), making only his second appearance for Surrey, to complete a rebuild after his side had slumped to 53-3.

The pair added an unbeaten 155 in 17 overs for the fifth wicket, though not before Blake had joined forces with Ryan Patel (83), just when the South Londoners seemed in danger of coming up short against a decent attack.

Essex lost wickets at regular intervals and when Tom Westley (78) fell to Cameron Steel (4-40) in the 36th over the Chelmsford outfit’s hopes went with him.

“I really enjoyed myself,” said Blake, pictured right. “It was really good batting out there with Sykesy.

“I looked up at the scoreboard for our 50 partnership and I only had 17 of them.

“He played really well. He hits the ball so cleanly.

“But Pat [Ryan Patel] set the innings up for us with that 80-odd, then Ollie came in and those sixes really took the pressure off me.

“We were in a bit of bother, but Pat did really well to weather that storm and set the game up.

Blake, 25, added: “I rode my luck a little bit, but it was good that the hard work paid off.

“I’ve had a different route into the game. I was 23 when I made my debut last year. Before that I was coaching full-time with the Cricket Foundation.

“I wanted to be in cricket, and it was good to get that opportunity to go full-time after going to Australia and trying to play as much as I could.

“I got an opportunity in the Second XI and here we are.”

Ben Geddes, who rounded off his 50-over campaign with three half-centuries in five innings, was to the fore when the curtain came down against Sussex.

The 23-year-old made 81 at Hove, but, other than Blake (53), lacked support as Surrey were bowled out for an under par 242, which Sussex reeled in with 15 balls to spare thanks to Tom Alsop’s 108 not out.

“It felt nice to spend some time in the middle and get a decent score,” said Geddes. “It would have been even better to kick on. There were about 15 overs left and it wasn’t the ideal time to get out. I was looking forward to having a bit of fun at the end.

“We showed some scrap in the last few games, and came back well from a tough start. There are plenty of positives we can take forward.

“Scoring three 50s is satisfying, but it would have been nice if I’d got a few runs at The Oval.”