Surrey CCC news round-up: New T20 record marred by rain and trio leave mark for England Lions

Surrey and Kent shared a point apiece after last Friday’s T20 Blast clash at Canterbury was abandoned due to heavy rain, though not before Surrey had posted a mammoth 250 for six – a new club record and the fourth highest total in all domestic T20 cricket.

Rory Burns and Aaron Finch set the tone, hitting quick-fire half-centuries. Finch bludgeoned off back-foot and front at every opportunity to post a 19-ball 50 with eight fours and a brace of sixes, while Burns, standing in for the injured Jason Roy, reached his in just 27 deliveries.

The pair posted 87 in the six-over powerplay and had 119 on the board when Burns chased a wide, full delivery from Calum Haggett to edge through to keeper Sam Billings.

Surrey posted three figures after seven overs as Finch plundered on. The burly Aussie had 83 to his name after 38 balls faced when he heaved across the line to be bowled by left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum.

Nic Maddinson (29) and Ollie Pope (34) helped Surrey sail past 217, their best ever score against Kent in the short-form game and, by the end of the 18th over had posted their best ever T20 total beating their 224 for five against Gloucestershire in Bristol in 2006.

But it was all for nothing with rain, in the break between innings, putting paid to Surrey’s attempts to advance further up the South Division table following victories over Essex and Sussex.

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Surrey’s Rory Burns, Sam Curran and Ollie Pope all left their mark on England Lions’ 253-run win over India A at Worcester last week.

Burns, who was making his Lions debut alongside Pope, was handed the captaincy. Although he and Pope scored just five and eight respectively in England’s first innings 423, they both made valuable contributions in the second dig as the hosts took complete control.

The Lions owed their strong position to an inspired spell of bowling from Sam Curran who ripped through the India batting line-up with figures of 5-43. His victims included India’s current Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane.

With India A needing 421 to win, Curran junior picked up two further scalps – to end with incredible match figures of 7-60 – as the Lions pressed home their advantage.

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Surrey Stars’ Sophia Dunkley is confident that her side will bounce back from a opening day seven-wicket defeat to the Southern Vipers in the Kia Super League.

“Credit to the Vipers, they are a good side who played well, but it’s a long tournament and I’m sure we can bounce back,” said Dunkley, who hit a superb 66 off 43 balls in a losing cause.

“Even though we were in a bit of trouble when I came in, I was determined to play my normal game which is to try and be aggressive and to get on top of the bowling and I really enjoyed it out there.

“I thought we dragged it back pretty well but the pitch was good to bat on and the outfield is so fast and we were probably a few runs short.”

Tammy Beaumont, who made the switch from the Stars to the Vipers over the winter, led her side to victory with an unbeaten 62 at Guildford as a target of 142 was reached with three overs to spare.

Coming in at number three, instead of her usual position at the top of the order for England, Beaumont produced some typically aggressive shot-making as Vipers recovered from an early wobble, at 21-2, to race to an impressive victory.

Beaumont said: “It was a bit strange playing against my old team, but I had to put that out of my mind and I was really pleased with the way I batted.

“After the intensity of the international season it is slightly less pressure but you always want to do well for a new team and I thought we played really well.”

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Virtually all of the Surrey Stars’ home fixtures in this year’s Kia Super League will be live streamed on Surrey CCC’s official website kiaoval.com.

The only home game not to be live streamed will be the clash with Lancashire Thunder at the Kia Oval on Tuesday 31st July, which will be screened live by Sky Sports.

The Stars’ trips to Old Trafford to play Lancashire Thunder (on Tuesday 7th August) and against Southern Vipers at Hove (Tuesday 14th August) will also be live on Sky.

For women’s cricket fans unable to tune in, Surrey CCC will also be producing full highlights packages from every match, which will be available on the Surrey website and social media platforms.