Surrey's Caribbean all-rounder Sunil Narine played a scintillating 78-run knock against Essex in T20 Blast clash on July 2 at Kennington Oval, London. As the top four batters failed to carry on, Narine smashed seven fours and six sixes in his 37-ball 78 to help Surrey post a challenging total on the board.
He walked in to bat when Surrey were struggling for 64/3 in 7.4 overs. Narine targetted Simon Harmer and hit him for two fours and a six. Then he hit Matthew Critchley for a six and a four. In the 12th over, Jason Roy got out for a 24-ball 28 but it did not affect Narine's scoring rate as he hit a six in the same over to get Surrey’s score past 100.
Jamie Overton struggled to find boundaries at first but hit Daniel Sams for two sixes in the 16th over. After Overton's wicket, Narine got to his half-century from 27 balls with a boundary. In the penultimate over, he hit Paul Walter for two consecutive sixes as well. In the final over, Narine got the strike on the fourth delivery. He smashed Sams for a six and a four to take Surrey's score to 195/6. Narine missed posting his high score in the format as well. He needed two more runs to get past his T20 best of 79.
Defending a par total, Surrey got an early wicket of Adam Rossington. But Daniel Lawrence and Michael-Kyle Lawrence's second-wicket partnership took the game away from them. After an expensive first over, Narine broke the partnership in the 12th over. He got the wicket of Lawrence who scored 58 runs from 33 balls including five fours and four sixes.
In the next over, skipper Chris Jordan got the wicket of Michael Pepper. He scored 75 runs from just 39 balls including six fours and five sixes. Essex suffered a batting collapse. In the last over, eight runs were needed to win. Only singles were scored off the first five balls. Feroze Khushi then went for a big hit. Jordan caught hold of the ball but could not push it back into play as it went over the boundary. Essex won the last league clash by three wickets.
After a narrow loss, Surrey are third on the South Group points table with eight wins from 14 games. They will play Lancashire on July 7 in the quarterfinal on July 7.
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