Surrey 152 for six (Pollard 34, Dawson 2-21) beat Hampshire 151 for 7 (Fuller 39*, Overton 2-21) by 4 wickets
It was a soupçon at greatest, the merest trace that Pollard, at 35, can nonetheless have many explosive moments in retailer, however his 34 from 22 was important to increase Surrey’s report of eight consecutive wins and keep their supremacy within the South Group. Hampshire, buoyant after 4 successive victories, made them work on a wonderful pitch providing tempo and bounce earlier than conceding a 4-wicket margin with 5 balls to spare.
Pollard had not performed on this floor since, and he appeared bent upon exacting satisfying revenge till Joe Weatherley ended his innings with a flying seize to his proper at deep sq. leg after James Fuller had been deposited into the leg aspect. Pollard smoothed in the direction of the pavilion with a philosophical nod of the top in recognition of the standard of the catch. he had left Surrey solely 22 runs quick with 26 balls and 5 wickets remaining, and so they reverted to an method of minimal threat to chip them off.
Such has been Pollard’s lean run that his 34 was his highest return since he made 41 in opposition to England in Barbados in January. He has been a key ingredient in Mumbai Indians’ 5 IPL crowns since 2010, however he completed the newest marketing campaign with solely 144 runs below his belt at a mean of 14.40 and a strike fee of 107.46 – his lowest strike fee in any IPL season. With Surrey so dominant, he had had little likelihood to alter the narrative and had been restricted to some cameos, conserving his sport in trim with the hope of larger issues to come back.
Fuller’s quick-medium was then whipped by way of mid-off twice in a row with superior energy. Nathan Ellis was swatted by way of sq. leg as an irritant not value his consideration. The acquainted Pollard was by then in mode: the saunter down the pitch and the dismissive little contact of the highest of his thigh pad to verify that issues had been going properly. Rory Burns, at that time, simply performed the supporting position of token glove puncher, however he had the nous to stay round in understated trend till the match was gained. The decisive second got here with eight runs wanted from seven balls, at which level the Australian Ellis tried to bounce out Chris Jordan and the ball whistled for six.
Hampshire had been inserted on a pitch that originally was so fast the match might need been rescheduled for Perth. James Vince, on the again of a elegant century on Friday evening, was dropped by Burns on 19 when he drilled Gus Atkinson to backward level, nevertheless it was not overly expensive: Jamie Overton’s fame is rising and the considered a brief ball on a quick pitch prompted Vince to belief to the again foot and be lbw to a fullish one. The center order faltered in opposition to Sunil Narine and Jordan, the latter taking a surprising return catch to dismiss Ross Whiteley. It took Fuller’s elan (39 not out from 22 balls) to submit a significant rating.
Overton, who hopes to make his Test debut at Headingley, had a blended afternoon. He added a second wicket when Weatherley pulled him to deep sq. leg, however on a pitch that suited him all the way down to the bottom, he didn’t fairly assemble the hostility which may have been anticipated.
Perhaps with a Test debut on the horizon he was being barely conservative in his method, maybe he was taking a gradual-away method to the shorter format. Whichever it was, it was a aid to find that when he fell over in his observe-by way of in his third over no hurt was carried out.
