Surrey spring Blast shock but key man is ruled out for rest of the season
Another sell-out crowd of 25,000 saw Surrey inflict a surprise 26-run defeat on Sussex – who were the only team left in the Vitality Blast with an unbeaten record – at the Oval last week.
But victory came at a cost to the injury-hit South Londoners.
Tom Curran picked up a side strain and was unable to complete his final over. The 24-year-old all-rounder, who is their leading wicket-taker in the Blast with 17 scalps at an average of 17.94, will not play again this season.
It’s a double blow because, with England not due to be in white-ball action before the tour of New Zealand in November, Curran senior would have been available for the Oval outfit’s four remaining County Championship fixtures.
Incredibly, Surrey restricted Sussex to 137-8, chasing a target of 164, despite the withdrawal of Tom Curran, who returned figures of 3-20. But the platform for the hosts’ third win in the competition was supplied by Sam Curran, who hit a whirlwind 47 off 24 balls, and Ollie Pope, who struck a more measured 48 in 44 deliveries.
The result blows the top of the South Group wide open, though not to the extent that Surrey are in danger of sneaking a quarter-final berth.
Ollie Pope, unaware of the extent of Tom Curran’s injury, said afterwards: “It was nice to follow up the performance against Glamorgan at Cardiff with another win tonight. On that wicket, it was a pretty complete performance and we were very happy at halfway with our total.
“The pitch suited a number of their bowlers in the middle overs, so we were smart in the way we built our total. Then we bowled excellently to get their asking rate up above 10 an over.
“We thought 150 would be a par score, but the way Sam batted to get us off to a great start in the power play was pretty special.”
