Wrap of first round of T20 Blast fixtures
Tom Curran displayed nerves of steel to see Surrey through in a tense finish against Essex.
The new NatWest T20 Blast competition opened with seven games on Friday night, beginning with a tie between Gloucestershire and Middlesex and ending with late drama between Essex and Surrey.
In between there was a half-century for Lancashire and England’s Jos Buttler, a huge total of 227 for Yorkshire and a four-wicket haul for Hampshire’s box-office signing Shahid Afridi.
Here, Press Association Sport wraps up the pick of the first night’s action.
Game of the day
The first game of this season’s competition ended in a thrilling tie between Gloucestershire and Middlesex. Ryan Higgins hit an unbeaten 68 off just 28 balls to earn the visitors a share of the spoils at Cheltenham.
Tweet of the day
Player of the day
Tom Curran displayed nerves of steel to see Surrey through in a tense finish against Essex. After captain Jade Dernbach was slammed for two sixes by Ravi Bopara in the penultimate over, 22-year-old England hopeful Curran had only 10 runs to defend in the last but dismissed Bopara and Ashar Zaidi while conceding just seven. He finished with three for 28 in a two-run win.
Shot of the day
The second of those Bopara maximums travelled 91 metres and clean out of the ground. The momentum seemed to be with Essex at that stage but Curran had other ideas.
Stat of the day
Luis Reece’s match-winning 75 for Derbyshire against Northamptonshire more than doubled his previous best Twenty20 score. In just four games for former club Lancashire, he scored only 48 runs in total with a best score of 32.
Beyond the boundary
Essex made a notable off-field move even as their game against Surrey was in progress, signing destructive Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal for their next eight games in the competition.
What happened next?
The last ball of Surrey’s innings against Essex was one for A Question of Sport. Scott Borthwick had a double escape – caught behind off a Paul Walter no-ball and clean bowled by the resulting free hit – only to attempt a bye and leave Dom Sibley stranded halfway down as James Foster broke the stumps.
