Glos suffer agonising last ball defeat to Surrey in T20 Blast
1 July 2015
Surrey’s Azhar Mahmood (22*)hit a towering six off the final ball of the match to inflict an agonising four wicket defeat on Gloucestershire.
Going into the last over the home side needed just nine to won but it came down to the wire thanks to an impressive last over from the inexperienced Craig Miles.
After conceding a wide and two singles from his first two balls he had Zafar Ansari caught by Liam Norwell at short fine leg to send last minute jitters through the Surrey camp.
Two dots in a row heightened the tension but seasoned campaigner Mahmood held his nerve to hoist the ball over the square leg fence to get the six runs required and sent the sell out crowd into delirium.
In a game of fine margins Glos were left ruing a total of 16 extras including nine wides and two no balls, mainly coming in the last quarter of the match.
To watch a post match interview with Michael Klinger click below
Earlier Glos won the toss and batted.
But captain Michael Klinger - who had 518 runs before tonight - was unable to continue his NatWest T20 Blast heroics as he fell in the second over for 2 after miscuing Matt Dunn to his opposite number Gareth Batty at mid off.
However the home side failed to capitalise as Tom Curran and Mahmood both dropped short, going for 13 and 14 respectively in the fourth and fifth overs of the match.
Their ill-discipline allowed Hamish Marshall and Ian Cockbain to cash in with a flurry of boundaries.
Dunn (2-15) returned to the action in the sixth over and was greeted with a flat six over long off from Cockbain who moved on to 31.
But the right hander was out next ball, bottom edging a pull onto his own stumps to make it 54-2
Marshall and new man Peter Handscomb kept the scoreboard turning over with a mixture of dabs, flicks and nudges but they needed more.
Marshall responded by putting Ansari into the stands. But for the second time in the innings a wicket followed one ball later as the New Zealander was caught behind by Gary Wilson for 32.
Benny Howell got off the mark with a single first ball but failed to add to it, reverse sweeping one straight into the hands of Sam Curran at point off the bowling of the excellent Gareth Batty (1-20) to make it 79-4.
In the 11th over Ansari (1-27) and Wilson were convinced they had snared Jones caught behind but the umpire remained unmoved.
Jones and Handscomb continued to nurdle the ball for 1s and 2s before a four from the Australian off Sam Curran brought about the first boundary for 23 balls.
He moved past his previous highest Glos T20 score (29) with a boundary over mid off from Tom Curran (1-41) in the 15th over but the visitors were still finding it hard to accelerate the scoring.
With five overs to go Glos were on 113-4 and in need of boundaries.
Jones reverse swept Mahmood for four in the 17th but was struck a blow himself in the next over when he was floored by a Tom Curran ball that hit him in the mid riff. The pair completed a single but a short break in play was needed for the wicketkeeper/batsman to recover his composure.
When play resumed Handscomb holed out to Foakes at deep midwicket for 39 to leave Glos on 139-5 with 19 balls remaining.
Jones cleared the ropes off the first ball of the final over - bowled by Tom Curran – but that was the only boundary as the visitors finished on 154-5. Jones 37* Kieran Noema-Barnett 4*.
Having seen how effective Batty and Ansari had been Klinger chose to open with Tom Smith – Gloucestershire’s most successful bowler in this year’s competition.
He went for just four in a tight first over.
They progressed steadily to 24-0 before an action-packed fifth over sparked the innings into life. Roy followed up a six over mid off with a four through point. He then skied one over wide long off which resulted in a terrible mix up and Tom Curran on his way – run out by Marshall for 10.
19 runs including three fours for Roy and a six for Sangakarra came of Norwell in the sixth over to leave Surrey on the same score -55- as Glos had been after the power play but one wicket better off.
The home side lost their second wicket in the next over when Roy (33) became Smith’s 19th Blast wicket of the season brilliantly stumped by Jones following a referral to the third umpire.
Benny Howell picked up a wicket in his first over when Wilson (4) hit a full toss straight down the throat of Miles on the square leg boundary to make it 62-3.
Just as Glos had done, Surrey struggled to find the boundary during the middle overs thanks to good bowling from Howell (1-30), Jack Taylor (1-22) and Smith (2-24).
At one stage they went eight overs without finding the fence. They finally did off the first ball of the fifteenth over from Howell. Ben Foakes was nearly caught by Taylor at long on but as he raced in it dropped agonisingly short and beat him on the bounce. This was the second time the right hander had tested his luck following a similar half chance off Smith two overs earlier.
He finally did find the hands of a Glos fielder off the last ball of the sixteenth over as he holed out top Handscomb off Taylor for 27 to make it 115-4.
New man Azhar got off the mark with a straight six off Smith as the home side looked to launch their assault. But the Glos spinner had the last laugh in the over, getting key man Sangakarra caught Howell at deep midwicket for 34.
Surrey took 11 off Norwell in the next over to leave them needing 20 from the last two. But not for the first time in the match extras allowed the pressure to slip as Howell bowled two wides and a no ball in the nineteenth.
Miles followed it up with a wide off the first ball of the final over but recovered brilliantly, picking up the wicket of Ansari – caught Norwell at short fine leg – and following it up with two dots to leave six off the final ball.
Unfortunately for Gloucestershire it was Mahmood that proved the hero, hitting a six to seal a dramatic win.
