Afzaal leads from the front as Surrey start well in Twenty20

25 May 2009

The Surrey Brown Caps got their Twenty20 Cup campaign off to a great start, defeating the Middlesex Panthers by 57 runs in an exciting London derby at Lord’s.

Usman Afzaal won the toss and elected to bat, confident that a flat pitch and a hot day would enable his side to post a serious total against Surrey’s local rivals, playing their first Twenty20 game under their new moniker of ‘Panthers’.

After a reshuffle of Surrey’s One Day batting order it was Afzaal himself who opened the innings alongside Scott Newman, starting well as the two found their feet and moved the ball around Lord’s gaping outfield with seaming ease.

Newman began to see the ball well and delivered two convincing smashes over the leg side, both going for full maximums but when he was on 18 – and the team on 47 – he tried a deft flicked sweep and just lofted the ball up for Alan Richardson to take a simple catch.

Whilst Surrey fans would have been disappointed to see the back of Newman, they would have been equally excited to see Mark Ramprakash confidently striding to the crease, ready to score yet more runs against his former county.

Ramprakash and Afzaal joined together and played delightfully, running quickly between the wickets and playing hard, intelligent cricket. They continually found gaps in the gaps in the field and smashed the ball around with abandon.

Afzaal soon brought up his fifty with a gigantic six into the grandstand off Shaun Udal and, amazingly, produced a carbon copy the next ball to further destroy the veteran Middlesex skipper’s statistics.

Ramprakash was soon to the party, hitting some brutal straight fours and also hitting powerfully to both sides of the wicket. The 39-year-old regularly belied his advanced years, scampering between the wickets like a man of half his years, frequently turning ones into twos or making a tight single seem far easier than it was.

With two class batsman playing so freely, the Brown Caps scored quickly and the hundred partnership was brought up off just 59 balls. Middlesex bowlers came and went but neither player offered anything in the way of a chance until, in the final over, Afzaal slightly overbalanced and was almost stumped after some sharp work from Ben Scott.

He received a reprieve from the third umpire in that instance and then, after smashing the fourth ball of the over for four, selflessly took an overthrow single off the penultimate delivery to leave him stranded on 98 not out, still the highest total ever scored by a Surrey batsman in a Twenty20 game. His runs came off just 59 balls, with Ramprakash at the other end scoring a fine 61 off 45 balls as the Brown Caps ended on 186/1.

Surrey also made a good start with the ball, with the first over going for just three runs and then Andre Nel, coming in from the Nursery End, bowling Nick Compton off his back leg for 7.

Neil Dexter was next to fall, slapping Grant Elliott’s first T20 ball of the season directly to James Benning in the covers for two. Billy Godleman and Tyrone Henderson then affected a mini recovery but Godleman failed to pick a much slower one from Grant Elliott and was bowled on the outside of his off stump.

Henderson was joined by Malan and the pair scored quickly and were looking dangerous until Henderson looked to make room to hit the newly introduced Spriegel through the off side and got a tickle through to Gary Wilson, who took the bails off just to make sure before celebrating.

Spriegel was also involved in the next wicket, taking a great catch in the deep when Dawid Malan had tried to hit Chris Schofield out of the ground. The leg spinner then struck again in the same over, trapping Dan Housego LBW for just 1 to leave Middlesex staring down the barrel at 79/6.

Schofield then took his third wicket when Shaul Udal hoiked a low slog into the leg side straight at Scott Newman, who did well to hold onto a ball that was really travelling when it reached him.

With Schofield going for just 21 from his four overs and Spriegel 26, the two spinners successfully applied the brakes during the overs when the Panthers’ batsman should have been accelerating to stand any chance of getting a result and, when Andre Nel finished his final over of the game – the 19th – Pedro Collins was left to defend 68 off the last six balls.

He did this successfully, with Middlesex ending on 129/7 and the Surrey Brown Caps eventually winning the game by 57 runs.

The team are next in action at the Brit Oval tomorrow night against Sussex Sharks. The game will take place under floodlights and starts at 6.30pm. Tickets are still available by clicking on the Fixtures and Ticketing tab at the top of the website, by dialling 08712 461100 or by turning up on the day.

After the game at Lord's, Usman Afzaal spoke to Surrey TV. Click here to listen to his thoughts.

Highlights of today's game at Lord's will be avaliable here on Tuesday Morning, courtesy of Surrey TV.