Surrey hopes still alive

Mark Butcher saw Surrey home with an unbeaten 66

Surrey Brown Caps beat Essex Eagles by eight wickets at Chelmsford with 22 balls to spare, reaching 219 for two to register their third win of the season in the South/East Division of the Friends Provident Trophy.

The win keeps them in with a mathematical hope of reaching the knockout stages of the competition.

Essex meanwhile saw their aspirations of winning the group to earn an automatic home tie dented following this result, after they had been bowled out for 215 in a match reduced to 40 overs per side after heavy morning rain had delayed the start until 1.45pm.

The visitors got off to a whirlwind start in their reply with James Benning striking the first legitimate ball of the innings over deep mid-on for six after Graham Napier had begun with a wide as 12 were taken from the over.

Napier also conceded 10 runs from his next over as Benning and Scott Newman treated the bowlers with contempt.

Benning lofted James Middlebrook over the ropes to bring up the 50 partnership in less than six overs but having taken the total onto 58, he was bowled by David Masters for 38.

Essex struggled unsuccessfully to halt the rampage with skipper Mark Pettini rotating the bowlers with five changes in the opening 15 overs.

Newman also hit the ball cleanly, delivering some well-timed drives to bring up the 100 with a six over the deep mid-wicket and then completed a 41-ball half-century before he was caught behind for 52 attempting to cut off-spinner Middlebrook.

That left Surrey requiring a further 106 runs from 24 overs but captain Mark Butcher and Usman Afzaal were able to ease their side to victory in comfortable fashion with a series of well-placed strokes, including a number of pleasing drives on both sides of the wicket in an unbroken partnership of 109 runs.

Butcher faced 84 deliveries in recording an unbeaten and chanceless 66 with six boundaries while Afzaal offered dependable support with an untroubled 50 not out having faced 65 balls that embraced six boundaries including one six.

Essex were inserted by Surrey and the quick dismissals of Pettini and Ravi Bopara justified the visitors’ decision.

Bopara made just six while Pettini's enigmatic form in the competition continued. Having scored two centuries in his first three innings in the FPT this year, his last three visits to the crease in the competition have produced scores of one, one and now a duck.

The Essex total was underpinned by Varun Chopra, whose run-a-ball 79 included nine boundaries in a display of sweetly-timed drives. The 20 year-old featured in the highest two partnerships of the innings, firstly with Ryan ten Doeschate, who contributed 19 out of 47 for the fourth wicket before running himself out.

Then James Foster joined Chopra as the pair raised the tempo with a liaison worth 60 runs in eight overs before Chopra clubbed Benning to long-on to leave the home side 152 for five in the 27th over.

The departure of Foster four overs later for 32 when he picked out backward point saw the run-rate slow with 38 runs added in the remaining nine overs as the home side lost their final four wickets.

Jade Dernbach was the most successful Surrey bowler taking 3-31, a welcome return for the paceman who had conceded 0-85 and 0-107 in the previous two FPT matches.