Murtagh key in Surrey success

Chris Murtagh raises his bat to the Brit Oval crowd after reaching his half-century

Chris Murtagh’s 74 helped Surrey see off Leicestershire by 34 runs at the Brit Oval.

Leicestershire were bowled out for 171 in the NatWest Pro40 Division Two match after Murtagh’s innings enabled the hosts to record 204 for five.

It proved too much for Leicestershire to chase down as they suffered a steady loss of wickets throughout their innings.

Jacques du Toit was the first to go for Leicestershire, in the second over, Pedro Collins trapping him lbw for nought.

Jade Dernbach forced Matthew Boyce into a leading edge, and he was duly caught by Usman Afzaal at mid off for 12 in the seventh over, before Collins got his second victim of the afternoon, Paul Nixon edging to wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty.

This left Leicestershire on 29 for three, and it was always an uphill struggle from there as every time they looked to have forced their way into the match, another wicket seemed to fall.

Greg Smith provided some resistance, but edged to Batty off Alex Tudor for 58, making it 95 for five as Joshua Cobb had earlier fallen to Pedro Collins for three.

Claude Henderson then made a brave attempt to resurrect the match for the visitors, before he was out for 28 off 27 balls as he tried to hit Stewart Meaker down the ground and was caught by Dernbach.

Pedro Collins celebrates the wicket of Jacques du Toit for nought with Jonathan Batty

Dernbach then claimed three of the last four wickets, including James Taylor (37), as Leicestershire’s innings came to an end in the 37th over to give Surrey the win.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat, with steady scoring until the 10th over with Scott Newman dismissed for 24. His top edge from Simon Hook went straight in the air, giving Matthew Boyce an easy catch.

Murtagh continued to score at a steady if unspectacular rate, and helped Surrey pass the 100 mark for the loss of only one wicket.

Stewart Walters was the next to go, missing an attempted pull and being trapped lbw by Claude Henderson for 20 in the 25th over.

Usman Afzaal was out five overs later for 14, caught at long on by Sam Cliff from the bowling of Jigar Naik.

And Murtagh’s dismissal in the 36th over proved to be the penultimate one in Surrey‘s innings, as captain Jonathan Batty hit an impressive 40 from 30 balls before being well caught at mid on by Joshua Cobb after he miss-hit an attempted pull from Nadeem Malik in the last over.