Surrey won by 9 wickets (with 66 balls remaining)
Surrey needed just nine overs to chase their target of 108
Gus Atkinson’s four overs featured 15 dot balls on top of his three wickets • Getty Images
Surrey 108 for 1 (Sibley 43*, Evans 31*) beat Glamorgan 107 for 9 (Labuschagne 20, Atkinson 3-19, Abbott 3-25) by nine wickets
South Group leaders Surrey crushed Glamorgan by nine wickets after a superb bowling performance, spearheaded by the pace of Gus Atkinson, Sean Abbott and Spencer Johnson, restricted the Welsh county to just 107 for nine from their 20 overs.
Atkinson took wickets with his first and fourth balls early on and finished with 3 for 19, Abbott followed up his 5 for 18 against Middlesex 24 hours earlier by taking 3 for 25 and his fellow Australian, left-arm quick Johnson, picked up 1 for 16 from his four overs.
Marnus Labuschagne was top-scorer with 20 and tailender Chris Sole made the next highest score with 15 not out, and Glamorgan’s total was put into context as Surrey rushed to 108 for 1 in reply in only nine overs.
Dan Lawrence and Dom Sibley launched Surrey’s chase with a fusillade of boundaries as the opening pair added 53 inside a 62-run powerplay. Sibley went on to 43 not out from 26 balls after Lawrence holed out to deep square leg on 27 from 16 balls, and Laurie Evans then arrived to play some wonderful shots of his own in a 13-ball unbeaten 31.
It was Surrey’s sixth win from eight Vitality Blast group games while, for Glamorgan, it was a sorry sixth defeat from their first eight matches in the competition.
Lawrence took three fours from the third over, bowled by Chris Sole, and Sibley smashed left-arm seamer Jamie McIroy long on for six before driving the next ball gloriously wide of mid off for four.
Evans, meanwhile, hit Dan Douthwaite’s fast-medium over cover for a remarkable six, following it up later in the over with a more orthodox strike high over long on for another maximum. And there was just time for Sibley to sweep Marnus Labuschagne’s leg spin for six and thump him to extra cover for four before also hitting the winning run.
Glamorgan’s innings began badly, and never really recovered. Openers Kiran Carlson and Sam Northeast both fell in the second over, with Atkinson having Carlson caught at short extra cover for 1 with his first ball and Northeast (4) beaten by pace three balls later as he flapped at a short one and spooned up to slip.
Australian Test batsman Labuschagne did scoop a Jordan Clark full toss high over the keeper for six but Abbott’s introduction for the sixth over brought an immediate reward when Colin Ingram swung at his first ball and was bowled for 8.
Glamorgan were only 34 for 3 at the end of the powerplay and the struggle continued against spin as Lawrence snared Labuschagne for 20 and Cameron Steel also bowled his leg breaks accurately.
Ben Kellaway reached 11 before Johnson’s return accounted for him, caught at midwicket in the 11th over, and Douthwaite (7) was beaten by a sharply-rising leg-cutter from Abbott and nicked behind.
Clark saw Chris Cooke miscue to cover to go for 13 and Glamorgan’s demise continued when Andy Gorvin (5) edged Abbott behind.
Mason Crane made only six before nicking a pacy lifter from Atkinson to the keeper and Glamorgan only made it to three figures because, in the final over, Sole carved Abbott high and beyond the ropes at fine third man for six and last man McIlroy produced perhaps the best shot of a forgettable innings by delicately ramping a full-pitched ball to the fine leg boundary.
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