de Bruyn steers Surrey towards semi-finals
Surrey strengthened their bid for a place in the last four of the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a nail-biting three-wicket win over Warwickshire at Guildford
24-Jul-2011
Surrey strengthened their bid for a place in the last four of the Clydesdale
Bank 40 with a nail-biting three-wicket win over Warwickshire at Guildford.
The result was sealed with just seven deliveries to spare when Zander de Bruyn,
who made an unbeaten 84 off 92 balls, cut Neil Carter through extra cover for
four.
Yasir Arafat, who took five for 45, also starred for the Lions, who were made
to work hard for their victory after Rikki Clarke hit a dazzling 76 off 61 balls
for the visitors.
Having won the toss, Warwickshire posted 225 for 8, which looked barely
adequate given the compact surroundings. Arafat struck twice in the sixth over, with Carter caught at deep square leg and Varun Chopra snapped up at backward point - both by Matthew Spriegel.
Will Porterfield was caught at the wicket four overs later off Tim Linley, but
then Tim Ambrose (39) shared in stands of 53 and 55 with Jim Troughton and
Clarke respectively.
The visitors only sparked into life when former Surrey man Clarke came to the
crease in the 23rd over, following the loss of Troughton to Zafar Ansari's
left-arm spin for 27, though the Bears' skipper had previously swept Chris
Schofield for six.
Clarke lifted Ansari over extra cover for a maximum on his way to a 51-ball
half-century, which the former Surrey man brought up with a cover drive for four
off Jade Dernbach.
Arafat's return to the attack produced the wicket of Ambrose, who, backing
away, had his bails trimmed by the Pakistan all-rounder. Clarke and Chris Woakes added 55 in five overs, during which Clarke clipped Arafat over wide long-on for six. But then Arafat had Woakes caught at extra cover and Clarke at deep mid-wicket to register his best figures in one-day cricket for three years.
Surrey's reply got off to the worst possible start when Rory Hamilton-Brown was
bowled for a duck by Jeetan Patel and Jason Roy (seven) danced down the pitch to
Woakes and cut the ball on to his stumps.
Steven Davies (23) was caught at short extra cover off a leading edge, but Tom
Maynard and De Bruyn then set about laying the foundations for a successful
assault.
Surrey were up against it when Maynard (39), Matthew Spriegel (20) and Arafat
all fell to catches in the deep but Ansari's 22 in 16 deliveries, which included
two pulled sixes, finally provided the impetus his side needed. And De Bruyn completed the job in tandem with Schofield (13 not out).