Chopra returns in style as Warwickshire climb table

Warwickshire 218 for 2 (Chopra 92, Evans 43*) beat Surrey 153 (Dilshan 58, Patel 4-30, Gordon 3-25) by 111 runs (D/L method)
Scorecard

An unbeaten 92 by Varun Chopra and a whirlwind unbeaten 43 from 15 balls by Laurie Evans overwhelmed Surrey as Warwickshire brought alive their Royal London Cup campaign with victory by 111 runs in a rain-adjusted match at Edgbaston.

After a long delay in mid-innings, Warwickshire thrashed 84 in six overs to reach a challenging 218 for 2 and Surrey folded for 153 when set a Duckworth-Lewis target of 265 from 33 overs.

A fourth defeat in six games in Group B has killed off Surrey's hopes but Warwickshire are still in contention with away fixtures to come against Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire.

As a rehearsal for a further meeting in next week's NatWest T20 Blast semi-final, this was most likely an unreliable form guide. Both teams were without a number of high-profile players and the interference by the weather inevitably raised ifs and buts.

A sharp shower reduced the match to 48 overs per side and a deluge halted Warwickshire's innings at 134 for 1 after 27 had been bowled.

At this point the batting side would have been getting ready to accelerate through the gears, but after a delay of more than two-and-a-half hours, they had to embark on a mad thrash.

Although Jonathan Trott quickly perished, slogging high towards long off after making 31, Evans destroyed his former county's bowling. Opening up with successive sixes off Stuart Meaker, he dominated a partnership of 70 in 4.1 overs with Chopra.

In all he hit five fours, as well as a massive third six off Meaker, and in the mayhem Surrey's shell-shocked attack simply fell apart.

Even when the game was progressing under more routine circumstances, Warwickshire always gave the impression of being in control, starting with a stand of 89 before William Porterfield was caught behind for 36 off Tim Linley's first ball.

Chopra went on to hit 10 fours and a six from 99 balls as he continued a prolific run following a 10-day break since injuring a thigh muscle when making 86 not out against Essex in the Twenty20 quarter-final. In his last eight innings in limited-overs formats, he has scored 516 runs.

Only Steven Davies, with two sixes in a brisk 37, and Tillakaratne Dilshan promised anything as substantial as Surrey creaked under the pressure of a tough run chase.

While Davies was bowled in Jeetan Patel's first over, Dilshan went on to a cleverly compiled 58 from 60 balls until he was fifth out, top-edging Recordo Gordon to Trott at third man.

Patel finished with the best figures of 4 for 30 and Rikki Clarke completed a good day for former Surrey players with two wickets in successive balls and two catches.

Next time the teams meet, Surrey will be hoping to welcome back the likes of Kevin Pietersen, quarter-final matchwinner Jason Roy, specialist spinner Zafar Ansari and two pace bowlers, Jade Dernbach and Matthew Dunn.

Warwickshire, meanwhile, expect to have their England players, Ian Bell and Chris Woakes, available ahead of the one-day internationals against India and are also hoping to get Shoaib Malik back in their side after his performances in seven group games before he left to play in the Caribbean Premier League.

Dougie Brown, director of cricket at Edgbaston, is keen to have him back but added: "There are still visa and administrative barriers that need to be overcome, and we are still unsure as to whether this can be completed in such a short time."