T20 Blast 2022: Match ball for first quarter-final arrives in remote-controlled car

The organizers of England’s T20 Blast have found a creative way to kick start a match, as the match ball for the first quarterfinal between Yorkshire and Surrey arrived at the ground with a remote-controlled car to get the match going. And what followed on the field was a last-ball thriller between the two teams as Yorkshire snatched the win by only 1 run.

David Willey’s Yorkshire batted first and scored 160 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Number three batter Tom Kohler-Cadmore top-scored with 62 runs off 48 balls, and in the backend of the innings Will Fraine finished off with an unbeaten 32 runs off 14 balls. Fast bowler Gus Atkinson was the pick of the bowlers for Surrey, finishing with figures of two wickets for 28 runs in four overs.

An innovative way to bring the match ball in the Vitality Blast. pic.twitter.com/1w8pfCg22P

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 7, 2022

Jordan Thompson defends five runs of the last over

Surrey’s chase began shakily as they lost their skipper, Will Jacks, in the last ball of the first over for only 1 run. Opener Rory Burns scored 28 runs off 27 balls before being bowled by leg-spinner Shadab Khan in the ninth over. Shadab also scalped the wicket of Ollie Pope, at number four, for only 11 runs off 8 balls. Tom Curran, coming in at number three, scored 36 runs off 28 balls and was dismissed in the 13th over by Willey.

Laurie Evans came in at number five and stayed unbeaten on 35 runs off 26 balls, and his partnership of 67 runs with Jamie Overton brought Surrey close to a famous victory. With these two settled batters on the crease, they only needed five runs in the last over. The medium-fast bowler Jordan Thompson had the ball for the 20th over, and in the first three balls, the two batters scored one run each. 

In the fourth ball, Overton was run out, after scoring a well-made 40 runs off 21 balls. Sunil Narine, who came in next to bat with three runs still required, was out on the first ball that he faced. Atkinson faced the last ball and Surrey could only sneak one run off a leg-bye. Thompson held the nerve in the last over and guided Yorkshire to the semifinals.

The second quarterfinal of the T20 Blast is set to take place between Hampshire, led by James Vince, and Warwickshire, led by Carlos Brathwaite, on Thursday. Other teams in the knockout stage of the competition are Lancashire, Essex, Derbyshire and Somerset. The two semifinals and the final are scheduled to take place on July 16.