T20 Blast 2019, Day 11: Round-up

Just one game was scheduled to be played on Tuesday in the T20 Blast 2019. After a day’s break, the fans were eager to watch a good game of cricket. However, this fixture between Surrey and Kent was affected by rain. This isn’t the first time rain has played a spoilsport in the tournament.

However, both these teams were fortunate to witness some play as a 7-over per side encounter was possible. Thus, the points didn’t have to be shared as these shared points could make a massive difference when things boil down to the top four in the group. Mohammad Nabi, with his all-round performance, was the most impressive of the day and was even adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’.

Here is how things progressed on the day:

Surrey vs Kent – South Group

Surrey was unlucky with the toss in this shortened encounter and they were put in to bat first. It was first decided that it would be a 13-over per side game. However, right after the first ball of the game was bowled, rain gods interrupted yet again. Thus, the match had to be reduced to 7-overs per team. In such a small game, you’d expect the batsmen to go hard at the bowlers. But Adam Milne was just fabulous in the first over.

Despite the field being up, he bowled a maiden. Then, Hardus Viljoen cleared up Will Jacks. All the batsmen tried to go hard at the bowlers and perished in the process. No one except the skipper Aaron Finch scored more than 5 runs. The Australian limited-overs captain faced 20 balls and scored 36 runs. His knock pushed the total to 54/4.

The chase was a one-man show. Imran Tahir dismissed D Bell-Drummond right in the first over for 1 run. Then, Mohammad Nabi walked in and started smashing the bowlers all around the park. Out of the 12 balls that he faced, 7 went to the boundary. 5 of these shots cleared the ropes with ease. He remained unbeaten on 43 off 12 balls as Kent won the game with three overs to spare.

Brief Scores:

SUR: 54/4 in 7 overs (Aaron Finch 36*, Ollie Pope 5, Hardus Viljoen 2/10)

KENT: 55/1 in 4 overs (Mohammad Nabi 43*, Heino Kuhn 9*, Imran Tahir 1/22)

Result: Kent won by 9 wickets (Match reduced to 7 overs per side)