The Cricketer picks out some of the talking points from Surrey's T20 Blast quarter-final defeat by Yorkshire at the Kia Oval
Yorkshire were dead and buried, until they weren't. Surrey needed five runs to win, heading into the final over. Only, they managed two singles and a bye that knocked them out and sent Yorkshire through.
Jordan Thompson, the bowler, didn't know where to run. A six off the last ball of Matt Revis' penultimate over appeared to have ended it as a contest. Laurie Evans held the pose, with Jamie Overton surely set to complete proceedings in the final over. But somehow, they couldn't.
Overton was run out cleverly by Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and Thompson mixed yorkers with slower balls, had Sunil Narine caught at deep square leg and then didn't allow Gus Atkinson to hit the boundary required off the last ball to send Surrey, South Group winners, to Edgbaston.
The Kia Oval went silent, barring a smattering of Yorkshire supporters who could scarcely believe the turnaround they’d seen after Overton and Evans had put on 67 runs in 5.5 overs.
David Willey became available at late notice for Yorkshire (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
Will Jacks had never captained Surrey before, until circumstances demanded that changed. Chris Jordan has been the county's Blast skipper all season but was whisked away on England duty ahead of their quarter-final. It was a show of faith in Jacks' maturity that the reins should be tossed to the homegrown allrounder, still only 23 and an England Under-19 cricketer only four years ago.
But he rotated his bowlers in the same manner that has been a trademark of Jordan: Aaron Hardie bowled an over here, Dan Worrall bowled an over there. Sunil Narine was held back until Jacks himself had rattled through four miserly overs with the new ball.
He accounted for Adam Lyth with the game's third ball, early on a punch through the off-side that lobbed to extra cover. Ironically, Lyth had been set to skipper Yorkshire until David Willey became available late in the day for the visitors.
He set intelligent fields and varying his pace. When Tom Kohler-Cadmore did get hold of him, he was restricted to singles on the legside. No one bowled more dots in the Yorkshire innings, but he won't believe how victory slipped away from his side when they appeared to be over the line.
Will Jacks captained Surrey for the first time (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
Until 2.30pm, Lyth was set to captain Yorkshire at the Kia Oval, with David Willey on England duty at the Ageas Bowl and not expected in south London. But at late notice, Yorkshire were informed that the allrounder – in his last year with the county after announcing that he would be returning to Northamptonshire for 2023 – would be available for selection.
That in itself gave Yorkshire one up on Surrey, whose captain – Chris Jordan – wasn't to be released from Matthew Mott's camp. And though Willey struggled for timing in his innings, he was far from alone on a surface that no one seemed to truly master.
And having seen the wickets of his openers fall inside the powerplay, his rebuilding job was a necessary act ahead of Fraine's late show.
With the ball, Willey did as he does in white-ball cricket: he took the key wicket of Jacks and then spent much of the evening beating the bat, with Surrey's availability issues meaning an unlikely second-wicket pairing of Rory Burns and Tom Curran. He would eventually have Curran caught at fine leg.
Surrey had looked to have their chase under control (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
For Yorkshire, it was the least heralded member of the top seven who made the greatest impact with the bat. Tom Kohler-Cadmore might have anchored the innings after the loss of two early wickets, but Will Fraine was the man responsible for a necessary, rapid ending.
There were just 31 balls left in the innings when Willey fell for a pedestrian 30, made in 37 balls, that had Yorkshire struggling for momentum at 102 for 3. And there were just 25 remaining when Fraine came to the crease. From there, he bladed 32 quickfire runs in just 14 balls, smiting two straight sixes and nailing three fours. One, in particular, scorched across the outfield on the off-side. From nowhere – courtesy of a 19-minute cameo – Yorkshire had 160 on the board; Surrey, having elected to chase, had a game on their hands.
Fraine's previous high score in this year's Blast was just 22, without a T20 fifty in his career, in fact. This was his first appearance in the competition since mid-June, and his first six was deposited out of the ground. In the end, those runs couldn't have been more valuable.
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