Ansari Defies Yorkshire

The recent revolution in one-day cricket that has seen international teams in the World Cup and since smash huge totals clearly hasn't quite found its way to English county cricket, at least on the evidence of today's cliffhanger at the Kia Oval, where Yorkshire did their utmost to fall just short of a seemingly accessible target of 266. In spite of encouraging half centuries from Ballance (again) and from Maxwell against his former employers, the Tykes failed to accelerate the run chase sufficiently and were unable to hit the necessary boundaries that would have made the difference between victory and defeat.

In fact one could make the argument that Ballance was something of a liability, as he could only muster six fours and really needed to be accumulating at about a run a ball which regrettably was not the case. Perhaps too many dot balls in his innings came back to haunt his team, as a steady fall of wickets in the final overs just about took the match away from the visitors. Earlier Andrew Gale yet again flopped as an opening batsman, but perhaps in the absence of Finch, Lyth, and the unreliable Rhodes, the captain has no choice but to open the batting.

Meanwhile on the bowling front, four Yorkshire bowlers shared two wickets each, including young Karl Carver who gave a good account of himself. In the end, the only person to seize three wickets was Zafar Ansari of Surrey who took the key wicket of Ballance, having earlier rescued his team with a fine, unbeaten half century at a time when Surrey were stuttering and struggling to get beyond a score of two hundred. Therefore, more than anybody, Ansari was the standout performer.

Yorkshire must now ponder on the win that got away, and as they prepare for Worcestershire on Thursday, they must simply acquire the knack of winning close matches, as a failure to achieve this will mean that they also come up short in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Surrey versus YORKSHIRE; in London; Wednesday the 29th of July 2015. Surrey won the toss.

Surrey: 265 for eight (off fifty overs)

Roy c Plunkett b Patterson 15 (59-2)

Davies b Patterson 39 (52-1)

Sangakkara c Gale b Carver 23 (107-4)

Wilson c Fisher b Carver 10 (80-3)

Foakes c Plunkett b Maxwell 44 (153-5)

Ansari not out 66

Burke c and b Fisher 1 (160-6)

Batty c Plunkett b Maxwell 12 (187-7)

T.Curran b Fisher 44 (253-8)

S.Curran not out 4

Extras: 7

YORKSHIRE: 259 for seven (off fifty overs)

Gale lbw S.Curran 3 (7-1)

Lees c Roy b Ansari 28 (74-2)

Maxwell c Wilson b Ansari 55 (110-3)

Ballance c Foakes b Ansari 77 (244-6)

Leaning c Dernbach b Batty 29 (175-4)

Hodd c Batty b T.Curran 25 (216-5)

Bresnan c Roy b Dernbach 16 (249-7)

Plunkett not out 9

Patterson not out 1

Extras: 16

Ansari 10-0-58-3

Surrey won by six runs. Surrey two points, YORKSHIRE no points.