Foakes smashes Surrey to win over Glamorgan
Ben Foakes blasted Surrey to a five-wicket win over Glamorgan, with a maiden century from Will Smale not enough for the defending champions.Foakes, the wicket-keeper out of favour with England, hit 43 not out off just 17 balls to steer his side to an improbable target of 146 in 16 overs after a long rain-break. Smale's well-paced knock of 105 not out off 106 steered Glamorgan to 308-7 despite losing early wickets to Surrey's raw young attack, Nathan Barnwell claiming 3-55.Rain and lightning caused a lengthy interruption early in the Surrey innings, but Adam Thomas (34 off 24) and Foakes got Surrey off the mark in the third match of their campaign.Glamorgan have just two points from their three games and may need to win their remaining five after a shock reverse against a well below-strength Surrey.
Surrey, depleted by 15 Hundred absentees, lost captain Ryan Patel to an ankle injury in the warm-up with Foakes taking over the captaincy.In contrast Glamorgan welcomed back Dan Douthwaite from a brief spell at the Hundred and Championship captain Sam Northeast, who had been rested.A wild second over of the match from 18 year-old Alex French, playing only his second game, lasted 13 balls and cost Surrey 20 runs. But the 6ft 7" quickie was kept on and rewarded the decision by getting rid of both openers, Eddie Byrom and Asa Tribe, with Byrom falling to a fine catch from French's former Cranleigh school-mate Adam Thomas as French finished with a creditable 2-49 in nine. The pacey Barnwell, 22, made sure Surrey stayed in the game by sending back the experienced pair of Sam Northeast for 24 and Kiran Carlson for 25 to leave Glamorgan a precarious 117-4 in the 20th over.Spinner Yousef Majid bowled his 10 overs for just 41 as Surrey kept the brakes on for long periods.But Zain Ul Hassan (33) and Alex Horton (35) shared in key stands of 70 and 86 with Smale as Glamorgan batted intelligently to keep wickets in hand and leave the all-out acceleration until the final five overs. Smale, dropping down the order to five from his usual top-three position, finished with seven fours and three sixes to ensure Glamorgan had a decent total to defend, albeit with a generous helping of 48 extras. Test batter Rory Burns was well caught behind by Horton off Ul Hassan for 12, but with Surrey 21-1 off 5.1 overs, lightning flashes and torrential rain drove the players off in mid-afternoon. After a delay of 142 minutes, Surrey needed a further 125 in 10.1 overs, which seemed a hugely challenging target.But Thomas got the run-rate rising rapidly as most of Glamorgan's bowlers suffered apart from Ul Hassan, who took one for seven off three.Thomas was brilliantly caught by Carlson off Andy Gorvin but Foakes continued finding the gaps and clearing the ropes to belie his reputation as an orthodox batter.Just eight were needed off the last over and though Douthwaite yorked Josh Blake for an excellent 27 off 21, two full-toss no-balls saw Surrey home with three balls in hand.
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