Sam Curran stars with four wickets on return to action as Middlesex go down
Surrey 223 for 7 (Jacks 70) beat Middlesex 169 for 9 (Stirling 58, S Curran 4-29) by 54 runs
Jacks sent the hosts’ bowling to all parts as he plundered 70 in 24 balls with five sixes and nine fours in Surrey’s total of 223 for 7.
Faced with a Middlesex new-ball pairing of Ethan Bamber and Blake Cullen, with only one previous Blast appearance between them, Jacks wasted no time powering three boundaries from the former’s opening over.
Bamber’s next saw Jacks hit him for six behind square, before launching a second blow into the Grandstand.
A century looked a certainty but a comedic mix-up caused him to be run out by Chris Green’s underarm throw.
Roy went on to make 45 before being bowled by Nathan Sowter but Middlesex compounded their misery when Cullen bowled two head-high no-balls which Tom Curran despatched for six. The youngster was immediately removed from the attack by the umpires.
Only Green with 1 for 25 and Sowter, 3 for 40, emerged from the carnage with credit.
Tasked with chasing a target of 224, the hosts were looking to Stirling for inspiration and he soon responded with a huge straight six off Matt Dunn.
Opening partner Stevie Eskinazi caught the mood taking three fours from one Sam Curran over as 50 came up in 26 balls.
Stirling despatched Jordan Clark into the Mound Stand before striking Dunn for successive maximums to reach his fifty in 22 balls. But on 58 he suffered the same fate that befell Jacks earlier when he was run out by Tom Curran’s sharp return.
Curran was in the action again when his stunning one-handed catch off the bowling of Dan Moriarty saw the end of Eskinazi for 36.
As the required rate climbed, Eoin Morgan struck successive sixes, but when he holed out in the deep for 32 Middlesex’s hopes of victory fizzled out.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo