Surrey and Essex serve up second Blast tie in two days as Matt Dunn impresses for home side

SAM DALLING: Surrey will be hoping Dunn he can push on and help them to their first win of 2020 against Hampshire on Thursday. All being well, there will be a crowd in for that one

There haven’t been many T20 days like this at the Kia Oval. After all, the last time Matt Dunn took to the field for Surrey in this competition was back in 2015.

But the 28-year was the pick of the home attack this afternoon as the hosts played out a dramatic last-ball tie with Essex. Forty overs; 286 runs; a point a piece.

It was the second such result of the weekend, with Middlesex and Kent having reached the same conclusion yesterday.

Ben Foakes again showed his class with both bat and gloves, and looked to have done enough to see his side to victory with a well-paced 44 from 37 balls.

But with the scores level and two balls remaining, he could only help a Matt Quinn bouncer into the welcoming hands of Paul Walter at fine leg.

It was a clever piece of bowling from the New Zealand-born quick with virtually everyone else inside the circle.

James Taylor was then run out off of the final ball – a smart piece of work from Adam Wheater standing up to the stumps – and that was that.

Earlier though it was Dunn who’d impressed as the visitors were restricted to 143 for 6 from their allotted overs.

Dan Moriarty – in hiding since taking five-wicket haul on first class debut against Middlesex at the start of the month – was given the responsibility and between him, Scott Borthwick and Gareth Batty Surrey got through 11 overs of spin.

In the remaining nine overs, the trio of Dunn, James Taylor and Gus Atkinson went at less than six runs per over. Essex lost wickets at regular intervals and were guilty of trying to overplay at time.

^{Dunn was the pick of Surrey's seamers}

That was summed up by Dan Lawrence’s dismissal; having stroked Atikinson through the covers for four, he tried to lift him over mid-off the very next ball only to stick it straight down the throat of Will Jacks.

The England hopeful was visibly frustrated with himself and quite right too. Make no mistake though the Surrey quicks were impressive with the ball.

Dunn returned 1 for 22 from his four, while Atkinson also took a wicket and conceded just a single run more.

The dangerman for Essex was Cameron Delport, who had smoked his way to 129 from just 49 deliveries on his debut against Surrey last summer.

There was to be no repeat today with Dunn dismissing the opener for just 6 with only his fourth delivery, Atkinson taking the catch and mid-on.

There were a few hearts in mouths as the youngster juggled the ball but he held eventually - much to delight of skipper Gareth Batty. This was big and they knew it. Dunn has all the makings of a proper quick bowler.

Height, pace, variation; he got a couple to whistle through to Foakes and also beat the bat with a few well disguised slower deliveries.

Dunn first made an impression in an England Under-19s shirt during a one-day tour of Bangladesh in the winter of 2009; Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes amongst his teammates for those games.

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Off the back of several strong showings he was named in the squad for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in early 2010, despite being just 17.

A first-class bow came that summer against a Bangladesh touring side but he’s been hampered by injuries ever since.

So much so that the right-armer has just 42 first-class games under his belt and remarkably has never made a List A appearance for the club. Today was just his 18th T20 outing.

It looked like he was finally set to fulfill his potential when he was Surrey’s leading red-ball marksman back in 2014. He finished that year with 47 first-class wickets and followed in up with 28 the following summer. However, in the three full seasons since he’s only lined up in eight championship matches.

When your luck’s out, your luck really is out and he missed half of the 2018 campaign having been struck in the ribs by a Fidel Edwards bouncer.

He’s well liked at the Kia Oval and there is a huge amount of goodwill behind him; he’s a local boy and they are desperate for him to come good.

To date the body has had other ideas but this year he’s already featured four times; the most games he’s played since 2015.

Surrey will be hoping Dunn he can push on and help them to their first win of 2020 against Hampshire on Thursday. All being well, there will be a crowd in for that one.

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