An unbeaten 93 from 67 balls by Jason Roy saw Surrey reach 157/1 in 19 overs before rain forced a washout in their Royal London One-Day Cup match against Glamorgan at a dank Kia Oval.
Yesterday’s heavy defeat at Swansea has seen Glamorgan plummet to seventh place in the table, and with just six points and an inferior run rate, they are out of the race for a quarter-final spot. Surrey however have everything to play for, as with two games still to play, a victory over the Welsh county would put them in the mix for a spot in the last eight of the competition.
Glamorgan made two changes to their line-up from the side beaten by Hampshire yesterday, with Timm van der Gugten and Andrew Salter being replaced by Ruaidhri Smith and Owen Morgan. With rain forecast, Glamorgan opted to bowl first and the usual duo of Michael Hogan and Graham Wagg shared the new ball, with the in-form Jason Roy leaning into Hogan’s first legitimate delivery and sending it to the ropes at mid-on on the short leg-side boundary. Aaron Finch also started with a languid six over long-off – his first delivery - against Wagg followed next over by another massive six over long-off and into the seating at the back of the OCS Stand.
A fumble at point in the next over saw Roy secure an all-run four before another booming straight drive saw the opener add further to his boundary tally. He also biffed Wagg through extra-cover for another coruscating four, whilst Finch clipped Hogan to finer-leg. But the seamer made the perfect riposte by having his fellow Australian caught behind as he propped forward to a ball outside off stump.
44/1 saw Steven Davies join Roy who clipped Ruaidhri Smith’s first two deliveries to long-leg and fine-leg before dispatching him over extra-cover for another four. Davies also straight drove the last ball of the over for four as light drizzle started to fall, but Smith’s second over was a maiden as Surrey ended the first powerplay on 63/1.
Roy then flicked Craig Meschede’s first delivery for six over fine-leg and onto a umbrella under which some spectators were sheltering before pulling Smith to mid-wicket and fine-leg for a pair of fours as he completed a 43-ball fifty. Davies also drilled Smith to mid-wicket for four before Owen Morgan entered the attack at the Pavilion End and was swept for four by Roy.
Meschede switched to the Vauxhall End and was lofted for another six by Davies as the 100 came up in the 14th over, with Roy also driving the all-rounder to long-off for six. Both batsmen clipped Morgan to fine-leg for four in his second over, before Roy drilled Meschede through Rudolph’s outstretched hands high above his head at mid-off.
Roy also swept Colin Ingram for six over square-leg as the leg-spinner replaced the left-arm twirler. David Lloyd also entered the attack and was late cut by Davies to bring up the century stand. But the rain intensified and shortly after 3.15pm the umpires took the players off the field with Surrey on 157/1.
The rain briefly eased around 5pm with the umpires hoping for a re-start at 5.45pm, but just as the players were heading back out, the rains returned and the covers came back on. The latest re-start was 9.03pm, and under the DLS Method, Glamorgan would have needed 112 to win from 10 overs, but by 7.30pm with the rain still falling, there were large puddles forming on the sheets, and the match was called off.