Surrey will play in a home Vitality Blast final later this month after confirming their position as group stage winners following this afternoon’s washout against Durham at the Banks Homes Riverside.
By Graham Hardcastle, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Coach Johann Myburgh and company had already qualified for Finals Day at the Kia Oval on Sunday July 27, alongside The Blaze and the Bears.
But with the two points gained here, from their 13th group game of 14, they can no longer be caught by either of their two aforementioned rivals.
That means that Surrey will advance directly to the early-evening final and will play one of the The Blaze or the Bears, who play the early-afternoon semi-final on July 27.
Before today, Surrey were already all but secured of a final berth due to a 10-point gap and a superior net run-rate from second-placed The Blaze with only 10 more points available to play for.
But the North East weather secured it for them.
They were due to face a Durham side already out of contention despite winning their last two games against Hampshire on Friday and Lancashire on Sunday.
Surrey were on a three-game winning streak having most recently beaten Somerset on Sunday, The Blaze last Friday and the Bears last Wednesday.
Today, the players were able to warm-up, and umpires Grace Bambury and Naeem Ashraf had made their way out to the middle for the toss just before the rain started as 2pm approached.
Unfortunately, it did not stop, and the game was abandoned at 4pm.
Durham have now won five, lost six and had two No Results from their 13 games so far. Surrey have won 10, lost one and tied one added to this No Result.
Durham, meanwhile, had four of their players in the squad for this fixture selected in this morning’s Hundred Wildcard draft. Katherine Fraser and Sophia Turner will play for Northern Superchargers next month, Grace Thompson will feature for Trent Rockets and Phoebe Turner for Southern Brave.
Durham head coach Dani Hazell said
On the four players picked up in today’s Hundred wildcard draft: “It’s brilliant. The Hundred is the prize competition in this country, and I think for us to get recognition in that is brilliant.
“It shows that those (Fraser, Thompson, P Turner and S Turner) girls have had a pretty good start and middle period of the season.”
On Durham’s season so far: “It’s been a little bit up and down. With a young side, there have been a lot of learnings.
“That we’re starting to get recognition with girls in the Hundred and in England A teams, it’s a big bonus for us. But there’s a long way to go.
“I know we can’t get through in this T20 stuff, but we still can in the 50-overs.
“It’s massive (to win last two T20s before today’s washout). We talk about trying to get that winning momentum. In the first block of the T20s, we were on the other side of that. So it’s been good to get some wins, and it’s a chance now to kick on for the rest of the season.”
Surrey captain Bryony Smith said
“We’ll take it. It’s obviously not the way we would have wanted to do it (secure a home final), but I think we’ve almost earned the right to have it this way.
“It was all in our hands, and we’re buzzing to only be playing one game at Finals Day. We’re very excited.
“We’ve seen over the years that if you do qualify straight through to the final, you have that little bit extra. But we can’t underestimate whoever we come up against. Blaze and Bears, they’re two top quality teams. So we’ll be ready for whoever we face.
“It’s something we’ve looked forward to ever since it got announced (that Finals Day would be at the Kia Oval). This was our main aim for the year, to get to a home Finals Day. To be straight through, in front of a home crowd, hopefully they’ll cheer us on.
“I just think everyone’s chipped in. It’s not been a one-woman show. We haven’t had one batter who has scored all of our runs or one bowler who has taken all our wickets. We’ve trusted each other to go out and do what they have, and we’ve only lost one game.
“We haven’t let teams get away from us, and we’ve scrapped when we’ve needed to. We’ve probably won some games that, a few years ago, we may have let slip through our hands.”
