Warwickshire Triumphs by Three Runs Despite Dom Sibley’s Stunning 149 for Surrey
Warwickshire kept their perfect record in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup with a close three-run triumph over struggling Surrey, who had a severely reduced side, in a thrilling final at Rugby School.
Warwickshire scored a solid 311 for 9 in the exciting match, with to half-centuries from Chris Benjamin (75) and Michael Burgess (60).
Surrey 308 for 9 (Sibley 149, Geddes 62) lost to Warwickshire 311 for 9 (Benjamin 75, Burgess 60, Taylor 3-43) by a margin of three runs.
A throng of 2,500 watched as Chris Benjamin’s clean-hit 75 and Michael Burgess’s elegant 60 pushed the home team to 311 for 9. Surrey’s bowling attack was led by James Taylor and Cameron Steel, with fifteen players away on England or Hundred duty.
Against his former teammates, Dom Sibley scored an incredible List A-best 149, but Surrey’s reply was just short at 308 for 9. Warwickshire won four straight games while Surrey lost four, despite Sibley hitting 12 fours and four sixes. Only Ben Geddes (62) provided meaningful assistance.
Surrey’s decision to bowl was rewarded early on as Ed Barnard trapped Taylor with a slip in the fourth over. Then, after adding 58 runs in 11 overs, Rob Yates (40) and Will Rhodes (44), both lost their lives before their innings could change the course of the match.
Yates pulled a long-hop to deep square leg, ending the fluid knock. Steel bowled Rhodes off-stump. After hitting a Steel full toss into the trees over midwicket, 39-year-old Hamza Shaikh attempted a straighter six off the spinner, but all he could find at long-on was Conor McKerr.
Benjamin and Burgess provided momentum with a 14-over stand of 117. Despite having a challenging season, Benjamin smashed the ball with a force and sweetness that brought back thoughts of his 2021 breakthrough. Before top-edging a sweep at Steel, he sprinted to 50 in 38 balls, and Burgess followed to reach his ninth half-century on the List A (51 balls).
After hitting six fours and four sixes, Benjamin lifted McKerr to mid off, but Kai Smith’s (26) explosive cameo put the total over 300. Sibley and Ryan Patel had a lively start to Surrey’s reply, and the latter drove Barnard straight to extra cover.
Surrey was leading when Sibley and Geddes combined to add 124 in 24 overs, but Geddes’ dismissal, as he edged Michael Booth to wicketkeeper Burgess, resulted in the loss of four wickets in eight overs. Ben Foakes lifted Barnard to mid off, Rory Burns was caught behind his legs and swept at Yates, and Steel was bowled backwards and lbw after reverse-sweeping Jake Lintott.
Attained his fourth List, Sibley After three centuries for Warwickshire, Josh Blake’s exciting 26-run innings came to an end when he scooped Oliver Hannon-Dalby to deep midwicket. This was Blake’s first century for Surrey.
Sibley lifted Hannon-Dalby for consecutive sixes when 39 was needed from three overs, but he edged the following ball to Burgess. After a great game of cricket, Nathan Barnwell and Taylor, the final pairing, gave it their all in an attempt to reach the necessary 20 from the final over, only missing by a small margin.
