About the Match
Essex are set to lock horns with Surrey in the last South Group match of the day on 7th July 2017 at County Ground, Chelmsford. It was a similar affair for both the sides in their 2016 stint as both of them were placed next to each other in the points table after the league stage was over. Essex registered 7 wins from 14 games with a Net Run Rate of 0.174 and had a total of 15 points. Just a point behind them were Surrey who registered the same number of wins in the same number of matches. Both the sides have bolstered their lineup and with the history of close encounters between them, this game promises to be a treat for fans to watch.
Essex
Mohammad Amir's stay in England has yielded fruitful results for whichever side he has played for. Essex will be hoping for a change in their fortunes with the addition of this left-arm quick bowler in their squad. Graham Napier was the pick of their bowlers in the last year and he won't be available for them this year.
Although the team has a strong bowling unit further enhanced by the presence of utility all-rounders, their batting department lacks experience at the top of the order. Ravi Bopara has been opening the innings for quite some time now and he along with Varun Chopra will be responsible for taking Essex off to a flying start.
Tom Weasely and Ashar Zaidi were the pick of their batsmen in the previous edition and the team management will be looking up to them to replicate their performances. Essex have a balanced lineup with an envying pace attack. If their batsmen back their bowlers strongly enough, they will win a lot of games this year.
Surrey
The first team Essex faced in the last year's edition was Surrey and the teams are once again up against each other. On paper, Surrey appears to have a demolishing batting unit with Kevin Pietersen, Aaron Finch, and Moises Henriques in the batting order.
If the above-mentioned set of players weren't threatening enough, the to the list the name of Kumar Sangakkara who has been on a century scoring spree. With one of the most explosive batsmen England have ever had and Aaron Finch, their opening pair is one of the best in the competition.
Although they've got one of the best batting lineups, their bowling lineup doesn't look compromised at all. Young sensation Tom Curran and Zafar Ansari will handle the quick and spin bowling departments respectively. Overall, Surrey is a strong side which has always underperformed in the shorter version of the game. They've tried to fix this by adding experienced players to the side, but only time will tell how successful they are.
Our Prediction
Out of 21 games played between the two sides in Twenty over the competition, 15 have been won by Essex. However, going by the team on paper and the number of individual stars, Surrey go in as favorites for this game.
