The Cricketer looks at the main talking points from the Women's T20 Blast match between Surrey and Essex at the Kia Oval
Surrey were in trouble with the bat after they lost the toss in their Women's T20 Blast match against Essex.
Both openers fell in the powerplay before Alice Monaghan, back from two months out with a broken finger, was run out and Grace Harris holed out for a duck to leave the hosts reeling on 45 for 4.
Alice Davidson-Richards helped to steady the ship with a run-a-ball 21, but it was the sixth wicket partnership which turned the innings around for Surrey.
Kira Chatli (44 not out) and Phoebe Franklin (48 not out) put on an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls to help their team recover to 159 for 5 by the end of their innings.
The latter was especially destructive with three sixes, including two from consecutive balls in the final over, in her 23-ball knock.
It proved not only to be an innings-defining intervention but also had an impact on the match as a whole, as Surrey held on to tie the match with Essex.
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Phoebe Franklin made a vital 48 not out as Surrey posted a competitive total (Getty Images)
Not content with her intervention with the bat, Franklin provided two economical overs and then finished the match with a perfect throw.
The Essex chase, which was reduced by rain to 94 runs in 10 overs, ebbed and flowed. Surrey struck first through Priyanaz Chatterji, but Maddie Penna and Lauren Winfield-Hill combined for a 27-ball fifty partnership to force the game back in Essex's favour.
When the former England opener was dismissed by Chatterji, Surrey had control, but the runs continued to flow to leave just eight to win off the last over.
It proved to be a thrilling one as Penna fell first to Grace Harris, Jo Gardner hit her first ball to the boundary, and Cordelia Griffith was stumped, leaving two runs to win off the final ball.
Gardner flicked into the leg-side where Franklin picked up cleanly and delivered a perfect throw over the stumps to stop the two and enforce a tie.
The match-deciding moment was, therefore, the throw from the deep delivered by the undoubted player of the match for her all-round impact, Franklin.
Related: Controversial catch proves inconsequential as Surrey cruise to victory
After heroics with the bat, Franklin produced a perfect throw to tie the match (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC)
The Kia Oval calls itself the "home of T20 cricket" - self-proclaimed as it may be, it is starting to hold some weight with the quality of cricket it seems to produce.
Just two days after England's third Women's T20I against India went down to the last ball, eventually won by the hosts, Surrey and Essex conspired to serve up a classic T20 Blast match.
From the up-and-down nature of the cricket to a thrilling, aforementioned final over, this was a great exhibition of the game's shortest format.
While seventh-place Essex may reflect that it was a game they should have won in the end, they probably would have happily taken the two points from their trip to face the table-toppers away from home before the match.
The beauty of a T20 Blast doubleheader is that, weather-permitting, the Kia Oval crowd has the joy of another match, when the county's mean's team do battle, to watch straight after.
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