Oval Talking Points: Jordan shows his class for clinical Surrey

The Cricketer picks out some important talking points as Surrey beat Sussex

Movement That Inspires play of the day

Having hit the fielders multiple times in the first over of proceedings, Ravi Bopara had just started to get going when he whipped Dan Worrall off his toes and held the pose.

Only, Surrey are playing the cricket of their lives in this competition. In keeping with that sense of aura, Will Jacks flung a hand above his head, plucked the ball out of the air, turned to the crowd and offered a nonchalant shrug.

Bopara waited for confirmation: half-stunned, half-hopeful that the fielder's toes had scraped the rope. He was opening the innings in the absence of Luke Wright, his predecessor as captain and the tournament's all-time leading run-scorer.

That early wicket was a sign of what was to come: Sussex were three down inside five overs and, on an excellent pitch, never looked like seriously challenging Surrey.

Fynn Hudson-Prentice played a gallant hand, digging in for his unbeaten 49 as the wickets fell around him, but it was too little too late.

^{Sussex were soundly beaten by Surrey (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)}

Leadership That Inspires 

Chris Jordan only brought himself into the attack after 12 overs, such are the options at his disposal. He used Reece Topley and Dan Worrall with the new ball, Sunil Narine as early as he could once the powerplay was over, Jamie Overton as an expensive enforcer and Will Jacks for some further exploratory off-spin.

But he saved himself for the back-end of the innings and was initially taken for some punishment via the bat of Harrison Ward, who smote him for six over long-off. Not long afterwards, he made his annoyance known when he beat Hudson-Prentice for pace only to see a simple chance land between two fielders who seemingly never communicated and left a sitter for each other.

But in Jordan's penultimate over, his class shone through: a double-wicket maiden in the 18th over of a T20 innings is some effort. First, he had Ward caught on the deep cover boundary, before trapping Oli Carter in front two balls later. He finished off with three consecutive dot-balls at Obed McCoy.

Surrey's class tells

There's a swagger about Surrey at the moment. It was evident with the ball, albeit not quite so much in the field, with runs gifted through overthrows and catches falling tantalisingly out of reach in a couple of lapses.

But it was epitomised with the bat, as Jacks and Jason Roy went berserk through the powerplay. Roy was mostly a spectator, watching as his junior partner took 40 runs from the opening six overs and adding 26 of his own.

By then, the game was all but over, the back of the chase had long been broken. Delray Rawlins began proceedings, but that experiment cost 19 runs in a single over, while Tymal Mills was tried from both ends but endured similar punishment. McCoy and Steven Finn were more economical, but there was to be no early breakthrough to prevent a shellacking.

^{Chris Jordan bowled a double-wicket maiden in the 18th over (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)}

Masterful Narine

Sunil Narine's impact on the T20 Blast was always likely to be a source of fascination, having never played in England's domestic T20 competition until now.

Predictably, he has quietly caused carnage. Before tonight, he had conceded three boundaries – two fours and a six – since his arrival. He isn't quite the same threat as the bowler who enjoyed such a dominant time in his heyday, but he remains a brilliantly wily customer.

That frugal record remained intact at the Kia Oval, with the only boundary off his bowling the result of his own fielding. Attempting to run out Ward at the bowler's end, he threw at the stumps and missed, with no one backing up for miles.

Chuck in his cavalier style with the bat – not required on this cool Wednesday evening – and it's easy to understand how he has enjoyed such a fine career on the franchise circuit.

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