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Matthew Montgomery
Saffas Abroad

Saffas Abroad: Malan, Montgomery have a blast

Pieter Malan and Matthew Montgomery were among the South Africans who got off to a good start in England's T20 Blast.

On Monday, Stephen Eskinazi scored 54 off 38 balls (two fours, three sixes) for Middlesex, but it wasn’t enough as Gloucestershire secured a two-wicket victory.

Gloucestershire’s Grant Roelofsen earlier struck 34 off 19 balls (five fours, one six) and Graeme van Buuren an unbeaten 28 off 19 (three fours, one six).

Sunday’s action saw Yorkshire’s David Wiese go wicketless in a 28-run loss to Durham, but he produced a cameo with the bat, scoring 28 off 14 (one four, three sixes).

Roelof van der Merwe returned impressive figures of 3-24 during Somerset’s four-wicket victory over Glamorgan.

On Saturday, Montgomery was among the runs, scoring 41 off 26 deliveries (six fours) for Nottinghamshire in a 22-run loss to Lancashire.

Friday’s fixtures kicked off with Wiese scoring 15 off nine balls and returning figures of 3-18 for Yorkshire as they went down by two wickets to Worcestershire.

Ricardo Vasconcelos’ 52 off 41 deliveries (five fours, two sixes) was Northamptonshire’s only glimmer of light in their 10-wicket drubbing at the hands of Durham.

In Glamorgan’s two-wicket victory over Gloucestershire, Graeme van Buuren scored an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls (three fours, one six) for Gloucestershire, while Colin Ingram contributed 47 off 33 (six fours) for Glamorgan.

Montgomery notched 51 off 29 balls (six fours, one six) and took a wicket for Nottinghamshire as they beat Derbyshire by four wickets.

Malan starred for Middlesex, scoring 80 off 45 deliveries (seven fours, four sixes), after Eskinazi had made 31 off 18 (four fours, one six), but it was not enough as they went down by eight wickets to Hampshire.

On Wednesday, Vasconcelos’ 32 off 20 balls (four fours, one six) for Northamptonshire was in vain as Worcestershire secured a 15-run win.

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On Thursday, Wiaan Mulder struck 25 off 24 deliveries (two fours) and took a wicket for Leicestershire in a losing cause as they crashed to an eight-wicket defeat to Lancashire.

The day’s other game saw Surrey romp to a 73-run victory against Middlesex, with Malan scoring 30 off 18 balls (four fours, one six) for Middlesex.

Compiled by Rienk de Beer

Photo: Twitter/@TrentBridge

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