Surrey battered by Hales storm

ALEX HALES won the battle of the master blasters as he battered Surrey – and wrote himself into the record books.

The England opener hammered a magnificent 187 – the highest individual one-day score in a Lord’s final – as he produced a mesmerising knock to see Notts Outlaws home in the Royal London Cup final.

Incredibly, Surrey’s Mark Stoneman had set the standard with an excellent unbeaten 144. But England’s white-ball specialist Hales clicked into overdrive.

He smashed four sixes and 20 fours during a 167-ball innings. Hales said: “That’s as good as it gets. I knew that, if I got in, I’d be good value for my shots and that, if I could hang around, it could be one of those days.”

He did – after some good fortune when, with just nine to Hales’ name, a simple spill by Ollie Pope at cover proved one of the most expensive bloopers ever.

Without Hales’ knock, Gareth Batty’s men would have won.

Surrey would have owed a debt to Stoneman, but only Kumar Sangakkara (30) and Sam Curran (24) offered support.

However, if anything, Hales had even more pressure on him as he hit top gear early on, then saw Brendan Taylor go for 11.

But Hales and veteran skipper Chris Read built a sixth-wicket partnership that proved decisive.

Their 137-run stand knocked the stuffing out of Surrey and enabled Notts to claim an amazing four-wicket victory, with 13 balls to spare.