Jason Roy has yet to play a first-class match, but the 19-year-old put his name into Surrey’s record books last night.
Roy, a prolific junior cricketer who attended Whitgift School, became the first Surrey batsman to score a Twenty20 hundred as Kent were beaten by 44 runs at Beckenham.
What promised to be a hard-fought border skirmish turned into a onesided affair as Roy struck five sixes and 11 fours in a 56-ball century, completing his hundred with two leg-side fours in the final over, bowled by Matt Coles, and finishing on 101 not out.
Playing in only his third Twenty20 game, as Mark Ramprakash continues his midsummer rest, Roy was joined in stands of 78 and 63 by Steven Davies and Andrew Symonds respectively.
Davies hit a six and five fours in his 42 off 28 balls, and Symonds a six and four fours in a violent 31 from 16 balls, but a glorious evening in South London belonged to Roy. It was just a shame that there was such a poor crowd, of about 2,000, to see it.
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Not that Roy will care. Coles was the only Kent bowler he did hit not for six and the power of his strokeplay was something to behold off both the front and back foot. He made his one-day debut for the Lions in 2008, when still at school, and Chris Adams, the Surrey cricket manager, clearly thinks it is time to give him some exposure.
Usman Afzaal held Surrey’s previous highest individual Twenty20 score, 98 not out against Middlesex last year, and it is perhaps symbolic of the gradual changing of the guard under Adams that the former England left-hander was, alongside Ramprakash, surplus to requirements.
Kent’s bowling attack is still badly missing Amjad Khan and Robbie Joseph, the injured fast bowlers, but there were still three internationals failing to keep Roy quiet. His halfcentury arrived after 30 balls and he maintained his tempo to take Surrey to a commanding 201 for four.
The early losses of Robert Key, Geraint Jones and Darren Stevens — with Chris Tremlett finding some bounce from a good pitch — left Kent with little hope and only a defiant 82 off 49 balls from Martin van Jaarsveld, with three sixes and seven fours, kept the home supporters interested.
Symonds, playing against one of his former counties, followed up his batting cameo with four wickets in his last two overs, and a final analysis of five for 18, as a succession of Kent wickets tumbled in a hopeless attempt to keep up with the soaring required run-rate.
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Kent, the winners of the South division last summer, have made Twenty20 Cup finals day for each of the past three years, but Key’s side — with six defeats from eight matches and lying second from bottom — are struggling to extend that sequence. Surrey, by contrast, are in second place and have five wins from nine games.
• Essex Eagles moved into the top four of the Friends Provident t20 South division with a comprehensive 66-run victory over Gloucestershire Gladiators at Bristol. Essex posted 184 for four, Matthew Walker top-scoring with 66 and Scott Styris hitting five fours and two sixes in his 41. The Gladiators could manage only 118 all out in 17.3 overs as Styris, Chris Wright and Danish Kaneria claimed two wickets each.