Alex Hales’ career-best List-A ton saw Nottinghamshire lift the Royal London One Day Cup Trophy on Saturday.
The England opener scored a mammoth 187 off 167 balls and strung together a match-winning 137-run six-wicket partnership with Chris Read to see their side reach the 298-run target set by Surrey.
Surrey captain, Gareth Batty, won the toss and elected to bat first.
Mark Stoneman headlined Surrey’s innings by scoring a mammoth 144 not out to steer his side to 297-9 in their 50 overs. The 30-year-old was his side’s talisman, hitting five fours on his way to a sixth 100, despite losing partners consistently around him.
The only other notable contribution for the London-based side was ex-Sri Lanka captain, Kumar Sangakkara (30), with the next-best scorer coming from England’s out-of-form opener, Jason Roy, who only managed 23.
The Nottinghamshire bowlers did well to knock over the opposition batsmen, despite a good start. Samit Patel was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 3-51, including the wicket of Roy on the first ball of the 11th over, to reduce Surrey to 83-1.
Steven Mullaney (2-50) was responsible for Sangakkara’s scalp, breaking his 58-run second-wicket partnership with Stoneman.
These were the only solid pairings in the match, although Sam Curran hit 24 runs in a 48-run sixth-wicket stand that took Surrey well past the 200 mark at 228-6 (40.4 overs).
Stoneman continued to anchor his side’s innings, despite Surrey losing three more wickets for 69 runs.
Hales played a similar role to his opposite number, anchoring the innings with a ton as the rest of his batting lineup crumbled around him. But, unlike Surrey, Nottinghamshire had a second batsman to crack the 50-run mark, as Read joined Hales and smashed a 137-run partnership off 124 balls.
Despite Read losing his wicket in his last-ever One-Day final at Lord’s, his 58 off 57 was vital to his side lifting the trophy.
Hales pushed on and saw his side over the line 19 balls to spare, as Nottinghamshire emerged victorious by four wickets.
The England international smashed 20 fours and four sixes to set his highest List-A score of his career, surpassing his previous high of 171. He is now also the highest ever one-day match scorer on the ground.
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
