Essex head coach Anthony McGrath was full of praise for his side’s performances in their shock victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval last night.

The Eagles denied Surrey the chance to go top of the South group and inflicted their first defeat of the Blast on them.

Essex bowled out the hosts for 118 in 16.4 overs in a rain-affected game which was limited to 17 overs per side, before reaching the target with nine balls to spare.

That was thanks to an unbeaten 56 from opener Will Buttleman as the Eagles picked up just their second victory of the campaign.

But McGrath was impressed with his sides display against a high-flying Surrey squad which featured international stars such as South Africa’s Hashim Amla and England opener Rory Burns.

He said: “As we have spoken about it has been poor performances.

“But as I keep banging on about if you get wickets in the powerplay and someone takes responsibility in the top order and gets off to a good start, then it looks a different game.

“As I have said many times its fine lines in T20 cricket, you need individuals to perform and we had that tonight (Monday) Surrey have been flying high and I thought it was a really good performance from us.”