The Sydney Thunder allrounder contributed with both bat and ball as his Essex side scored their highest ever total
Sams stars as Essex hammer huge total
Daniel Sams’ Essex Eagles plundered the fourth-highest total in Vitality Blast history on Saturday, reaching an incredible 5-254 against Glamorgan.
The total is Essex’s highest ever in the UK’s domestic T20 competition, and fell just seven short of the highest ever score set by Birmingham Bears (2-261) less than three weeks ago.
Dan Lawrence, who played for England as recently as March in their Test series against the West Indies, was the home side’s standout with a blistering 71 off just 37 balls after they were sent in to bat first.
Paul Walter (58 off 23 balls) combined with Lawrence for a 101-run stand, before Sams (21 off 10) put some late icing on the cake, propelling Essex to a total that surpassed their previous best of 7-244 also set at Chelmsford in recent weeks.
1⃣5⃣6⃣ runs from the final 1⃣0⃣ overs.
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 2, 2022
Between overs 15.1 and 16.5, 8⃣ sixes were hit.
Some outrageous stats coming out of tonight 🤯 pic.twitter.com/nT46QSqZ3J
The Sydney Thunder allrounder’s innings contained three sixes, further underlining his power-hitting ability late in T20 innings.
While Sams’ exploits with the ball are more prominent than with the bat in his career to date, he has said publicly that he viewed himself as an true allrounder.
His power-hitting was perhaps best on show when, in just his fourth T20 International for Australia, he hammered 41 off just 15 balls against New Zealand in Dunedin.
After Essex’s record total Sams then starred with the ball, taking 3-20 off his four overs and proving the standout bowler of what was a batter-dominated evening.
Despite Glamorgan skipper Sam Northeast’s blistering 97 off just 56 balls, the visitors (7-185) fell well short in the chase.
The Eagles, who won their maiden T20 title in 2019, have already confirmed a knockout spot this season and will host a quarter-final if Surrey beat Somerset on Sunday.
Australians in 2022 English T20 Blast
Birmingham: Nathan McAndrew
Derbyshire: Hilton Cartwright, Hayden Kerr
Durham: Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye
Essex: Daniel Sams
Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser
Gloucestershire: Marcus Harris
Hampshire: Nathan Ellis, Ben McDermott
Lancashire: Tim David
Middlesex: Jason Behrendorff, Chris Green
Northamptonshire: Matthew Kelly, Chris Lynn
Nottinghamshire: Dan Christian, James Pattinson
Somerset: Peter Siddle
Surrey: Aaron Hardie
Sussex: Josh Philippe