Surrey's Roy relishing return to T20

Essex v Surrey
Sky Sports 2, 7pm Friday
T20 Blast favourites Surrey start their campaign with a testing trip to Essex and the visitors will be hoping for more fireworks from Jason Roy.

The opener was dropped by England during the Champions Trophy but he has come back strongly, scoring 92 in the One-Day Cup semi-final win over Worcestershire and 87 at almost a run a ball against Yorkshire in the County Championship.

Between those innings, Roy smashed 67 off 45 balls in the Twenty20 international against South Africa before an unfortunate dismissal for obstructing the field.

The T20 Blast tends to bring out the best in the hard-hitting opener. He was the competition's leading runscorer in 2014 and the only man to score two centuries in last season's Blast. At 7-2 he is worth a bet to top-score for Surrey on a belting wicket at Chelmsford.

Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, last season's beaten semi-finalists, meet at Headingley and Gloucestershire are intriguingly priced for their home game with Middlesex at Cheltenham (2.30pm).

The hosts won their County Championship game against Glamorgan at the venue by ten wickets this week and finished top of the South Group in last season's Blast - six points clear of Middlesex.

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