ESSEX Eagles were undone by veteran Azhar Mahmood as he produced a magnificent all-round performance to land Surrey an eight-run victory in the T20 Blast.

The former Pakistan Test player smashed 42 off 22 balls to rescue Surrey from the depths of 77 for five at halfway and post a challenging 170.

He helped put on 65 in seven overs in a bright and breezy seventh-wicket stand with Tom Curran to spark a mid-innings revival.

And Mahmood had barely removed his helmet before he had reduced Essex to 26-3 with the key wickets of Jesse Ryder and Dan Lawrence in successive balls, ending his spell with four for 38.

Essex's middle-order of Tom Westley, Ryan ten Doeschate, Ashar Zaidi and Graham Napier kept the home side in contention, but in the end the damage had been done at the start of their innings.

Earlier, New Zealand seamer Matt Quinn had claimed career-best T20 figures of 4-35 in his first appearance for Essex.

Essex's decision to bowl in this opening fixture had looked questionable as Surrey zipped past 50 in the fifth over, powered by Jason Roy and Kumar Sangakkara.

The Essex fightback started in the sixth over, however, when Roy went for a 14-ball 25, caught by Ravi Bopara off Quinn, who had started the match by removing Steven Davies for one in his opening over.

Four balls after Roy was out, Sangakkara followed for 32 off 16 as Quinn claimed his third wicket, and the visitors' problems grew as Rory Burns was dismissed for five after an ill-advised loft to deep mid-on.

Sam Curran became Quinn's fourth victim as Surrey sank to 80 for six, but a turnaround soon followed as they scored 90 off the final 9.2 overs.

Tom Curran made 32 off 26 balls before being caught out by a slower ball from Graham Napier, while Mahmood’s key innings was ended in the final over as Bopara got among the wickets.

Essex's reply got off to a dismal start when Bopara was out sixth ball for one, and Jesse Ryder soon followed for 13 with a top edge off Mahmood.

Essex were left to chase 114 off the final 10 overs, although ten Doeschate offered hope with three boundaries in a row off James Burke.

Tom Westley made 46 off 33 balls but was trapped lbw when attempting to reverse-sweep Gareth Batty, but ten Doeschate found another valuable partner in Ashar Zaidi, who made 30 off 15 before an attempted reverse-sweep ended his evening, and by then Essex needed an unlikely 46 off three overs.