ESSEX Eagles suffered a fourth loss in five Natwest T20 Blast matches as they fell to a ten run defeat at Surrey.

In front of more than 23,000 at the Kia Oval, Essex failed to spark with the bat after reducing Surrey to 150 in their innings.

Eagles won the toss and elected to bowl, but it was Surrey that got the better of the opening exchanges.

Aaron Finch and Jason Roy bludgeoned 31 off the first three overs, with Ashar Zaidi particularly expensive as Surrey sped along at 10 runs an over.

Essex got their breakthrough in fortuitous circumstances in the fifth over.

Mohammad Amir sent down a bouncer that evaded wicketkeeper James Foster and raced to the boundary rope, only for Roy to flick the bails off the stumps with his flailing bat.

Out for 17, Roy was followed by Finch in the same over. A wicked delivery was clipped by the Australian and Foster took a simple catch to leave Surrey at 40-2 – Finch having contributed 17.

Two powerhouses at the crease were replaced by two more, with Kevin Pietersen - playing his first match of the season – joined at the crease by Kumar Sangakkara.

Essex had tightened up their performance with the ball and Sangakkara was soon heading back to the pavilion.

He contributed just eight from 11 balls, caught on the square leg boundary by Paul Walter off the bowling of Simon Harmer to leave Surrey at 60/3 after nine overs.

Dan Lawrence spilled a simple catch to hand Pietersen a reprieve when on 13, who went on to strike four sixes in the next over.

Surrey reached their 100 in the 13th over, although lost Dom Sibley the ball after moving past three figures, clean bowled by Zaidi.

Pietersen was anchoring the Surrey innings, moving onto 50 having faced just 32 balls while his partners failed to make an impression on the scoreboard.

Ollie Pope went for six, caught by Bopara after striking out at Walter.

And the Billericay man took a second wicket in the same over – the prized one of Pietersen, who had scored 52. Westley took the catch.

Ollie Pope (six), Sam Curran (12), Stuart Meaker (one) and Gareth Batty (zero) failed to make an impression on the score line as Surrey closed on 150/9.

Walter ended with 3/24, Amir an impressive 2/13 with Ravi Bopara, Ashar Zaidi and Simon Harmer taking a wicket each.

Lawrence needed a decent score with the bat, having struggled in the shortest form of the game so far this season and he looked in good touch, striking three early boundaries.

Varun Chopra was finding the rope with ease as well until he misjudged a Meaker delivery and Pope rushed in to take the catch at square leg, having scored 27.

At 50/1 after seven overs, Essex needed to up the ante but Lawrence was to follow his fellow opener soon after, striking out and departing for 24.

And when Batty took the wickets of Westley and Adam Wheater with consecutive balls, Essex were facing an uphill battle needing to up the average to 8.63 in the final eight overs.

Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate steadied the ship but Essex still needed 50 runs from the final 10 overs to claim what was looking like an increasingly unlikely victory.

The bowling of Jade Dernbach saw the end of Bopara (24) and even the introduction of Zaidi couldn’t inspire Essex to victory, scoring just eight.

Ten Doeschate ended on 28, Essex's top score on a disappointing evening.