Fri 10 - Mon 13 May, 11:00
Report: Surrey v Warwickshire, County Championship
Day Two
Three wickets in three overs with the second new ball by Craig Miles, who finished the day with superb figures of five for 43 after his late triple strike pegged Surrey back to 327 for six in reply to Warwickshire’s 343, gave the visitors a toehold at the end of the second day at the Kia Oval.
Miles bowled Foakes for 52 with a ball that kept low – not for the first time in the game – and then followed that up by pinning Dan Lawrence leg-before for three and, three balls later, having nightwatchman Kemar Roach magnificently held low and left-handed by a diving Rob Yates at second slip.
But Jamie Smith’s 98 not out from only 111 balls, and a 139-run fourth wicket stand with Ben Foakes, propelled champions Surrey towards parity at the halfway stage.
Smith remained unbeaten, however, with some imperious strokes so far bringing him two sixes and 14 fours, and in addition to Cameron Steel, not out on four at stumps, Surrey have all-rounders Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott still to bat as they bid to turn a slender 16-run deficit into a potentially match-defining first innings lead on day three.
The late drama involving Miles also included him rolling his right ankle in celebration at Roach’s wicket, with what was his final ball at the end of the day’s penultimate over, and limping immediately from the field for treatment.
Ollie Pope, meanwhile, is still searching for his first sizeable score of the season after contributing a middling 44 to Surrey’s first innings.
With openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns making 64 and 40 respectively, Surrey batted solidly throughout the day – until that late loss of three wickets – in their attempt to establish a significant lead and put pressure on their opponents in the remainder of this game.
But England batsman Pope is enduring a lean run of form with only 79 runs from four innings to date in this season’s championship, and 198 from 12 first-class knocks overall since his majestic 196 at Hyderabad in last winter’s opening Test against India.
Here, coming in after Burns hit Will Rhodes’ medium pace to backward point in the 28th over – and after the Surrey captain had put on 88 in two hours with Sibley – Pope initially overcame an edgy start to cruise towards what would have been a confidence-boosting half-century.
But, with tea approaching, Pope aimed a loose drive at a ball from Miles that shaped away just enough to catch the edge and fly straight to Yates stationed in a solitary widish slip position.
Pope thumped his bat in disappointment, yet it was further reward for paceman Miles in a controlled eight-over afternoon spell of two for 24 that had earlier also brought him Sibley’s scalp, bowled off stump by one that kept a little low to beat the opener’s back-foot defensive stroke.
After tea, however, Smith and Foakes seemed like they were wrenching the match away from Warwickshire in an increasingly aggressive and well-judged 31-over partnership.
Smith had off-driven the last ball of the afternoon session, from Miles, for his first boundary and there were more glorious strokes to follow from the 23-year-old as he reached his fifty from 65 balls. Foakes, meanwhile, was busy at the crease while also straight-driving Ollie Hannon-Dalby classily for one of his own fours.
Warwickshire captain Rhodes, giving himself a second spell, was crashed to the offside ropes as Smith took a couple of strides down the pitch to hit the ball at the top of the bounce. Soon after, Smith took two more sweetly-struck fours off Rhodes in the same over through extra cover and mid on.
Later, there was a pull for six off Jacob Bethell’s left arm spin, following a lofted four over mid on against the same bowler, a sublime extra cover four off Ed Barnard’s fast-medium and also a powerfully-driven six and four off successive Barnard deliveries.
The day started with Warwickshire, on 318 for eight overnight, seeing 28-year-old all-rounder Barnard quickly score the four runs he needed to complete a deserved sixth first-class hundred – and his first for the club since leaving Worcestershire at the start of last year.
Dan Worrall, however, luckless on day one, produced an off-cutter to clip the top of Miles’ off stump as he decided to shoulder arms on 29, a creditable innings by the No 10 in a stand with Barnard of 66.
And Barnard, on 108 from 179 balls and attempting to hit out for a third batting bonus point, then skewed Lawrence’s off spin to cover in the next over to end both his own superlative knock and Warwickshire’s first innings.
Warwickshire First Team Coach Mark Robinson said: “I think we’ve tried hard but we’ve not executed much, I think there’s a lot in that wicket and we’re a little disappointed with how we’ve bowled as a unit. I think if you hit the pitch hard, as we did at the end, there’s a bit of variable bounce.
“What we have done is we’ve hung in there and had a bit of success at the end with Milo [Craig Miles], and it was a lovely little flurry. If you hit that pitch hard, get your fields right and protect your boundaries then there’s something there all the time.
“We’re in this game but we have to see how Milo is having rolled his ankle. We’ll see how he scrubs up in the morning.”
Day One
Ed Barnard led some determined resistance by the Warwickshire lower order after Surrey’s relentless seam attack, spearheaded by Jordan Clark, looked to have put the county champions in control at the Kia Oval.
Clark took four wickets to help reduce Warwickshire to 167 for 6 but Barnard, unbeaten on 96 at stumps, shared stands of 55 with Michael Burgess and Aamer Jamal to wrest back the initiative as his side reached 318 for 8.
Much of the first day had unfolded like so many in recent years at the Kia Oval. Surrey bowled first on a green-tinged pitch offering good pace and carry and their seam attack worked their way steadily through the Bears batting.
There was some lavish swing with the new ball for Dan Worrall, who went wicketless despite beating the bat on numerous occasions, but Rob Yates and Alex Davies made serene early progress with Davies, the first division’s leading scorer, passing 500 runs as they rattled up 59 in 12 overs before Clark nipped one back into the left-hander with his 11th ball to make the breakthrough.
The returning Sean Abbott took just seven deliveries to make an impact, when he shaped one back into Yates’s pads and just before lunch Sam Hain, making his first appearance of the season, was undone by some clever bowling from Kemar Roach, who bowled a succession of inswingers before moving one enough off the seam the other way to take the edge.
After lunch Clark picked up his second wicket when a quicker delivery trapped Dan Mousley on the crease working to leg. Clark struck again in the seventh over of a consistently probing spell from the pavilion end by finding some extra bounce off a good length to end Will Rhodes’ patient resistance courtesy of a regulation catch at slip by former Bear Dom Sibley.
Roach returned shortly afterwards and needed just six balls to have Jacob Bethell held by Ollie Pope at second slip to leave Warwickshire in strife 167 for 6.
But Barnard was established by then and found a reliable ally in Burgess, who played all his age-group junior cricket in Surrey. They added 55 in 17 overs either side of tea with Barnard reaching his fifty with his sixth boundary when he slapped a full toss from Cameron Steel to square leg.
Clark broke the stand when Burgess got in a tangle and lost his leg stump as he played on but Jamal gave Barnard more solid support, even when Surrey took the new ball. He was on 25 when he tried to leave a delivery that flicked his glove and give Abbott a wicket with the first ball of a new spell.
Pope hadn’t quite managed to hold on to a tough chance diving to his left at first slip when Barnard was on 76 – a rare misjudgement by the phlegmatic 28-year-old who has so far faced 156 balls and hit nine fours. He will be hoping to push beyond his hundred tomorrow if Craig Miles and last man Oliver Hannon-Dalby can replicate the fortitude shown by their lower-order colleagues.
Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes said: “We were going to bowl first because the wicket is different to a lot in the country because it’s got good pace and carry so we had to adapt. We stuck at it, there were partnerships all the way down and it’s ended up being a great day for us.
“Ed Barnard has been an outstanding signing for us. There seems to be a thing where he always misses out on the flat pitches but he cashed in today. Hopefully he can get those four runs he needs tomorrow and we can get another bonus point. He works as hard as anyone wherever he’s asked to bat and everyone is really pleased with how he’s played. It will be a sweet feeling for him if he can get his hundred.
“Surrey’s attack is the best in the country. They have blown teams away in the last few years so that’s why we’re so pleased to have batted the whole day. They are relentless, there is no real respite and Jordan Clark is a proven performer so to get 320 with eight down puts us in a good position.”
Four Teams. Two Matches. Blast Off is back!
Vitality Blast Off is back and the Bears will launch their home T20 campaign with a huge men’s double-header featuring two big Midlands rivalry games.
Taking place on Saturday 1 June, Derbyshire Falcons host Leicestershire Foxes (2.30pm) before the Bears take on Notts Outlaws (6.30pm). Buy tickets in advance and save.
