View the official match day scorecard here: Click here for the Scorecard
View the official match day scorebook here: Click here for the Scorebook
Day 4
Jonathan Trott’s heroic resistance finally came to an end on 151 as Surrey wrapped up an opening Specsavers County Championship Division One victory against Warwickshire inside 13 overs on day four at the Kia Oval.
Chris Wright was bowled by Tom Curran for a duck after 55 minutes’ play to clinch an innings and one-run win for Surrey that launches their 2017 championship campaign in fine style and underlines their title aspirations. Curran ended with 4 for 88.
Surrey take 23 points from the win and, despite Trott’s rearguard action, the result had never been in doubt once Mark Footitt had taken six wickets in 32 balls on the second day as Warwickshire were blown away for 91 in their first innings.
But Trott’s 41st first-class hundred, and battling third day support from the likes of Ian Bell and Keith Barker, held Surrey up and took the match into its final day.
It was perhaps fitting that Footitt ended Trott’s epic knock, in the eighth over of the morning, with the former England batsman aiming a deliberate upper-cut at a short ball from the left-arm paceman and watching aghast as it ballooned into Dominic Sibley’s hands at third man.
Trott had batted for six hours and 44 minutes, facing 291 balls and hitting 19 fours, with his final boundary taking him to the 19th 150 of his prolific career.
Jeetan Patel had already gone by the time Trott fell, leg-before to Tom Curran from the last ball of the day’s fifth over. Patel had taken three fours from Footitt, including a sparkling extra cover drive, to move from his overnight 11 to 29 but had narrowly survived another lbw shout from the probing Curran earlier in the same over.
Curran finished off the Warwickshire second innings by wrecking Wright’s stumps to prevent Surrey from having to bat again. Footitt’s 2 for 104 gave him match figures of 8 for 118.
Warwickshire take just a single point from what has been a sobering opening game of the season for them.
Day 3
A batting masterclass from Jonathan Trott, who scored the 41st first-class century of his career, led Warwickshire’s resistance against Surrey at the Kia Oval.
Surrey were on course to wrap up victory inside three days when they took four middle-order wickets in 11 overs after lunch to reduce Warwickshire, who had followed on 363 runs behind, to 181 for 6.
But Trott batted for over six hours to compile an unbeaten 141 as Warwickshire closed the third day on 322 for 7, still trailing by 41.
The 35-year-old reached his century in the first over after tea by which time Keith Barker, coming in at No.8 but with six first-class hundreds to his name, was giving him valuable support.
Barker had a life just before tea when he was dropped by Rory Burns at slip on 13. Surrey had held their catches in this match and that miss proved expensive as he and Trott negotiated the new ball and then proceeded to give Warwickshire a period of superiority for the first time in the match. They added 124 in 42 overs for the seventh wicket with Barker contributing 57 until he missed a straight one from Gareth Batty.
A single off Batty had taken Trott to his second hundred of the season after he took 130 off the Oxford MCCU students last week. This was a much sterner test but the 35-year-old’s composure and powers of concentration show no sign of receding.
It was hard to recall a false shot, never mind the semblance of a chance. His first 50 came off 115 balls and he had to regroup several times during the afternoon as wickets fell at the other end.
Surrey had made an excellent start by claiming openers Will Porterfield (19) and Alex Mellor (14) within five overs. Porterfield was pinned in front by Sam Curran off the 11th ball of the day and Mellor caught at slip poking tamely outside off stump at Jade Dernbach.
It was no surprise that Trott and skipper Ian Bell, Warwickshire’s most experienced and reliable batsmen, then held Surrey at bay on a pitch which remained fairly true, although by the end the odd delivery was keeping low and Batty was getting some turn.
In contrast to his partner, Bell was prepared to go on the attack at every opportunity and he soon launched into some trademark cover drives, including two in successive balls off Sam Curran which sped to the fence.
But having hit ten fours in his 64 from 94 balls, and added 103 with Trott for the third wicket, he fell to a superb diving catch at second slip by Scott Borthwick when left-armer Mark Footitt, whose six wickets on the second day had help skittle Warwickshire for 91, angled the ball across him.
With the breakthrough made Surrey’s seamers stepped up. Tom Curran removed Tim Ambrose for his second duck of the match and Rikki Clarke (6) during an excellent spell while Sam Hain was leg before to the impressive Dernbach.
At 181 for 6 and still trailing by 182 runs Warwickshire were staring at an innings defeat but Trott showed no intention of being dislodged.
Day 2
Remarkable fast bowling by Mark Footitt, who took 6 for 14 in a nine-over spell of relentless hostility either side of tea, left Warwickshire’s first innings shattered as they were tumbled out for 91 at the Kia Oval. Forced to follow on, in reply to Surrey’s first innings 454, Warwickshire had reached 29 without loss in their second innings by stumps, still 334 runs behind.
Footitt’s fiery initial burst of three for nought in nine balls, just before the interval, sent Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Sam Hain on their way for ducks and put Surrey in complete command of their Specsavers Division One opener.
Another good-sized crowd, basking in the south London sun, lapped it up as Footitt roared in from the Vauxhall End to leave Warwickshire reeling at 39 for 4 at tea and, shortly afterwards, 42 for 7.
Warwickshire had actually been 30 without loss, but then Sam Curran winkled out Alex Mellor for 18, edging low to third slip, and, suddenly, Footitt – brought on as first change after a five-over new ball spell from Tom Curran – poured himself into the breach.
In his second over, a dramatic 15th of the innings, the former Derbyshire left-armer had Trott leg-before shuffling across his stumps before, three balls later, angling one across Bell to square him up on the back foot and have the Warwickshire batsman caught at second slip.
Hain, pushing at another rapid delivery, was also held by Scott Borthwick at second slip and, resuming his spell after the break for tea, Footitt saw opener William Porterfield edge behind for 18 and both Rikki Clarke and Keith Barker fall for ducks – the fourth and fifth Warwickshire batsmen to succumb to him without scoring.
Clarke was leg-before, soon after being beaten all ends up by a Footitt thunderbolt, and Barker castled by one that seemed to shoot through a little low, one ball after fending off a vicious lifter.
Jade Dernbach, brought on for the 26th over, removed Tim Ambrose for 6 with his third ball – courtesy of another smart catch low down at second slip by Borthwick – and when Sam Curran relieved Footitt the younger left-arm paceman almost immediately struck again to have Jeetan Patel taken at second slip for 8. That was a fourth catch for Borthwick.
A last wicket partnership of 30 between Chris Wright and Oliver Hannon-Dalby spared Warwickshire from being dismissed for their lowest championship total for almost four decades, but it was all over when Hannon-Dalby mishit Tom Curran to square leg to go for 2 and leave Wright, only the third Warwickshire batsman to reach double figures, unbeaten on 28 from 30 balls.
Wicket-to-wicket, Footitt’s wrecking-ball burst was 6 for 3 in 32 balls, and it is the fourth championship match in succession, going back to late last August, that the 31-year-old has taken five or more wickets in an innings. Close to England Test selection at times in the past two years, especially when he was included in the squad for the 2015-16 tour to South Africa, Footitt can surely spearhead a Surrey tilt at the championship title this summer if he stays fit.
Earlier Kumar Sangakkara’s carefully-constructed 71, from 161 balls, had pushed Surrey on from their overnight 327 for 3, but a hint that batsmen might not continue to have things all their own way came when Surrey struggled to accelerate following Sangakkara’s exit, leg-before to the persevering Hannon-Dalby at 378 for 4. Fellow seamer Wright was the chief beneficiary as he finished with figures of 5 for 113.
Off spinner Patel also picked up a couple of late wickets, as reward for more accurate bowling on a second day of toil for the visiting attack, and only Ben Foakes briefly flourished with 34 from 66 balls. Surrey, indeed, lost their last seven wickets for 76 runs in 27 overs but that was as nothing compared to the Footitt-induced carnage that was to come when Warwickshire batted.
Day 1
Mark Stoneman marked his Surrey County Championship debut with a masterly 165 as his new county took control against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval.
The 29-year-old compiled a chanceless 17th first-class century as he became the first Englishman to score a hundred on Championship debut for Surrey since Mark Ramprakash in 2001.
Rory Burns (71) and Kumar Sangakkara (47 not out) also made solid contributions as Surrey closed day one on 327 for 3.
Stoneman was initially circumspect against the new ball but an off-driven four in the eighth over off Wright seemed to flick the switch and for the next five hours the left-hander didn’t offer a chance as he paid his first dividend following his winter move from Durham.
The majority of his 24 boundaries were punched through the covers but he also attacked off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who had been brought into the attack in the 20th over, by cutting him off the back foot with superb timing and then lofting him back down the ground for six. Stoneman brought up his century by guiding Oliver Hannon-Dalby to the third man boundary midway through the afternoon session by which time Surrey were in command.
He was finally dismissed three overs after Warwickshire took the new ball when wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose snapped up the edge as he tried to drive on the up at Chris Wright, having faced 267 balls.
Stoneman launched Surrey’s season with a stand of 154, 136 of which were made before lunch, with Burns. Bell employed six bowlers in the first session but only Keith Barker and Patel offered him any sort of control. The Surrey pair both reached 50 in the same over, Burns getting there with a pulled six off Hannon-Dalby.
Warwickshire’s bowlers fought back with two wickets in the afternoon session, but any assistance in pitch which had a tinge of green at the start had burned off under a warm sun and it had become an exercise in containment for their bowlers.
Burns had looked good for a hundred of his own until Barker drew him forward and he edged behind after hitting 11 fours and a six then Stoneman added 76 in 22 overs with Surrey’s other winter recruit from Durham, Scott Borthwick, for the second wicket.
Borthwick followed a ball from Hannon-Dalby and was taken at slip after scoring 23 in 90 minutes but Sangakkara, who lodged 1,039 Championship runs last season in only 12 games, was soon in his stride with some eye-catching off-side strokes.
Stoneman’s dismissal ended a third-wicket partnership of 84 with the Sri Lankan, who was three short of his half-century at stumps with Dom Sibley unbeaten on seven.
