Report: Warwickshire v Surrey, Rothesay County Championship

Day Four

Warwickshire consolidated their strong start to the season with a high-scoring draw against Surrey at Edgbaston in their Rothesay County Championship match.

Ben Foakes harvested a career-best unbeaten 174 on day four for defending champions Surrey, to ensure that the game ended in handshakes in the afternoon.

Foakes amassed 174 from 361 balls, the last 107 of them in a tenth-wicket stand of 158 in 58 overs with Matt Fisher (40, 145 balls) as Surrey totalled 504 in reply to Warwickshire’s 665 for five.

On a strong batting wicket, the game’s third innings finally began at 3.15pm on the final day. Surrey, following on, reached 15 without loss before a downpour arrived to wash out the last session.

Surrey resumed on the last morning on 369 for nine, still 147 short of the follow-on figure, but Warwickshire knew they had to polish off the first innings quickly if they were to press for victory. The excellent Foakes ensured that didn’t happen. He soon advanced down the pitch to strike Rob Yates for successive sixes; the first took him to 9,000 first-class runs and the second to his 17th first-class century (from 197 balls).

Foakes and Fisher batted through the morning session to add 118 in 39 overs as the Bears battled hard to break the partnership.

Surrey’s rearguard action finally came to an end when Fisher edged Ed Barnard to wicketkeeper Alex Davies.

Despite having just spent 178.2 overs in the field, Warwickshire enforced the follow-on with a minimum of 43 overs left in the day. However, after just five of those overs, with Surrey 15 without loss, a terminal thunderstorm arrived.

Warwickshire head coach Ian Westwood said: “We turned up this morning with a lot of hope and expectation and I think if we had managed to get that wicket early, out there with fresh legs and a new ball it might have been very interesting. But it was always going to be difficult and it proved so.

“But I don’t want today to put a dampener on how well we have played on the first three days. Yes, it was a good batting pitch but we got stuck in and managed to get a big total and then I thought the highlight was yesterday’s performance with the ball. The effort and skill was fantastic and then a fiery eight-over spell from Che really cracked it open and gave us hope that we could push for a win.

“Che and Zen did really well in this match and it’s nice to give opportunities to people who you think they can do it and when they go out and perform it’s great for everybody. It grows the squad and gives you more depth and competition for places.

“It’s been a good start to the season. We were desperate to win this game but a solid, high-scoring draw against Surrey is not the worst result by any means and puts us in a good place going into the next two games before we go into the T20.” 

Day Three

Bears’ bowlers battled brilliantly on day three to give Warwickshire a sniff of victory going into the final day against County Champions Surrey.

Surrey closed on 369 for nine, still 296 short of the follow on figure. Ben Foakes is unbeaten on 85 (185 balls), Dominic Sibley struck 64 (199) and Cameron Steel 55 (108) but while five of the top seven passed 50, none has yet emulated the three Warwickshire batters who passed three figures.

The Bears’ bowlers were rewarded for collective persistence after off-spinner Rob Yates jolted an apparent stalemate into life with a three-wicket burst. On a pitch which has yielded 14 wickets in three days, it’s a big ask for Warwickshire to find 11 on the fourth, but their big-hearted bowling display has kept the game alive.

Surrey resumed on the third morning on 98 for one and lost just one wicket in the morning session when Ryan Patel played away from his body at Beau Webster and edged to wicketkeeper Alex Davies. Lunchtime arrived with three wickets having fallen in the previous four sessions, but early in the afternoon session the portrait of batting heaven was shattered as, out of nowhere, Yates took three in six overs,

Sibley, having hit seven fours in 268 minutes, departed in disbelief at his own recklessness after he was lured into a drive and sliced to backward point. Lawrence nicked an attempted cut. Jason Roy, playing his first championship game since 2018, ladled his ninth ball to mid-wicket. 

Yates’ mesmeric spell was ended by Warwickshire’s decision to take the new ball against which Foakes and Steel dug in to add 113 in 33 overs but another mini-collapse followed as three wickets fell for one run in 28 balls.

Steel had his leg bail clipped by Olly Hannon-Dalby. Che Simmons then struck twice – both genuine fast-bowler’s dismissals. Jordan Clark tried to leave a ball but was surprised by bounce and gloved it to the keeper. Nathan Smith guided another rising delivery to leg slip.

Tom Lawes inside-edged Webster to the keeper but Foakes stayed strong to the close and Surrey will look to the England player to hoover up some more time on the final day.

Batter Sam Hain, said: “I am really proud of the guys. As a unit, they kept on going and showed a lot of heart and also a lot of skill. It’s the sort of pitch where bowlers have to work hard with a lot of discipline and the guys kept on doing that right to the end and got their rewards.

“It was a really good collective effort and to see Che come in and bowl the way he did late in the day was great to see. It was an amazing spell for eight overs with some real pace and bounce and just showed how exciting a bowler he can be.

“We have played some very good cricket in this game. It is still a good batting wicket but we have given ourselves a chance of winning the match on the last day and that’s all you can ask. It won’t be easy because the pitch isn’t breaking up at all and Surrey are a very good batting side but if the guys show the same levels of skill and heart then who knows?”

Day Two

Warwickshire exploited perfect batting conditions to pile up 665 for five, their record score against Surrey, on a day of records at Edgbaston.

Tom Latham struck 184 (319 balls), the highest score by a Warwickshire debutant, Ed Barnard harvested a career-best 177 not out (254) and Zen Malik helped himself to a maiden century – 105 not out (119) – as batters gorged themselves in the May sunshine.

Surrey then embarked upon the long haul towards the follow-on figure of 516 and reached 98 for one at the halfway point of a match which will require some spectacular bowling if it is not to end in a draw. 

After Warwickshire resumed on the second morning on 364 for four, Latham and Barnard extended their partnership to 169 in 37 overs. Latham reached 150 from 263 balls and, after 400 minutes at the crease, was chugging towards a double-century in untroubled fashion when, to unanimous surprise, he edged Tom Lawes to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.

A debut double-ton eluded the New Zealander but his 184 is the highest by a player on his first class debut for Warwickshire, displacing the 173 by John Whitehouse against Oxford University at The Parks in 1971.

Surrey should have immediately added another wicket in the next over when Barnard, on 78, chopped Dan Lawrence to point but twelfth man James Taylor put down the simplest of catches. Barnard fully exploited the reprieve to advance to his ninth first class century as Malik, playing only his second first class game, settled in alongside him. The proud sons of Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent respectively ruthlessly took advantage of a toiling attack which at times operated with eight fielders on the boundary.

Malik’s maiden ton arrived in the last over before tea, the pair having banished the oldest partnership record for Warwickshire against Surrey from the history books. Their 215 consigned the 199 by Dick Lilley and Charles Baker at The Oval in 1906 to history.

After the teatime declaration it was the turn of Warwickshire’s bowlers to suffer. Ethan Bamber (9-2-14-0) bowled the best spell of the match so far and Barnard’s happy day continued when he trapped Rory Burns lbw. But Ryan Patel got off the mark by pulling Beau Webster for six and, alongside former Warwickshire favourite Dominic Sibley, saw it through to the close to lay a solid foundation towards that lofty follow-on figure.

Zen Malik said: “I enjoyed it. The lads at the top of the order had done such a great job. The work done by Tom, Yatesy and Barney made my job a lot easier. All in all, a really good day.

“Last week was a great win for us, beating a very strong Yorkshire side, and to contribute to that win in conditions that were very challenging was a great confidence-booster for me and I’m very happy to have followed it up with a century.

“Davo told me I was going to move down the order because of the strength of the batting so I just had to make sure I took my opportunity when it arrived. We saw from very early on that batting conditions were very good so to be there at the end and score my maiden century and have a good partnership with Barny was really good.

“The declaration was coming so I just had to be a little bit patient. The runs were coming pretty naturally for me and Barney so the most important thing for me was being out there and taking it ball by ball and it was great to get there in the last over before tea.”

Day One

Tom Latham scored a debut century as Warwickshire reached 364 for four against Surrey on the opening day of their Rothesay County Championship Division One match at Edgbaston.

New Zealand batter Latham struck an unbeaten 139 (244 balls) after Surrey chose to bowl on another belter of a batting pitch at Edgbaston. Rob Yates scored 86 (151) against the champions’ much-changed team with Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson having departed on England duty.

Surrey are also without Dan Worrall who they decided to spare the hard labour on a batter-friendly surface, while the Bears are without seamer Michael Booth who will be sidelined for two to three months by a stress fracture of the ankle. Barbados-born Che Simmons has come into the team for his home Championship debut.

Against a Surrey attack including debutant Nathan Smith. Warwickshire started serenely as Yates and Alex Davies (45, 58) gathered an untroubled 70 in 19 overs. Davies twice hoisted Jordan Clark for six over the short Hollies Stand boundary but departed in angst after swinging and missing at a full toss from Dan Lawrence.

Yates and Latham added 112 before the former departed in a different type of angst to this captain. With a century beckoning, he tickled an unthreatening leg-side delivery from Tom Lawes to the wicketkeeper.

A Latham century looked likely from the moment he took guard. He moved sweetly into the 40s, took a breather and spent 35 balls there, then pulled Clark for six to reach his half-century and galloped from 50 to 80 in another 18 balls. It was batting of simple, solid, unhurried class.

Surrey’s rejigged bowling attack, with Smith on his debut and Lawes and Cameron Steel each playing their first game of the season, persevered nobly. Sam Hain flicked Clark straight to backward square leg and Lawrence bowled Beau Webster with a beauty through the gate.

But Ed Barnard (38, 63) joined the implacable Latham to add an unbroken 83 in the last 24 overs of the day. Latham reached his 27^th first class century from 161 balls to emulate his countryman Jeetan Patel in making a ton on his Warwickshire debut. Whether Latham matches Patel’s subsequent haul of 742 wickets for the club remains to be seen, but he has immediately provided the top order ballast they badly need.

Rob Yates, said: “We got off to a brisk start with Alex putting away the short ones and punishing anything overpitched. It was good to get another 50 partnership up top. 

“Then it was awesome to be out there with Tom. He looked class which was no surprise – he plays the ball so late and times it beautifully. We have had a good start to the season and to have the likes of Beau and Tom coming into the side is great. Beau made a match-winning contribution on his debut last week and hopefully Tom’s will turn out to be the same this week.

“I was pleased with the way I batted but a bit frustrated to leave maybe 80 out there. But we are in a decent position after the first day. It’s not easy to take wickets on this pitch and I think you have to be creative and also patient at the same time. You just have to go about it in a smart way.”