IRANI AND ADAMS TURN THE TABLES ON SURREY by Marcus Hook
Surrey v Essex 365-9.

At teatime yesterday, with Ian Salisbury having just claimed four wickets in 21 balls to take his first-class haul to eight hundred, and reduce the visitors to 227 for eight, it was Surrey who had their noses in front. But with Ronnie Irani and Andre Adams keeping each other company for practically the entire final session, the first day honours certainly belonged to Essex by the time stumps were drawn with their total on 365 for nine.

Irani, who was dropped off at second slip off Rikki Clarke when he had just four to his name, made the hosts pay dearly for the let-off by hitting his second hundred of the season and the 25th century of his first-class career. The Essex captain's unbeaten 122 has so far occupied 197 balls and contained 12 fours and three sixes - two of them in one over from Nayan Doshi, which landed either side of the sightscreen at the South Field End, and one over mid-wicket off Salisbury.

On another day Clarke, who was arguably the pick of Surrey's attack, will bowl just as well and end up being the headline-maker. But yesterday things started badly for him when he conceded four overthrows off his own bowling - the man at mid-on failing to back up. He then saw three gilt-edged chances go down. In addition to the life handed to Irani by Azhar Mahmood in the 39th over, Clarke should have had Varun Chopra caught at first slip for 31 and Adams caught at mid-off for twelve.

At Whitgift the side winning the toss and electing to bat usually tends to prosper, so Irani succeeded in that respect also. He will then have been cheered to see his openers provide a solid foundation. Chopra, who looks a fine prospect for an 18-year-old, announced himself by creaming Azhar through the covers for two consecutive boundaries in the fourth over of the day.

Martin Bicknell's first bowling spell since July last year was a respectable seven overs for 28. It might also have produced the wicket of Mark Pettini, who edged one through the vacant third slip area to go to 33 and was dropped in the slips off the very next ball.

Chopra shrugged off being put down himself, rubbing salt into Clarke's wounds by cutting him over third man for six in the 23rd over. But it was Clarke who made the first breakthrough, when Pettini was caught low down at second slip four overs later.

Just before lunch Chopra drove at Doshi's second ball and was caught at slip, Ravi Bopara departed in the fourth over after the break, when he played back and on to Azhar, and not long afterwards Andy Flower was following him back to the Pavilion, albeit reluctantly, after being adjudged leg before.

Irani and James Foster then joined forces to put on 84 in 24 overs for the visitors' fifth wicket before Salisbury moved rapidly from 796 first-class victims to eight hundred. The 36-year-old leg-spinner had Foster caught behind at the second attempt and Ryan ten Doeschante playing back to a googly. Six overs later, James Middlebrook went caught behind and Salisbury found himself on another hat-trick when Tim Phillips chose to shoulder arms to his first ball.

That brought Adams to the wicket and it would have been 258-9 had Mohammad Akram pouched a simple catch at mid-off. But, with both batsmen cutting loose, Irani and Adams put on a record 124 in 29 overs for Essex against Surrey, beating, by one run, the previous record set by Laurie Eastman and Joe Hipkin at Southend in 1924. Adams brought up the visitors' 350 with a huge six over mid-wicket off Clarke, but perished to the very next ball when Scott Newman held on to a catch at deep square leg in the tenth over with the new cherry.

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