SURREY V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE - Specsavers County
Championship - 22 June 2016
Surrey 323 & 244-5d. Nottinghamshire 182 & 157. Surrey won by 228
runs.
Zafar Ansari took four wickets for two runs in 13
balls in early afternoon to speed Surrey to their first win of the
Specsavers County Championship season, by 228 runs, against
Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval - and lift them off the bottom of
the Division One table.
Set 386 to win in 96 overs by Surrey's overnight
declaration at 244 for 5, Nottinghamshire were shot out for 157 by
2.50pm with left-arm spinner Ansari finishing with overall figures
of 6 for 36 from 11.3 overs.
Ansari's dramatic initial spell brought him the
scalps of Jake Libby, Riki Wessels, Samit Patel and Brendan Taylor,
who made a fine 68, as Nottinghamshire disintegrated from 119 for 2
to 124 for 6 in the space of five overs.
Gareth Batty had earlier removed Michael Lumb for
11 with his fourth ball, caught at slip from one that turned away
from the left-hander, following Ravi Rampaul's third over strike
when he produced a perfect leg-cutter to bowl Steven Mullaney for 5.
That left Notts distinctly wobbly at 29 for 2
early on but Taylor, joining opener Libby, counter-attacked with
controlled aggression in an impressive effort. The Zimbabwean
reached his run-a-ball fifty in the last over of the morning
session, slashing Rampaul away to third man for his eighth four.
There was also a six for Taylor, lofted with sweet
timing to long on off Batty, as he dominated a partnership of 90 in
25 overs with Libby, who had scored 33 when he became Ansari's first
victim.
Libby had got away with a mishit drive at the
previous ball, with Tom Curran failing to hold a difficult catch
over his left shoulder as he ran back from cover to try to take the
swirling chance, but then a shorter ball popped and turned and the
batsman could only steer it tamely to backward point.
The next ball, to Wessels, bounced and turned to
take the edge on its way into keeper Ben Foakes' gloves, and
although Patel kept out the hat-trick ball he was soon gone for 2,
lifting a loose drive to short extra cover.
Taylor, who had faced 79 balls, hitting ten fours
in addition to his six, was then drawn well forward by Ansari and
smartly stumped by Foakes when he was beaten by the turn and lifted
his back foot.
Stuart Meaker continued the Notts slide by having
Dan Christian caught acrobatically down the legside by Foakes for
11, and then Brett Hutton well held by Curran running back from
square leg for 8 as he top-edged a pull.
The end came quickly with Ansari taking the last
two wickets in three balls, Jake Ball leg-before for 1 and last man
Harry Gurney caught in the covers by Batty attempting a big hit.
Afterwards, the nature of Surrey's celebrations
showed just how much the victory means to them. Holding up the first
division when this game began, after four defeats and three draws
from their first seven championship fixtures, they have endured a
catalogue of injuries to leading bowlers and have also been on the
wrong end of several close finishes.
The win was also a true team effort. Ansari might
have been the final day hero but almost everyone chipped in with the
bat and all the bowlers contributed to bowling out Notts twice with
off spinner Batty, the captain, taking 4 for 23 in Notts' first
innings capitulation to 182 all out.
Surrey slow left-armer Zafar Ansari said after his
match-winning 6 for 36: "It was really nice to be the one to finish
things off today and I was the lucky one to pick up most of the
wickets. But it's been a real team effort in this game, and all the
bowlers have played their parts.
"This first win of the season has been a long time
coming but we have been building towards it for a few weeks now and
I don't think any of us have felt it was too far away. No one in our
squad is having a bad season, everyone has been confident but it has
just been that we have not really put the performances in. Injuries
have disrupted us a bit too, but we usually play better in
championship cricket in July and August when pitches suit us more in
terms of having two spinners in the team. As a unit, we feel we can
take 20 wickets on any surface and that's so important.
"I've obviously missed a lot of cricket since last
September when I first injured my thumb but I'm pretty experienced
now and it has just been a case of bowling as many overs as possible
and getting back into rhythm and a consistency of action."
Surrey captain Gareth Batty said: "Zafar is the
best young spinner in the country, in my opinion, and he's going to
be a top bowler for a long time. The pitch offered a little bit but
it wasn't a big turner at all and he bowled superbly. He's
progressing brilliantly.
"We mustn't get carried away with this win.
Division One is very tough cricket, no one gives you anything and we
have a lot of cricket to play yet this season. But this victory is
of course good for our confidence and we'll enjoy this evening."
Nottinghamshire assistant coach Wayne Noon said:
"It is disappointing to say the very least, but the fact is we lost
eight wickets in an hour and that's just awful. We've had an honest
chat about it in the dressing room - none of our batsmen took
responsibility out there and we've been outplayed.
"The pitch turned a bit but nothing like as much
as we have seen here before and, because of all the rain on day two,
it was only really a third day surface. Surrey were bottom of the
table before this game but we haven't made them work for this
victory. We've handed it to them."
LUNCH REPORT
Brendan Taylor and Jake Libby held up Surrey's
push for a first win of the Specsavers County Championship season by
adding an unbroken 73 in 20 overs for Nottinghamshire's third wicket
at the Kia Oval.
At lunch, set 386 to win in 96 overs by Surrey's
overnight declaration at 244 for 5, Nottinghamshire were 102 for 2
with Taylor unbeaten on 54 from 53 balls and Libby on 29 not out.
Gareth Batty had earlier removed Michael Lumb for
11 with his fourth ball, caught at slip from one that turned away
from the left-hander, following Ravi Rampaul's third over strike
when he produced a perfect leg-cutter to bowl Steven Mullaney for 5.
That left Notts distinctly wobbly at 29 for 2 but
Taylor, joining opener Libby, counter-attacked with controlled
aggression in an impressive effort. The Zimbabwean reached his fifty
in the last over of the morning session, slashing a short ball from
Rampaul away to third man for his eighth four.
There was also a six for Taylor, lofted with sweet
timing to long on off Batty, as he dominated his partnership with
Libby, who at lunch had faced 103 balls.
Off spinner Batty, who took 4 for 23 in Notts'
first innings capitulation to 182 all out, probed away skilfully in
a spell of 7-3-23-1, while seamers Rampaul, Tom Curran and Stuart
Meaker all got the ball past the bat on occasions without any
further success.
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