SURREY V WARWICKSHIRE - Specsavers County Championship - 4 July 2016
Surrey 273 & 177. Warwickshire 449 & 5-0. Warwickshire won by 10 wickets.

Warwickshire cruised to a comfortable victory in the Specsavers County Championship as Surrey continued to struggle on their return to the top flight. The visitors won by ten wickets with a day to spare at Guildford inflicting the fifth Championship defeat of the season on Surrey. Having trailed Warwickshire by 176 on first innings Surrey looked to be responding well when 105-1 at tea, but they capitulated to 177 all out.

Only three Surrey batsman reached double figures in the face of disciplined seam bowling and Jeetan Patel's accurate off-spin. The former Kiwi international took ten wickets in the match, 5-62 in the first innings, 5-61 in the second. Rory Burns (68) and Zafar Ansari (40) had given Surrey a platform but after their partnership was broken only Steven Davies, last out for 44, offered any resistance.

In the morning Keith Barker had been the prime contributor as Warwickshire, 345-6 overnight, extended their lead by 104. Barker made 65 at almost a run-a-ball, ably supported by Patel (31). The pair adding added 76 for the eighth wicket before Mark Footitt, enjoying a return to action after more than two months out with injury, brought the innings to a swift close with three wickets in 11 balls. Footitt finished with 4-57, his best figures since switching from Derbyshire to Surrey during the winter.

Barker, miscuing a hook, had fallen to a decent over-the-shoulder-catch by Arun Harinath. Revenge was swift as he dismissed the Surrey opener for a duck. Burns and Ansari were thereafter content to see off Barker's testing opening spell, either side of lunch, of 12-1 off nine overs before gradually accelerating to add 97 in the middle session.

However, soon after the resumption Burns, still seeking his first century of the season, tried but failed to withdraw his bat, playing on to Patel. Two overs later Ansari followed, caught at close quarters off Patel for 40. Meanwhile Aaron Finch, who hit the first ball of his Surrey career for six on Saturday, going on to make 110, had begun more circumspectly this time. He was yet to hit a boundary when he edged his 15th ball to Tim Ambrose behind the stumps to depart for seven. Warwickshire's celebrations underlined the view that his was the key wicket.

This opinion was reinforced as Sam Curren was caught behind driving ambitiously for a duck, then Ben Foakes was leg before playing no stroke for one. That left Surrey 123-6, still 53 behind. Though Tom Curran and Gareth Batty hung around long enough for Davies to steer Surrey past the ignominy of an innings defeat they could only edge one run ahead.

With only an over of scheduled play remaining Ian Bell claimed the extra half-hour, but only five balls were required before Varun Chopra found the boundary to complete a victory that gives further credence to the Bears' title challenge.

Jeetan Patel said: "It is so hard to win games in this league, every team is really good. We went in at tea and the conversation was all about doing the hard yards and then eventually it will pay you back. We were lucky when Rory played on then we got Zafar so the conversation was perfect. All we wanted was a sniff, we knew if we got one wicket we would get two or three."

Victory takes Warwickshire too, albeit the rest of this round of matches is still to be completed, but Patel added: "There is still a long way to go, no one is talking about [being top]."

Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket, said: "Burns and Ansari showed the way, they played tough cricket, unfortunately there was then a collapse. The batting is faulty. I thought we bowled well, our bowling is moving in the right direction, but our batting isn't. That is an issue. If you are only making scores of 270, and not batting four sessions, you are making it very hard for the bowlers. There are players with talent, but they are not battle-hardened cricketers. They will get there, but we need to see some results soon."

TEA REPORT

It was steady rather than spectacular, but no less valuable for that as Rory Burns led Surrey's fightback against a daunting 176-run first innings deficit in their Specsavers County Championship match against Warwickshire at Guildford. Burns, still seeking his first century of the season, struck an unbeaten 66 as Surrey reached tea 105-1, 71 runs behind.

Warwickshire, 345-6 overnight, added 104 in the morning largely thanks to a bright 70-ball innings of 65 from Keith Barker. He was given staunch support by Jeetan Patel (31), the pair adding adding 76 for the eighth wicket before Mark Footitt wrapped up the innings with three wickets in 11 balls. Footitt finished with 4-57 in his first match since suffering injury in April.

Barker proved just as tricky with the ball having Arun Harinath caught behind for a duck in a testing opening spell, either side of lunch, of 12-1 off nine overs. Burns and Zafar Ansari (37 not out) were content to see him off before gradually accelerating in the afternoon.

LUNCH REPORT

Keith Barker rattled a swift half-century as Warwickshire built a healthy first-innings lead over Surrey in their Specsavers County Championship match at Guildford, then followed up with a quick wicket as their hosts batted again.

Barker cracked 65 in 70 balls with 11 fours as the visitors were dismissed for 449 shortly after midday on the third day. Barker eventually was out mis-hooking Mark Footitt who picked up three wickets in the session to finish with 4-57 on his return after two months out injured. These were his best figures since moving to Surrey from Derbyshire in the winter.

Trading bat for ball Barker had Arun Harinath caught behind without scoring as Surrey reached lunch at 12-1, still 164 behind.

Resuming at 345-6 overnight Warwickshire soon lost Rikki Clarke, on his former club ground, for 17, but Barker and Jeetan Patel then added 76 for the eighth wicket. Patel departed to a smart slip catch from Rory Burns for 31, the first of three wickets for 14 runs as Footitt mopped up.

GO TO:

BACK TO: