WARWICKSHIRE V SURREY - Specsavers County
Championship - 16 August 2016
Surrey 252 & 390. Warwickshire 247 & 169. Surrey won by 226 runs.
Surrey took a giant step away from relegation
trouble and gave Warwickshire a giant shunt towards it by completing
a 226-run victory in Division One of the Specsavers County
Championship at Edgbaston.
Chasing a notional victory target of 396, which
would have been their fifth-highest fourth-innings total ever,
Warwickshire were bowled out for 169 after tea as Surrey took
emphatic revenge for their heavy defeat in the reverse fixture at
Guildford last month.
The home batting was pared away in the sunshine by
a remorseless collective effort from Surrey's attack, six of whom
took wickets.
Warwickshire resumed on the final morning on two
for one and had few alarms in the first 40 minutes but then quickly
lost both overnight batsmen. Nightwatchman Chris Wright backed up
too far and was run out at the non-striker's end by Gareth Batty's
throw from mid-on. Varun Chopra edged Mark Footitt's sixth ball of
the innings to wicketkeeper Steven Davies.
That brought together big guns Ian Bell and
Jonathan Trott but the latter lasted just 33 minutes before edging
an excellent ball from Stuart Meaker to wicketkeeper Steven Davies.
At lunch Warwickshire were 72 for four with Bell
on 14 and Laurie Evans showing he was up for a battle, having made
just four in 47 balls up to the interval. Surrey's tandem spin
attack of Batty and Zafar Ansari bowled skilfully to keep the
scoring rate around one run per over after lunch and Evans soon fell
when he played back to a turning delivery from Ansari and had his
off-stump knocked out.
Bell gritted his way to 32 (104 balls, four fours)
and added 34 in 19 overs with Tim Ambrose but then bat-padded Batty
to Rory Burns at short leg. Ambrose (was was to end on 27 not out
from 135 balls) and Rikki Clarke dug in for 31 in 14 overs and were
on the brink of taking their side through to tea when, in the final
over of the session, Clarke was bowled offering no shot to Sam
Curran.
That left Warwickshire 142 for seven which quickly
became 147 for eight when Keith Barker edged Meaker to the
wicketkeeper. Jeetan Patel struck 16 from 20 balls before slashing
Footitt high to Burns at third slip. When Olly Hannon-Dalby
bat-padded Batty to silly-point it was all over and Surrey's players
dissolved into paroxysms of joy. For Warwickshire, problems mount.
Surrey captain Gareth Batty said: "It was a
magnificent performance. I've just said to the boys in the
dressing-room I couldn't ask for any more from any individual which,
from a captaincy point of view, is just a wonderful place to be.
"The boys have been absolutely magnificent for the
last six weeks, today they were out there diving on a hard square
and putting their bodies on the line. We are nearing that time of
year where traditionally we are pretty good and we are showing it
again. On the flatter pitches we are putting in some wonderful
performances.
"For Sam Curran to do what he did in the first
innings, as an 18-year-old, is phenomenal. Then Kumar Sangakkara
played wonderfully yesterday. I said to the boys, just learn from
how he went about that innings, the craftsmanship and skill, to
snuff out a wonderful bowler like Jeetan Patel and the rest of their
very strong attack. They really came at us hard and he just soaked
it all up.
"We got lucky in the first session today with a
cheap run out and then one caught down the leg-side but sometimes
you deserve to have Lady Luck on your side."
Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown
said: "We bowled really well on the very good cricket wicket and I
can't take anything away from the bowlers. They ran in admirably
throughout the whole game, but ultimately we have not batted well
enough over the 20 wickets we have lost to lose the game.
"There were a number of soft dismissals today
which we couldn't afford as we were already behind the game due to
our first-innings indiscipline. If you analyse the first five
dismissals of our specialist batsmen today I think you would say
there was ill-discipline attached to all of them. We need to find a
way to apply all the things we do in practice in match-situations.
"The last couple of games have been really
disappointing. We showed a bit of fight out there. I thought Tim
Ambrose was outstanding, Ian Bell again and Rikki Clarke, so there
are guys who are fronting up but we are fronting up from behind the
game and that's not the type of cricket we want to be playing. We
want to be playing cricket on the front-foot."
TEA REPORT
Warwickshire are embroiled in a desperate
rearguard action to stave off defeat to Surrey at Edgbaston, going
into tea on 142 for seven from 66.2 overs in the Specsavers County
Championship.
Chasing a notional victory target of 396,
Warwickshire resumed after lunch on 67 for four having lost Ian
Westwood for a duck the previous evening and Chris Wright (24),
Varun Chopra (17) and Jonathan Trott (nine) in the morning session.
Laurie Evans soon joined those three in the hutch
when, on nine, he went back to a turning delivery from Zafar Ansari
and had his off-stump knocked out.
Ian Bell and Tim Ambrose dug in to add 34 in 19
overs but then Bell bat-padded Gareth Batty to Rory Burns at short
leg. That left Warwickshire in deep trouble and Ambrose and Rikki
Clarke added 31 in 14 overs before Clarke fell in the final over
before tea, bowled when he offered no shot to a ball from Sam
Curran.
LUNCH REPORT
Surrey made strong progress towards a vital
victory over Warwickshire on the final morning of their Specsavers
County Championship tussle at Edgbaston.
Chasing a victory target of 396, the home side
went into lunch on 72 for four, with Ian Bell on 14 and Laurie Evans
on four from 47 balls, as Surrey set themselves up for an afternoon
push for a win which would put crucial breathing space between them
and the relegation zone.
Warwickshire resumed this morning on two for one,
needing to amass the fifth-biggest fourth-innings total in their
history to win the game. For 40 minutes they had few alarms but then
quickly lost both overnight batsmen. Nightwatchman Chris Wright
backed up too far and was run out by Gareth Batty's throw from
mid-on, then Varun Chopra edged Mark Footit's sixth ball of the
innings to wicketkeeper Steven Davies.
Stuart Meaker then struck with the big wicket of
Jonathan Trott who edged an excellent delivery behind after making
nine in 33 minutes.
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