Tag: Surrey v Leicestershire

Runs Galore

A look at happenings in the county championship, with a focus on Surrey v Leicestershire, and a photo gallery.

The second round of matches in the 2026 county cricket championship is now into its third day. This post focuses mainly on events at The Oval where Surrey are facing Leicestershire.

THINK THAT’S A BIG SCORE?

Surrey might well have been feeling pretty good about things when they responded to being put into bat by scoring 520 in the first innings. Leicestershire have moved into a comfortable first innings lead, and with day three approaching its end they are effectively immune from defeat. Rishi Patel anchored the early part of their innings with 164, being fifth out with the score at 412. At that point wicket keeper Ben Cox joined Stevie Eskinazi, and they put on 227 for the sixth wicket before Jordan Clark pinned Eskinazi LBW for precisely 100. Cox and Ben Green have taken the score on to 661-6, with Cox passing 150 for the first time in his career. It has just started to rain at The Oval, which may well be the end of day three there. The rain seems to have stopped as quickly as it started, and play is back on at The Oval. Leicestershire are now on to 673-6

ELSEWHERE

Scoring has generally been less extravagant elsewhere, but most matches are still in progress (unless the weather has intervened). Gloucestershire are plummeting towards a hefty defeat against Durham, being currently the equivalent of minus 229 for eight – 201-8 following a first innings collapse for 175 in the face of a Durham score of 605-5 declared. Kent may escape in their match against Northamptonshire, but if so it will be more than they deserve. First they allowed their visitors to plunder 684-2 declared – the highest ever first class innings to feature the loss of just two wickets, beating a 682-2 declared by West Indies v Leicestershire many years ago (Everton Weekes scored a triple century in that innings), then they collapsed for 178 in their own first innings, and lost Zak Crawley early in their second innings, although Sam Northeast, back where he started his career after playing for several other counties over the years, and Ben Compton are enjoying a good stand for the second wicket. Worcestershire are closing in on a win over Middlesex, in a game that has not seen ridiculous scoring. Middlesex need 76 more runs, while Worcestershire need one more wicket. Somerset have beaten Essex by 10 wickets in the one result to be confirmed thus far.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Surrey Going Well in ‘Tony Lock’ Clash

A look at happenings at The Oval where Surrey are facing Leicestershire in what I have dubbed the ‘Tony Lock’ clash.

The second round of county championship matches of the 2026 season got underway this morning. At The Oval Surrey, great left arm spinner Tony Lock’s first county, are in action against Leicestershire, the other county for which he played. This post looks at developments in that game so far.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Leicestershire had Josh Hull playing after he had missed the first match of the season. Other noteworthy names in their XI included New Zealand left arm spinner Ajaz Patel and England spin bowling all rounder Rehan Ahmed. Leicestershire have not of late often been good enough to be in division one – the last time this equivalent match took place was way back in 2015. For Surrey Jordan Clark was back in the side after missing the season opener due to illness. Leicestershire won the toss, and in spite of the presence of Ajaz Patel and Rehan Ahmed, they chose to bowl first.

THE PLAY SO FAR

When both Surrey openers were back in the hutch by the end of the 15th over, with only 42 runs on the board, Leicestershire would have been feeling happy with themselves. By lunch, with the score reading 110-2, and both Jamie Smith (coming off a second innings ton against Warwickshire) and Ollie Pope looking fluent it had quite clearly been Surrey’s morning – if you put the opposition in three wickets by lunch is break even point, with four+ needed to put you ahead on the session.

After the interval Smith and Pope continued to play impressively, extending their partnership to exactly 200, with both completing centuries. This was especially important for Pope, in need of some big scores after a horror show Ashes series during which he got dropped from the side, and saw his replacement Jacob Bethell bat superbly. Smith also struggled in that series, but he at least has a test average the right side of 40, something to which Pope as yet has never been able to point.

The partnership ended when Pope edged Patel through to Cox to go for 103 and make it 242-3. Jamie Smith and Dan Lawrence then shared a rapid 50 stand, which has just been ended with Lawrence being bowled by Rehan Ahmed for 31. Smith is on 122 not out. Ajaz Patel and Rehan Ahmed having a wicket a piece on day one is good for Leicestershire in one way, but it does not strengthen their case for bowling first.

Surrey have cruised past 300 while I have been preparing this post for publication – the score currently stands at 314-4 with Smith on to 137 not out and Foakes having just hit his most convincing shot so far to move for 2* to 6*.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photos come in two parts. I start with a special feature – four pics of a ‘Holly Blue’ butterfly (they seem to be doing well this year) from yesterday…

A Holly Blue on a green leaf in Kettlewell Lane Park.
The second image (full version)
Cropped but not otherwise edited…
…cropped and edited.

Now for the full gallery…