There is a round of county championship matches in progress with today officially day three of four. The two matches in which I had most interest, Surrey v Yorkshire and Somerset v Glamorgan are both now finished. This post looks at what has been going on.
AN INNINGS WIN
This morning at decision time I opted to listen to Surrey v Yorkshire, since I thought that one was probably going to end before Somerset v Glamorgan. I had failed to account for just how spineless Glamorgan would prove to be. They slumped to 183 all out in their second innings, which gave Somerset a win by an innings and 64. The scores there were Glamorgan 194, Somerset 441, Glamorgan 183. This puts Somerset at the top of the championship table, and although they were one of the eight sides involved in the first properly organized county championship in 1891 they have never won it. Scorecard here.
A LOW SCORING THRILLER
Surrey won the toss and opted to bowl. When they had Yorkshire all out for 185 they would have felt reasonably good about that. They themselves then sank for 83, conceding a first innings deficit of 102. They then rebounded by bowling Yorkshire out for 82, leaving themselves to match Yorkshire’s first innings score in the final innings of the match to win it. When Burns and Sibley reached 40 still together it looked on. Then Jack White pinned Sibley LBW. Surrey now gambled, sending Rahul Chahar in at number three. The gamble failed, the Indian being bowled for a five ball duck. Not long after that Burns was also out, caught by Dom Bess off George Hill and it was 52-3. Wickets continued to fall regularly by Josh Blake dug in and held firm. Even so, when Tom Lawes was seventh out a further 70 runs were still needed to win, which looked a tall order on that surface. However Matthew Fisher, who had already claimed eight wickets in the match, including 6-25 in the 82 all out, now provided Josh Blake with excellent support and the pair clawed their way towards the target. They had got to 170, 15 short of winning, when Fisher edged a ball from Hill to Will Luxton to fall for 33. Auqib Nabi, an Indian seamer who can bat a bit – he has a List A century in his native land – now joined Blake. Nabi had just hit a six to move Surrey to within two of the target when he tried to go big again and sent the ball pretty much straight upwards and James Wharton got underneath it to make it 183-9. Dan Worrall, the sort of old style tail ender who does not bother to take guard when he arrives at the crease, now joined the fray. He survived the last two balls of Ben Coad’s over, and then Blake negotiated a very good over from George Hill, but could do no more than survive it. The next over started with another dot, but then Worrall got the second away for four and Surrey had sneaked home by one wicket. The match had seen an aggregate of 537 runs for 39 wickets. This is not even close to a record – in 1878 when The MCC faced off against An Australian XI at Lord’s the match aggregate was 105 runs for 31 wickets (MCC 33 and 19, Australians 41 and 12-1). Josh Blake in the final innings had scored 43 not out from 183 balls. It is a result that somewhat eases Surrey’s relegation worries, but everyone from fourth place downwards is under threat, so tight is it at the bottom. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (periodic reminder, you can view images at larger size by clicking on them)…
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