Surrey v Yorkshire May 11th-14th

Neil Whitaker reports from the Oval

Day 1

SURREY”s Ollie Pope became the leading run scorer in division one as he hit his second championship century of the season in just under four hours as he gave his teams bowlers some runs to bowl at but it was a different picture when he came into bat at 69 for four.

Pope, who hit 145 in the first championship match against Hampshire, moved into the eighties in the first over with the second new ball when drove Tim Bresnan through the covers to the boundary. Bresnan should had had his revenge with the next ball but Pope managed to get a bottom edge on to the Yorker and the ball ran to fine leg boundary.

He reached his century when he fiercely drove Jack Brooks to the long on boundary for one of his 16 boundaries in his ton. It was a seventh wicket partnership 129 between Pope and Rikki Clarke pulled Surrey into position of respectability after looking at one stage that they would fall short of 250.

The partnership should have been broken when it had only realised 25 and Pope should have been the man dismissed. On 49, he squeezed Steve Patterson out into the covers while his partner Clarke set off for a single, Pope stopped and was called through by his partner 16 years his senior for the single to reach his fifty from 107 balls with eight fours.

Dean Elgar said: “The fact that we were put in without having a toss was a big thing for us. They put us under a lot of pressure for the first hour and we just had to absorb it and try and build again. But Ollie Pope’s knock was fantastic and what Rikki Clarke did was just come and change the momentum, so we’re very happy.

It was really tough. They’re seasoned bowlers and they know what they are doing, so we felt we had to take the game to them and fight fire with fire. If you hung back and tried to be defensive there would be a ball that had your name on it.

That was an awesome partnership between Popey and Clarkey. Ollie has really impressed me. He impressed me when I played against him for Somerset. I’m pretty sure he’s one for the future, but he’s still and kid and he’s got a lot to learn.”

After his life on 16 when Clarke tried to cut Josh Shaw but the ball was too close to him and he top edged it to the slips where Chet Pujara at first slip could only tip it over his head Clarke flourished and looked to back to his best with the bat. A delicate late cut through the slips by Clarke off Shaw raced to the third man boundary. The all rounder hit two sixes off Shaw which both went into the crowd. He got underneath the first and deposited him over mid wicket to take him one shy of his fifty. His second six was hit with more force.

The partnership was broken when Clarke’s feet were nowhere near the ball as he edged it to Adam Lyth at second slip who took the catch at the second attempt. During his knock Clarke passed 10,000 first class runs

With half their side out for 137 only South African Dean Elgar looked in any sort of form. He shared in a partnership of 68 with Pope in 11 overs. The only partnership of the top order to surpass 30. The partnership broken when Elgar was bowled through the gate from Yorkshire skipper Joe Root, who was captaining Yorkshire because Gary Ballance is ill, which uprooted Elgar’s leg stump. On 61 Elgar went down the wicket to Root and missed the ball which missed the top of off stump but Jonny Bairstow couldn’t take the ball.

Lyth said: “I thought Ollie played very well, hats off to him. We dropped a couple of chances and Bairstow missed a stumping. Clarke is an experienced and fantastic player but we dropped him quite early on but that happens. Tomorrow we come back but we need to bat well.”

After their remarkable victory over Essex Yorkshire opted not to have a toss and in the morning session they took four wickets. Surrey lost their first wicket in the seventh over when Stoneman desperate for a century before the Test squad is announced was plum leg before as he played down the wrong ling to Bresnan.

Rory Burns,struggled against Bresnan and Jack Brooks and became Brooks’ 400th first class victim when he he was was squared and edged to Pujara at first slip.

Scott Borthwick tried to take his bat away to Shaw’s second ball but couldn’t and edged to Lyth who took a tumbling catch at second slip.

Sam Curran pushed at Patterson but it seamed away from him just a bit and Bairstow took an easy catch.

Day 2

ONLY 21.4 overs were bowled on the second day as rain drove the players off the field ten minutes before the scheduled lunch and play was abandoned for the day at 4.32 with Surrey in the driving seat.

It took Yorkshire 40 minutes on an overcast second morning to take the last three Surrey first innings wickets while they added 38 runs. Ollie Pope was unbeaten on 158, his highest score for Surrey, he passed his previous best made against Hampshire in April when he gently pushed Tim Bresnan through point to the boundary.

Pope said: “It was nice to pass my previous best score and it’s been a good start to the season for me. It’s my first hundred in the first innings and coming in at 69 for four its what the team needed. There’s always a ball with your name on it but there are runs to be scored. It’s not a classic Oval pitch so you’ve got to be careful. With their attack you’ve got to be careful about which balls to drive.”

Rikki Clarke played a different game to me and he soon caught me up and made it look very easy.”

Surrey lost their first wicket of the morning with the first ball of the third over when Connor McKerr attempted to drive Bresnan but got an outside edge the ball flew to Adam Lyth at second who couldn’t hold and the ball rebounded to Chet Pujara at first slip.

Jade Dernbach showed his intentions from the start with big swings at Steven Patterson. The first brought him a four through extra cover, the second fell short off Joe Root at mid off for a single. Another wild swing over gully brought him a six off Bresnan. His luck didn’t last when he went for another big swing, got too far underneath it and gave an easy catch to to Root at mid off. Dernbach knew he was out from the moment he hit it.

The innings ended when Amir Virdi backed away from a short ball from Bresnan and hung his bat where Jack Leaning at third slip took a great catch diving to his right.

Lees’ first innings since he was dropped after the Nottinghamshire game lasted two balls when he edged Dernbach to Dean Elgar at third slip who took a low catch without moving. His opening partner Lyth fared only slightly better was plum leg before to Sam Curran.

Pujara got off the mark when he cut a short ball from Dernbach over the slips for a six. Yorkshire lost their third wicket when Pujara hung his bat out to Curran and Scott Borthwick at second slip took a low catch and threw the ball in the air in one action. Pujara was visibly upset at the decision because he felt that Borthwick didn’t have the ball under control.

Pope added: “We got the ball talking early on which was good with the batters they’ve got in their side.”

Day 3

SURREY are on the verge of their first innings victory over Yorkshire at the KIA Oval since 2001 as they took 12 Yorkshire wickets on the third day.

At lunchtime Surrey awarded 19 year old Sam Curran his Surrey cap who became the fourth youngest Surrey player to be capped. He celebrated his county cap by reaching 100 first class wickets when Josh Shaw drove him to Dean Elgar at third slip who took a face height catch.

He said: “It was very special. There’s some great names who have worn this cap. It’s a great responsibility to have and I’m very proud to have received it.”

Curran took the first wicket of the day when England skipper Joe Root fell to the last ball of the first over of the day when he played around his front pad to Curran and was leg before without adding to his overnight score. Next to go was Harry Brook who played forward to Curran that seamed back into him, edged it to Ben Foakes for a low catch.

Curran’s third victim of the morning was Tim Bresnan who got an outside edge to a ball which Curran slanted across him and Scott Borthwick at second slip took a low catch.

The only Yorkshire batsman in any form was Jonny Bairstow who wasn’t in the mood to hang about as he reached his fifty from 46 balls with 10 fours and looked capable of reaching his century before lunch. Most of his boundaries came off Jade Dernbach. One effortless pull off Dernbach over mid wicket took him to his fifty. When he had reached six he reached 6,000 championship runs.

On 66 he gave a hard a hard return chance to Dernbach. He got a leading edge and Dernbach had to change direction and could only get his right hand to it.

The only stand that passed 50 in the innings was the sixth wicket stand between Jack Leaning and Bairstow which realised 67 in 16 overs but Leaning didn’t look in great form and he gave himself out when played over a straight ball from Rikki Clarke and didn’t even bother to look at umpire David Millns as he set off back to the hutch.

The ninth wicket partnership between Bairstow and Shaw was an odd one as Bairstow was prepared to let Shaw have the strike by taking a single off the first ball off an over. Shaw did well as he faced a barrage of short balls from Derbach and Clarke.

Trailing by 185 Yorkshire lost their first second innings when that poor lad Alex Lees, whose bad run continues, pushed at Dernback and edged it to Borthwick at second slip. In the next over Chet Pujara was beaten by an inswinger from Curran and lost his middle stump.

Root and Adam Lyth calmed the Surrey storm and added 56 for the third wicket but 19 year old off spinner Amar Virdi bowled Root through the gate and then he set off on a run to the Vauxhall station.

Lyth turned Curran off his legs to the fine leg boundary to bring up his fifty off 115 balls. Virdi got his second wicket when he turned one and took the top edge of Lyth’s into the midriff of Clarke at slip. In Verdi’s next over Brook played back to one that turned and lifted and umpire Millns adjudged it to be hitting.

With four overs remaining Leaning danced down the wicket to Virdi, missed the ball but Foakes made a mess of the stumping.

Lyth said: “We are behind the eight ball but if Leaning and Bairstow can get a good partnership and the wicket is taking spin you never know. I was happy with the way I played but I would have liked to have been unbeaten tonight and get a big score.”SURREY are on the verge of their first innings victory over Yorkshire at the KIA Oval since 2001 as they took 12 Yorkshire wickets on the third day.

He said: “It was very special. There’s some great names who have worn this cap. It’s a great responsibility to have and I’m very proud to have received it.”

Curran’s third victim of the morning was Tim Bresnan who got an outside edge to a ball which Curran slanted across him and Scott Borthwick at second slip took a low catch.

On 66 he gave a hard a hard return chance to Dernbach. He got a leading edge and Dernbach had to change direction and could only get his right hand to it.

Root and Adam Lyth calmed the Surrey storm and added 56 for the third wicket but 19 year old off spinner Amar Virdi bowled Root through the gate and then he set off on a run to the Vauxhall station.

With four overs remaining Leaning danced down the wicket to Virdi, missed the ball but Foakes made a mess of the stumping.

Day 4

IT took Surrey 44 minutes on the final morning to take the five wickets get their first innings victory over Yorkshire at the KIA Oval since 2001.

Surrey captain Rory Burns said: “I am very happy with way our lads have played over the last four days. If you had given me two wins out of our first four games I would have taken it. I thought Ollie Pope played a very good innings and batted beautifully for his career best. Rikki Clarke supported him very well and took the game away from them. Our bowlers have bowled well as a pack and they all stuck to their tasks to make them follow on.

Sam Curran is a very happy boy, he’s got his cap, taken 10 wickets in the match the only thing he’s disappointed with is his batting in this game.”

Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale said: “I am very disappointed, we had them on the rack on the first day and should have bowled them out for 220, it wasn’t a 400 pitch. But you can’t afford to miss four chances like we did.

Our batting in the first innings was below par and was a lot better in the second. If we can get our senior players playing like they did in the second innings all the time they will get runs. It’s about standing up and doing it.

This division is so tight that anyone can win it, so you can’t have a bad hour, you have got to make the most of your chances. The break from championship cricket is coming at the right time for us the one dayers can give the lads some confidence..

They left some moisture in the pitch and it sweated over night and it seamed all through the game.”

Yorkshire started the final day another 43 to make Surrey bat again and briefly the impossible looked like it could happen but Jonny Bairstow’s wicket was vital. Surrey got him in the fourth over of the day when Clarke cramped him for room and he edged it to Ben Foakes.

Tim Bresnan got an inside edge to Curran and again Foakes took the catch diving forward. Steven Patterson was beaten for pace by Curran in his next over, who sent his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Four balls later Josh Shaw was dismissed in identical fashion.

The match was over with the first ball of the next over when Clarke square Jack Leaning up and for the second time in the match Leaning began walking before the umpire’s finger.

Yorkshire’ captain for the match his Joe Root said: “I felt that we under performed but we had them at 270 for six but we couldn’t captalise on it. I was very impressed with Pope on a wicket that offered a bit he put our bowlers under pressure. Curran bowled well throughout the game. We were got out by good bowling.

I didn’t come into this match to prepare for England I wanted to do well for Yorkshire so it’s disappointing for me.”