Yorkshire v Surrey at The Oval County Championship Div 1 September 2-5th

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

SURREY took the honours on the first day at the Kia Oval against Yorkshire in a match both teams need to win to ease their relegation fears.

On a shortened day because of morning rain by the close of play Surrey had reduced Yorkshire to 133 for seven.  Doing the damage for Surrey was Dan Worrall who took three for 24 and was backed up by former Yorkshire player Matthew Fisher, and Tom Lawes who both took two wickets.  It was Fisher and Worrall who made the initial  breakthrough when they reduced Yorkshire to three for three in the third over.

Fisher said: “The turning point for us came after tea when we dried the runs up. With the  pressure we applied we always felt that something was going to happen.  We know that we’ve not been at our best this season but we are always communicating with each  other.”

Play on the first day eventually got underway at 1.10 with 24 overs lost from the day because of rain that started just after Surrey had won the toss and put Yorkshire in on a greenish pitch. Yorkshire lost their first wicket in the second over when  Fisher angled one across to Adam Lyth who offered no shot and was leg before for one.  Two balls later Sam Whiteman was following Lyth back to the hutch he was  leg before for a duck  to one that nipped back at him.

Will Luxton pushed at Worrall who kissed the shoulder of his bat and stumper  en Foakes took the catch diving to his right and Surrey had their first bonus point in the third over.  

Yorkshire’s innings was rescued  by a fourth wicket partnership of 91 in 37 overs by James Wharton, who made 45 and 40 from Matty Revis. But they were made to fight for every run. Even in his second spell Worrall  had Wharton groping for the ball and when Fisher came back into the attack he had Revis playing and missing twice in his first over back in the attack.

On nine Wharton played at Fisher and luckily for Wharton he missed the ball.  He drove Fisher through the covers for three but as he turned for the third he stopped, started and nearly sold Revis down the river.  He edged Lawes through the slips to the third man boundary.

Fisher added: “I thought Revis and Wharton played really well in extreme conditions and they stemmed the pressure that we were applying.” 

New  signing Indian pace bowler 29-year-old Auqib Nabi making  his Surrey debut was brought into the attack in the 11th over under the floodlights.  Revis drove Auqib Nabi off the back foot to the cover boundary.

After playing and missing at Fisher, Revis ended the over by driving him off his back foot to the point boundary. Later he glanced Fisher off his legs to the fine leg boundary.

In the first  six overs after tea Yorkshire added only  seven runs after  tight bowling from Lawes and Auqib Naib and eventually their pressure worked when Revis chipped Lawes to Rahul Chahar at mid-wicket. It was Lawes who got the wicket of Wharton six overs later when Wharton squeezed  him out to Ollie Pope at third slip who took the catch in his midriff.

Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow didn’t hang about long, he hung his bat out to Worrall and steered him to Pope at third slip who took a low catch.  Worrall got his third wicket when he grazed George Hill’s outside edge and Foakes took a comfortable catch.

On 17  Dom Bess edged Fisher to third slip but was dropped, he glanced the next ball to the fine leg  boundary.

Revis said: “The pitch had a fair bit of grass on it and they put the ball in the right areas. Unfortunately we came out on the wrong side of it and we lost it after tea.  I was  very frustrated to get out when I did and how I did, I have struggled all season to kick on past 40. 

I think the pitch is a bit two paced, some balls rise at you others keep really low.  The more runs we can get tomorrow  will be vital on day three and hopefully when they bat we can put them under pressure.”

Day 2

BAD light ended play early  with 16 overs left in the day with  Surrey needing another 158 runs to win,  with all ten second innings wickets standing and Yorkshire needing 10 wickets to win.

The second day  saw  23 wickets fall, 217 runs scored  and Surrey’s Matty Fisher taking  his best Rothesay championship figures of six for 25 as Surrey dismissed his former club for 82 inside 32 overs leaving Surrey to get  185 in over two days.

With a first innings lead of 102 Yorkshire lost two early wickets and Fisher was on a hattrick. First Adam Lyth drove Fisher to Rory  Burns at mid-off. Next ball Sam Whiteman lost his middle stump but James Wharton solidly survived the hattrick ball.  Whiteman is the 300th Yorkshire player to bag a pair.

After scampering a quick single of the previous ball Jonny Bairstow played inside one from Fisher and was bowled.  In Fisher’s next over Matty Revis edged a drive off him to Ollie Pope who took a comfortable catch at third slip at knee height.  Fisher got his fifth wicket when George Hill tried to turn him to leg but got a leading edge and Adam Thomas at third slip took a low catch moving his right.  And he wasn’t finished there he got one to nip back at Kuldeep Yadav who was  leg before and Yadav looked bewildered by the decision.

Fisher’s teammate Dan Worrall said: “Fisher bowled one of the best spells I’ve seen because of the circumstances we were in and the context of the season he did what needed to be done at the right time.

Tomorrow we need to get a good opening partnership, bat well for the first hour and get their bowlers to bowl in their second and third spells.”


Tom Lawes who took 4/36 in Yorkshire’s first innings was among the wickets again in his second over when Will Luxton got a leading edge to him and the ball looped to Burns at mid-off.  Luxton showed his disgust at getting out in  that manner by punching his bat. Without adding to the score Wharton was bowled through the gate by Auqib Nabi.

Dom Bess did his best to repeat his first innings, he did get 17, Yorkshire second top scorer, before he edged Lawes to Ben Foakes who took a low catch.  The Yorkshire innings was completed when Ben Coad backed away from  Worrall to make room and slapped straight to Josh Blake on the cover boundary.

Yorkshire’s bowling coach Mick Lewis said: “Today was on fast forward, it was extraordinary bowling to get all those wickets. This morning we got  what we thought was a competitive score and in our second innings  we were thinking of getting  a 250 lead but we’ve got the runs.

I was disappointed with the way the lads bowled today, they were chasing wickets.  But we know if we get a wicket then two or three will come. It’s a challenging pitch but you’ve got to adapt  but we’ll give it a go and put pressure on them tomorrow.”

Surrey’s Lawes took two wickets in the morning as Yorkshire were dismissed for 185 61 minutes before lunch.  Coad, who had pulled Lawes to the square leg boundary, was his  first victim  when he hung his bat out to him   top edged it and Foakes took an easy catch.  Three balls later Jack White backed away from Lawes and slapped the ball back to Lawes who took a return catch diving forward.  Lawes finished with four for 36.

Kuldeep Yadav on his Rothesay County championship debut for Yorkshire added 11 to his overnight score as he and Bess took their partnership to 57 before Auqib Nabi got his first wicket for Surrey when Yadav opened the face of his bat and guided the ball to Pope.

The sun was out but there was plenty of cloud cover and again both Worrall and Fisher had both Bess and Kuldeep Yadav playing and missing.  Yadav glanced Worrall off his legs to the fine leg boundary. Bess, who was unbeaten on 44,  top edged Lawes just wide of Pope at second slip as the ball raced to the third man boundary.  Earlier he had driven   Worrall to the cover boundary for his shot of the morning.

Surrey’s first innings lasted 143 minutes and their scorecard looked like a telephone number with only two players reaching double figures three if you count Mr. Extras. Pope top scored with 21, but he needed a century plus score if he is to play in the third Test next week and Fisher made 12. The wickets were shared between the Yorkshire seamers with Coad and White taking three wickets each while  Hill and  Revis each took two wickets.

The  Brownhaters didn’t lose a wicket until the sixth over but they were three down for 22 by the end of the ninth over. Those early wickets were just what Yorkshire needed after they were dismissed for 185. Both Yorkshire opening bowlers Coad and White bowled with three slips and a gully. The plan worked when they got rid off Surrey’s captain Burns in the sixth over when the left hander tried to cut White but the  ball was  too close to him to cut got an under edge and Bairstow took a low catch  moving to his right.  White got his second wicket in his next over when he squared Sibley up took his outside edge and  Luxton at third slip took a comfortable catch at knee height,

Blake was squared up by Coad, hit on his pads and was plumb leg before.

In the first over after lunch Foakes on one edged White but the ball fell short off Luxton at third slip.

With Pope, Foakes added 20  for the fourth wicket and with the sun out it looked like they would build a good partnership until Hill squared Foakes up and took his outside edge to Bess at first slip who took a good low catch. In his next over he trapped Thomas leg before for a 13 ball duck when Thomas missed a straight ball.

Pope drove Hill to the extra cover boundary. And that was that for Pope, in the next over he drilled Revis to substitute fielder Ben Cliff at mid-off.

On one Lawes edge Revis but luckily for Lawes the ball fell short off Bess at third slip.  But two balls later Lawes had a full blooded drive at Revis but edged it and Bess took the catch above his head.

Auquib Nabi got a leading edge to Coad and the ball went up in the air and Whiteman took an easy catch at mid-off.

Fisher gave the Surrey fans something to cheer about when he cut Revis over the point boundary for a six and drilled the next ball to the point boundary for a four.  But in the next over he guided Coad to Hill at first slip.

Rashul Chahar clipped Coad off his for a six over square leg.  He was the last man out when he blasted White to Wharton on the mid-wicket boundary.

Day 3

SURREY claimed their second Rothesay County Championship victory of the season as they beat  Yorkshire by one wicket at the Kia Oval to ease their relegation fears.

27 year-old Josh Blake hit an unbeaten 43 off 183 balls and shared in a  match defining eighth wicket partnership off 55 in 23 overs with former Yorkshire player Matty Fisher.  The pair came together after Surrey had slumped to 115 for seven still needing another 70 to win.

Their partnership early didn’t happen because on  one,  Fisher was hit on his helmet by a rare  George Hill bouncer.  After adding another single he got an inside edge to  en Coad but Jonny Bairstow reacted late and couldn't take the catch. In the next over he elegantly flicked Hill to the mid-wicket boundary.

Blake swept Hill to the square leg boundary to take Surrey’s target to below 50.  He drove Hill to the extra cover boundary to take him into the 30’s.  In the third over after tea  with Surrey on 155 for  seven, Fisher pushed Hill to mid-wicket and called Blake through for a quick single luckily for Blake, Matty Revis’  throw missed the stumps with Blake a foot short.


Fisher drove Jack White to the cover boundary to bring up the fifty partnership with Blake and take their target down to below 20.  The partnership was nearly broken again  when he drove Hill and set off for a single but was sent back by Blake. Fisher was saved by his dive.

Yorkshire finally broke the partnership when Fisher edged a drive off a full ball from Hill and Will Luxton at third slip took a chest high catch at third slip. With only Auqib and Dan Worrall left Blake edged Hill just wide off Revis at third man and the ball ran to the boundary to take their target to eight.  Auqib Nabi pulled Coad over the mid-wicket boundary for a six.  The match looked over but it was on again when he  lobbed the next ball in the air to James Wharton at mid-on.

Blake tried to get a  single of the next over that would get the tie  but he kept playing and missing.  It was Worrall who hit the winning runs when he lofted a square drive off Coad

Blake said: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we’ve won it, it was a great victory on a challenging pitch. I went down the pitch more than I did in the first innings to take  LBW out of the equation.  We had a good result last week at Essex and the group have stayed positive.  It’s  a great group to be part of.  But the hard work was done last night by Rory Burns and Dom Sibley who batted really well.

I enjoyed my partnership with Fisher,  because he allowed me to soak up the pressure.   My mum and dad were here today to watch it and it’s like a dream come true because I grew up as a Surrey fan.”

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath said: “I am extremely disappointed but I cannot fault the lads I am gutted for them. The amount of effort they put in, it just didn’t go our way. It  was one of those days, unfortunately.

But, if you look at the whole game, our second innings was where it got away. We did remarkably well to get 185 in the first innings on that wicket, and we knew it was going to keep doing stuff. But when you have a 100 run lead, you have to bat a bit longer in that second innings. To only bat 28 overs was disappointing. 

We would have defended 185 there on another day given the amount of plays and misses and big shouts, but a lead of 200 on that pitch would have been very difficult to chase. It was  our second innings where we lost it.”

McGrath added: “Blake  showed that if you played  properly and let the ball come to you and don’t look to drive a lot, you’ll get luck. He grafted all day, and you have to take your hat off to him, he managed to find a way all day.

I don’t think anyone was expecting the  seamer-friendly conditions. It's  always green here, but if you look at the scores it does a bit early and then flattens out. We were thinking, like the previous three years, ‘First innings it’ll be tough and then spin would come in when the game gets longer’. But  it was polar opposite. It was a surprising pitch.

Our bowlers will bowl much worse than that and win. How they’ve not got more wickets today is incredible!   Hill,  White and  Coad went to the well and kept coming. And they are shattered. Even with two to win, Hill  has bowled a maiden with six plays and misses.

I’m so proud of them. It’s tough to take, but that’s professional sport. It wasn’t a game you’d normally see in first-class cricket. It was like a highlights package for two-and-a-bit-days.

We  know what’s in front of us. We can’t get higher and put ourselves in that title contention with this result, unfortunately. But we can still finish in a positive manner and get up as high as we can.”

Play on the third day was delayed until 11.15 because of a morning downpour 45 minutes before the scheduled start at 10.30. 

Surrey lost their first wicket of the morning when Sibley was leg before to White to one that was hitting leg stump.  Promoted up the order from number 10 in their first innings,  Raul Chahar lost his middle stump to White five balls  later with one that jagged back at him.

The persistence of Hill got him his first wicket of the morning when he got one to seam away from Burns take]ing his edge to Dom Bess at first slip.

Ollie Pope got off the mark by blasting Hill over backward square leg for a six.  He was stuck on one for 13 balls  before he pulled Coad for another six.   And that was that from Pope, he was leg before to a straight ball from Coad which kept low.

Blake was stuck on two for ages before he hit consecutive fours of Hill: the was a drive to the extra cover boundary and the second was a leg glance to the fine leg boundary. He turned Coad off his legs to the square leg boundary.   

On the stroke of lunch Ben Foakes was bowled by Coad with one that pitched on  middle stump, hit off stump and kept low.

Adam Thomas whipped Coad to the square leg boundary. He tried to turn Hill to leg but got a leading edge and Hill took a spectacular return catch low and with his left hand.  Hill did well not to let the ball touch the ground. Thomas walked off in disbelief.

Tom Lawes hit 27 off 27 balls to give the Surrey innings some impetus in the afternoon first with a sliced a drive off White which the ball could have gone to the long-on boundary or caught in the slips but it went to the third man boundary just beating Revis. Two balls  later he drove White high and straight to the boundary.  In the next over his luck ran out as he sliced a drive off Hill and Luxton took a head height catch at third slip. 

Scorecard