Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ben Coad impressed with three wickets today.
The seam bowlers of Yorkshire and Surrey had a field day during a quite remarkable 23-wicket second day of their madcap Rothesay County Championship match against Surrey at The Kia Oval, with both sides still eyeing victory.
The White Rose had this game by the throat in bowler-friendly conditions when they led by 102 on first innings just before tea. But Surrey hit back.
Yorkshire advanced from 133-7 overnight to 185 all out in their first-innings before bowling Surrey out for just 83 in reply. Either side of tea, the visitors were then bowled out for 82, setting Surrey a victory target of 185.
Matthew Fisher impressed with 6-25 from nine overs – first-class career best figures – before seeing his openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley advance to 27-0 inside eight overs before bad light prevented any play beyond 6.25pm.
Surrey need another 158 when play resumes on day three.
In all 23 wickets fell in the day, while all four innings of the match were seen at some point from 10.30am onwards.
Dom Bess advanced to 44 not out this morning, him marshalling Yorkshire’s tail to the tune of 52 more runs, with Auqib Nabi striking once and Tom Lawes twice to remove Kuldeep Yadav, Ben Coad and Jack White. Seamer Lawes finished with 4-36.
Coad and White were then superb to help skittle Surrey in the face of swing and seam.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Dom Bess has contributed a very handy 61 runs in the match across two innings.
They both finished with three wickets in miserly and potent nine-over spells, while George Hill and Matthew Revis contributed two apiece. England Test batter Ollie Pope with 21 was the only home batter to reach 20.
White had openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley caught behind and at third slip respectively before Coad trapped Josh Blake lbw stuck on the crease – 22-3 in the ninth over.
Hill then had Ben Foakes caught low down at first slip by Bess, who later helped Revis remove Lawes with a brilliant one-handed catch above his head at third slip.
By that stage, Surrey were 61-7 in the 26th over – after lunch. Adam Thomas had been trapped lbw by Hill and Pope caught at cover following a tame drive at Revis.
Auqib Nabi got a leading edge at Coad to mid-off (62-8) before Fisher, following a six and a four over and through backward point, edged Coad to Hill at first slip. White then returned to wrap things up in exactly 30 overs when Rahul Chahar heaved him to deep mid-wicket.
Amazingly, 15 wickets had fallen in the first two sessions, with Yorkshire reaching tea at 24-2 after seven overs of their second innings.
But that was far from the end of things.
Adam Lyth drove Fisher to cover at the start of the fourth over before Sam Whiteman lost his middle stump next ball.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Two wickets for Matthew Revis today, including Ollie Pope.
After the break, Will Luxton got a leading edge to mid-off against Lawes and James Wharton was bowled by the Indian Nabi – 36-4 in the 11th over, a lead of 138.
Further damage came when Jonny Bairstow was bowled by full Fisher delivery, the same bowler getting Revis caught at second slip not long after – 52-6.
And Fisher’s fifth was that of Hill caught at third slip, leaving Yorkshire 59-7 in the 18th over. At that stage, we still had 36.1 overs left in the day.
Number six wasn’t long off, with Kuldeep lbw.
And when Lawes had Bess caught behind for 17, it was 82-8.
As well as all the seamers have bowled in this contest, a number of batters from both sides will be frustrated at the manner of their dismissals.
Coad then drilled Dan Worrall to deep cover to wrap up the innings, leaving Surrey needing to match the highest total in the match to win.
And the home openers Burns, their captain, and Sibley made a steady start before the light cut the day short by a little more than 15 overs to set up a tantalising conclusion on day three.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Surrey’s Matthew Fisher claimed a second-innings five-for against his ex – and home – county.
