Picture by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images. Jonny Bairstow attacks during the latter stages of yesterday’s third day as he reached his fifth fifty of the summer in the Rothesay County Championship.
Yorkshire fell to an innings defeat during the fourth morning against county champions Surrey at the Kia Oval, despite captain Jonny Bairstow’s 77.
The White Rose county started the final day on 185-6 in their second innings, trailing by 72. Bairstow was unbeaten on 64 alongside Matthew Revis on 3.
But the visitors were bowled out for 229 inside 83 overs, three-quarters-of-an-hour before lunch, signalling a third defeat of this season’s Rothesay County Championship in the sixth match.
Yorkshire claimed three points to Surrey’s 22, their second win in six rounds. Yorkshire are now second-bottom in Division One and Surrey second from top behind leaders Nottinghamshire.
Notts are Yorkshire’s next opponents at Headingley, starting on Friday. That fixture signals the midway point in this summer’s Championship campaign.
Since the start of 2022 – signalling their run of three successive Championship titles – Surrey have now won 18 of their 24 Championship fixtures played here at the Oval. They have lost only one in that time.
So Yorkshire’s task was always going to be a stiff one even before a ball was bowled in South London, never mind at the start of today when they had their backs firmly against the wall.
Bairstow, who finished with 10 fours and two sixes in 104 balls, and Revis batted through the day’s opening half hour and took the deficit down below 50 as part of a 39-run partnership.
But it needed to go on much, much longer for the visitors to have any hope of replicating Essex’s final day resistance against them at Chelmsford this time last week.
Revis was first to go when he was trapped lbw by a beauty of an in-swinger from seamer Tom Lawes, who finished with 3-47 from 20 overs and impressed.
It was the first of the last four wickets to fall for 21 runs.
Bairstow was bowled on the drive by the medium pace of Ryan Patel before Ben Coad played on against in-form seamer Jordan Clark, who finished with 4-45 and seven wickets in the match. He was the pick of their bowlers.
And the Cumbrian finished things off when Jordan Thompson, who had only just smeared Lawes for six over square cover, holed out to deep mid-on.
Bairstow was Yorkshire’s standout performer in the match with scores of 89 and 77, while George Hill continued his impressive start to 2025 with the ball, claiming 5-66 in Surrey’s only innings.
The aggregate crowd at the Oval across was the four days, 14,853, was a record for a Surrey Championship match at this venue in the 21st century.
