NEL
AND DERNBACH LEAD SURREY FIGHTBACK by Marcus Hook
Northamptonshire 397 & 154-4 v Surrey 386.
Thanks to a tenth wicket partnership of 118 in 25
overs between Andre Nel and Jade Dernbach, Surrey fought back
strongly against Northants on day three at Wantage Road. But with
the home side leading by 165 with six second innings wickets intact
when bad light ended play at 5.38pm, the prospect of a positive
outcome to this contest looks unlikely, especially on a pitch
favouring the bat, not to mention a forecast of rain interrupting
the final day.
Surrey, resuming on 210-7, added 142 to their
overnight score in an action-packed morning session, during which
Nel and Dernbach posted career bests.
The visitors' first objective, which was to avoid
the follow-on, was achieved in the 11th over of the day when Matthew
Spriegel worked Lee Daggett backward of square on the leg-side.
But with Spriegel falling to a thinly edged hook
three overs later and Tim Linley also going caught behind, to make
it 268-9 in the 91st over, the prospect of Surrey collecting a
further batting bonus point, let alone two looked fanciful.
Dernbach pulled both of Northamptonshire's
left-arm seamers for enormous sixes, while Nel played shots all
around the wicket, some orthodox and a good number using
improvisation.
Having just reached his first fifty for the Oval
outfit, off 63 deliveries, and taken his side past the 300-mark, Nel
was dropped on 51 by Niall O'Brien, who had ample time to run from
his position across to point. It proved a costly miss with Surrey's
tenth wicket pair adding a further 82.
In the sixth over after lunch Dernbach brought up
the first fifty of his career with a cover driven four off Daggett.
The 24-year-old celebrated the milestone by despatching the former
Warwickshire seamer to the fence at cover later in the same over.
But three overs later Nel, playing back, was
trapped on the crease by Nicky Boje for 96, leaving Dernbach with an
unbeaten 56 in 67 deliveries. Nel had batted for 148 minutes, faced
125 balls and struck twelve fours.
O'Brien got Northamptonshire's second innings off
to a positive start by cutting Nel through cover point for four. Two
overs later, he pulled the South African for six. At the other end,
Stephen Peters, having had a let-off of sorts when he edged Linley
between second slip and gully, was bowled around his legs by Nel.
O'Brien then forged a fifty partnership for the
second wicket with Mal Loye before nibbling at a short ball from
Dernbach in the last over before tea. In the first complete over
after the break, Loye was also walking back to the dressing room,
after falling leg before to Chris Schofield.
Rob White and Nicky Boje then crept along at a run
an over until the former drove Nel through extra cover for four in
the 35th over. White then swept and cover drove boundaries off
Schofield, though not before Boje had despatched the 31-year-old
leg-spinner straight down the ground for four. Shortly after raising
the fifty stand, however, White holed out to deep fine leg to make
it a productive day all round for Nel.
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