WHITGIFT
GAME HEADING FOR A DRAW by Marcus Hook
Surrey 493 & 57-2 v Worcestershire 465.
Half centuries from Worcestershire's Alexei
Kervezee, Ben Smith and Ben Scott confirmed that the wicket at
Whitgift School was not the minefield some were predicting it would
be come the second half of this contest. Either that, or Surrey's
attack is feebler than it looks on paper. With the hosts' lead at
just 85, there are only two viable outcomes and neither scenario has
Surrey claiming their first championship victory of the season.
The home side will start the final day with two
wickets down. After taking a lead of 28 into their second dig,
Surrey lost Arun Harinath, pushing forward tentatively to Alan
Richardson, in the third over and Stewart Walters in the eighth.
Walters collected three fours off Richard Jones's third over,
playing with a freedom rarely seen from the 26-year-old. But then
Jack Shantry's introduction to the attack saw Walters edge an
innocuous delivery to slip.
Earlier, the fifth ball of the day saw Kervezee
put down at slip off Chris Schofield. It proved to be expensive for
the hosts because Kervezee was not prised out until the fourth over
before lunch. Surrey took the second new ball immediately, but other
than the delivery that accounted for Moeen Ali in the 83 rd over,
which Andre Nel got to lift, the Worcestershire batsmen were rarely
troubled.
With Kervezee despatching Iftikhar Anjum through
the cover off the back foot for two boundaries in the 82nd over, the
Pakistan seamer was swiftly replaced by Jade Dernbach only for
Kervezee to take three fours off the 24-year-old in the 86th.
Two overs later, Kervezee went to his fifty in 102
deliveries. In the 102nd over, Smith took his side past the
follow-on target by hitting a four straight down the ground of Nel.
With Kervezee being trapped on the crease by a googly from
Schofield, the visitors were 353-5 at lunch.
Having driven Schofield to the rope at deep extra
cover to secure a fourth batting point for his side just before the
break, Smith started the afternoon session by clipping Nel off his
legs for four in the 113th over, before posting a watchful 110-ball
half century with a four past mid-on in the 118th.
Other than Ben Scott's six hit into the
sightscreen at the Nottingham Road End off Gareth Batty in the 120th
over, the contest meandered for the next hour or so.
With the afternoon session drawing to a close the
game appeared to be going nowhere. Afzaal, who had respectable
figures of 12-2-26-0, looked as likely as anyone to separate Smith
and Scott, who had held Surrey up for 34 overs. But then Dernbach
returned at the Chapel End and within the space of seven deliveries
accounted for the sixth wicket pair as well as Jack Shantry.
Smith was the first to go, nibbling at one that
was drifted invitingly wide of off stump. Three balls later Scott
got an inside edge on to his thigh pad to present Walters with a
straightforward catch at short leg. In his next over Dernbach went
around the wicket and had Shantry caught behind off a defensive push
to make it 460-8.
In the third over after tea Richardson, attempting
to work Schofield to leg, was out to a return catch and, in the
next, Imran Arif lofted a drive to Ramprakash, coming in off the
rope at deep mid-wicket, to hand Batty his only success of the
innings.
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