WORCESTERSHIRE
AND MOEEN ALI HOLD ON by Marcus Hook
Surrey 493 & 239-8d v Worcestershire 465 & 170-8. Match
drawn.
A mature 70 not out from Worcestershire's Moeen
Ali, following on from his 126 in the first innings, ensured his
side maintained their unbeaten record in this summer's LV County
Championship. Having been set a target of 268 off a minimum of 51
overs, the visitors were reduced to 109-5 by Gareth Batty and then
to 168-8. But with Ali and Alan Richardson seeing off the final four
overs, cricket rather than Surrey turned out to be the winner on the
final day at Whitgift.
Worcestershire's troubles began when they lost
Phil Jaques for a second ball duck, edging Andre Nel hard to Rory
Hamilton-Brown at second slip, to complete the first pair of the
Australian's career. Five overs later, Jaques was joined in the
dressing room by Daryl Mitchell, who yorked himself walking into a
ball of full length from Jade Dernbach.
At tea, the requirement had risen to a shade under
six an over. Five overs after the break, Vikram Solanki fell leg
before, for 44, to a delivery that skidded on. But, rather than shut
up shop, Moeen Ali slog swept Chris Schofield for six and Alexei
Kervezee swept Batty for three fours in as many deliveries to make
it 95-3 in the 23rd over.
Two overs later, however, Kervezee's confidence
got the better of him and he was bowled off a bottom edged sweep. In
the 29th over, Ben Smith became Batty's third victim when, like his
skipper, he foolishly opted to play back rather than forward.
With Worcestershire needing 140 going into the
last hour, it was simply a question of repelling Surrey's spin trio,
which Hamilton-Brown swapped around regularly. Moeen Ali and Ben
Scott held firm for sixteen overs until Scott attempted to sweep
Schofield in the 45th over.
The introduction of Usman Afzaal's slow left-arm
spin resulted in Richard Jones being undone by some extra bounce and
turn in the 50th over. Four overs later the tension increased when
Jack Shantry, went forward but offered no stroke to Schofield.
Earlier, Surrey, resuming on 57-2, added a further
182 in 42.3 overs to their second innings total. In the first over
of the day, Mark Ramprakash slog swept Ali for four, but, in the
next, called Afzaal through for an optimistic single, for his
partner to be beaten by Shantry's direct hit at the bowler's end
from backward point.
The 34th over, saw Hamilton-Brown hit two cover
driven fours before the Surrey skipper was stumped off a bottom
edge, looking to launch Ali over mid-wicket and into the Brighton
Road.
Four overs later, Ramprakash deposited Shantry
over long-on for a six and, after recording one thousand first-class
runs at Whitgift School, moved to a 131-ball fifty in the 45th over.
With Ramprakash taking three fours of a Richardson
over, Arif was introduced at the Nottingham Road End, which brought
the desired effect when Ramprakash's slash-drive was acrobatically
caught by Scott for a splendid 82. Batty went in the next over,
driving Ali low to short extra, which meant that, at lunch, Surrey
had a lead of 209.
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