County Championship: Warwickshire rally against leaders Surrey

Tom Lawes took 3-6 in a five-over spell to lead title-chasing Surrey’s response with the ball as 14 wickets fell on day one against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval.

Warwickshire reached 132-4 after bowling out the reigning county champions for 246, which included fine half-centuries from Ryan Patel, Rory Burns and Ollie Pope.

Leading second-placed Nottinghamshire by nine points with three matches to go in the County Championship season, Surrey were particularly indebted to Patel’s superb unbeaten 72 from 67 balls after being put in.

Lawes then whipped out Alex Davies, Sam Hain and Zen Malik in quick succession – all leg-before to fast, swinging deliveries – after Dan Worrall had Rob Yates well held at third slip for seven in his third over with the new ball.

Davies made 22, Hain a first ball duck and Malik eight and, at 47-4, Warwickshire were in some trouble with 21 overs still to be bowled on day one.

But Ed Barnard then joined Will Young, who was dropped on 10 at second slip off Matt Fisher, in an unbroken stand of 85 that meant honours were shared fairly evenly at the end of a gripping day’s play.

Barnard reached stumps on 48 not out, with Young unbeaten on 35 and Surrey’s quicks needing to come back strongly on the second morning. Both Warwickshire men batted with great spirit to rally their team after Lawes’ triple strike.

Hunting a fourth successive championship title, Surrey were initially powered to 104-1 as Pope hit an eye-catching 50 off 55 balls and Burns reached 52.

But Warwickshire, who like Surrey fielded a five-man pace attack, hit back either side of lunch to reduce Surrey to 188-8 before the left-handed Patel counter-attacked in thrilling fashion and was joined by Fisher in a ninth wicket stand of 58.

Patel struck 11 fours and a six pulled over wide mid-wicket off Michael Booth, who finished with 2-52 as Warwickshire’s seam quintet shared all 10 wickets.

Nathan Gilchrist, on his debut for the county as a loanee ahead of a permanent winter move from Kent, claimed 3-51 while Ethan Bamber took 2-47 and Barnard 2-42.

Pope’s aggression provided Surrey with crucial early momentum after the loss of Dom Sibley, well held at third slip off Bamber for six in the morning’s third over.

Both he and Burns enjoyed their fair share of good fortune against the moving ball but they also deserved the rewards of their positivity in a second wicket stand eventually worth 97 in just 17 overs.

Pope, in particular, knocked Warwickshire’s seamers off their stride with the quality of his strokeplay while Burns produced a number of trademark pulls and square cuts to help to keep the scoreboard moving.

At one stage, soon after Burns had thick-edged Gilchrist through a puzzlingly vacant third slip position for a boundary to take him to 38, the Surrey pair took six consecutive fours from the final four balls of a Booth over and then the first two deliveries of Gilchrist’s next over.

Pope drove Booth straight and through mid off at the start of this sequence – the shots of the morning – and he had only just reached a 54-ball fifty when he fell to his 55th ball, edging Ed Barnard’s medium pace low to first slip on the stroke of noon.

Barnard then nipped one back off the seam to have Ben Foakes leg-before for 11 and beat the new batsman Dan Lawrence with his next ball before Surrey reached lunch on 127-3.

Lawrence, on five, was badly dropped by keeper Davies off Bamber, who bowled a testing spell immediately after the interval and removed a disbelieving Burns soon afterwards when the Surrey captain pulled him straight to deep mid wicket where Malik took an excellent catch tumbling forward.

Patel’s arrival kick-started the innings again, while Lawrence continued to struggle at the other end. The pair added 34 but Lawrence, having just punched Gilchrist through mid on for four to reach 20, was leg-before to the next ball as he shuffled across his stumps.

Jordan Clark square cut his first ball for four but Gilchrist then made it two wickets in three deliveries when a thick edged carve flew to Young’s left at first slip.

And Surrey slid to 188-8 as Gus Atkinson (6) and Lawes, who bagged a fifth ball duck, nicked Ollie Hannon-Dalby and Gilchrist to second and third slip respectively.

Fisher’s resistance, however, helped Patel to haul Surrey up well beyond 200 although they fell agonisingly short of a batting bonus point. Fisher, on 18, was pinned leg-before by Booth, who then produced a beauty next ball to hit the top of Worrall’s leg stump and leave Patel out of partners.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay