County Championship 2024. Division 1. Surrey v Somerset 12^th, 13^th, 14^th  and 15^th April. The Oval.

Jack Leach, (knee injury) and Tom Abell (hamstring) were unavailable.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), D.P. Sibley, O.J.D. Pope, D.W. Lawrence, J.L. Smith, B.T. Foakes (w), C.T. Steel, J. Clark, J. Overton, A.A.P. Atkinson, K.A.J Roach.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, K.L. Aldridge, M. Pretorius, S. Bashir.

Overnight. Somerset 285. Surrey 42 for 0. Surrey trail by 243 runs with ten first innings wickets standing.

Second day 13^th April – “They never let Surrey get away”

London is a different place. Busier than any other city I visit on my perambulations around the country following Somerset. More cosmopolitan than any other city too, at least to my eye. In making the case for London to host the 2012 Olympic Games Ken Livingstone said, “You see the world gathered in one city.” Sometimes it seems you can see it gathered on one Tube train. It is a city teeming with young people too. Most cities are, but in London, perhaps because of the sheer numbers of people, the madding crowd seems overwhelmingly young.

For County Championship matches, The Oval is a different place too, to a degree reflecting the youth of the city. The Championship crowd for this match was not remotely as cosmopolitan as London as a whole, but there were signs it was beginning to edge that way. In terms of gender, there was a much higher proportion of women present than I have seen at Championship cricket anywhere else in the country. They stretched across the huge expanse of the well-populated and sun-bathed Galadari Stand. The greatest difference though was in the age of the crowd. At any other Championship venue, the overwhelming majority of spectators would be past or approaching retirement age. Not at The Oval. That demographic is still significantly represented, especially in The Pavilion, but in the rest of the ground a large proportion of spectators are aged between the mid-twenties and the mid-forties.

Perhaps The Hundred and T20 are bringing a wider range of supporters to the Championship game. No doubt the general London population age profile contributes, but the difference between the make-up of the crowd at The Oval and elsewhere is too marked for that to be the sole factor. There was more alcohol consumed around me than I am used to seeing at Championship matches, but some chanting for Surrey and one inebriated supporter quietly escorted from the stand apart, the attention of most seemed to be on the cricket. A pointer to the future or a mere blip on the radar I know not, but it is a fact that Championship crowds need replenishing with younger people if the game is to survive into the long term. The gender and age profile of the two and a half thousand at The Oval on the second day, and the four thousand plus on the first, will breath more life into the game than did the retired profile of the few hundred who made their way to Canterbury, albeit in uninviting weather.

As to the cricket, it was hard and toe-to-toe the day long. Given the nature of the pitch, the clear overhead conditions and the use of the Kookaburra ball, a reasonable assessment of the second day might be of an even contest with neither side gaining the ascendancy. However, an even contest on the second day gave Surrey a clear advantage in the match following Somerset’s head over heels collapse on the first. In conditions as helpful as batters could hope for in an English April, Somerset stuck to their task all day. As a Surrey supporter put it to me at the end of the day, “Somerset never let Surrey get away.” Even so, Surrey ended the day 73 runs to the good with four first innings wickets standing. Despite their efforts, Somerset were hanging on by their fingertips.

Written across the top of my near ball-by-ball record of the morning are the following notes of my wider impressions: “Surrey making batting look easy,” “Surrey sailing along,” “Gentle chatter in the stands,” “Planes into Heathrow.” A lazy morning of watching if ever there was one. And yet, despite the impression, Surrey had only added 113 runs in 32 overs, about three and a half runs an over. Three and a half runs an over is good progress, but perhaps sailing along was a bit overgenerous, although no wickets fell. Short phases apart, the comment of the Surrey supporter was perhaps more accurate than my impression.

It may be that the first nine overs of the morning skewed my view, for Surrey scored 50 runs, Rory Burns in particular punishing the bowling as he closed the gap on Dom Sibley who had outscored him on the previous evening. Burns took 15 of the 21 runs scored in two particularly expensive overs from Craig Overton and Lewis Gregory, Overton being driven through midwicket for four, cut through backward point for four more and driven with an open face through backward point to the deep fielder for two. It took Surrey to 92 for 0, less than 200 behind with no indication of the bowlers’ making progress. Surrey were threatening to run away with the game.

When Migael Pretorius and Kasey Aldridge took up the attack, the scoring rate slowed. Sibley reached fifty with a single off Aldridge but was beaten by Pretorius. “Come on boys!” demanded Tom Lammonby, Somerset’s encourager-in-chief. Then, with the score on 121 for 0, Burns top edged a hook off Aldridge, although it fell safe while he ran a single. Although he also cut and pulled Pretorius to the boundary to follow Sibley to fifty the Surrey batters were looking less secure. Finally, it looked like Somerset might have broken through. A hook from Burns flew high towards me. It was clearly falling short of the boundary and Matt Renshaw, who had been happily chatting to spectators in the front row below me, positioned himself perfectly for the catch, took the ball, and dropped it. “That was a bit of a let off,” the understatement of the day from one spectator.

From there, seven runs came in the next six overs as the bowlers tightened their grip and perhaps the batters took stock after the dropped catch. Then, as lunch approached, Sibley, who had had a fairly quiet morning, suddenly launched into an Overton over. He glanced him fine to the Vauxhall End boundary, drove straight for two and through the off side for four. “That’s a lovely shot,” the comment as someone shouted, “Come on the ’Rey.” But it was no more than a flurry in the midst of the ongoing struggle between bowler, bat, flat pitch and docile ball. With the score on 155 for 0 at lunch, despite the pressure on the batters sustained by the Somerset bowlers, it had been Surrey’s morning. Somerset had kept their heads up, both metaphorically and literally, and they had kept Surrey’s scoring rate under control after the initial flourish, but the lack of wickets weighed heavily.

As always, one of the joys of Championship cricket is the people you meet and the time it affords to talk to them. Once I had had my daily fix of walking on the outfield, including noting some, apparently unofficial, stewarding to cordon off a corner for informal games of children’s cricket, I located someone I meet only at the cricket, here ensconced on the Pavilion Terrace. With him London-based we meet only on his occasional visits to Taunton or on my occasional visits to London for Somerset matches. The discussion is always about cricket, cricket and more cricket, almost invariably Somerset cricket. Heaven. Then my phone rang. It was an old school friend who had spotted me as I was circumnavigating the ground. We first met when we were about five, lost contact at some point in adulthood and then met again after I came across his sister at the funeral of the father of a childhood friend. Life goes around and comes around. Since the funeral, living at opposite ends of the country, we too meet once or twice a year at the cricket.

My school friend joined me for the afternoon after we had spent the morning sitting about fifty yards apart, oblivious to one another’s presence. As always when we meet, the cricket formed a pleasant backdrop to our chat, sometimes about the cricket, sometimes about old times. Little that seemed of consequence a few hours later passed our lips, but reliving old times always passes a pleasant afternoon. The cricket in front of us passed much as the morning had done. Surrey scored steadily but didn’t get away as the man said. Somerset took three wickets, but Surrey added 108 runs, five less than they had in the morning. But, as the players walked off, they were only 22 runs behind, their grip on the match tightening by the session despite Somerset never relaxing their efforts. And the sun shone with some warmth and the planes flew all afternoon as they had all morning. After the Canterbury winter, perhaps spring was on its way at The Oval.

As to the detail of the cricket, Surrey’s first wicket had fallen in the sixth over of the afternoon when Burns tried to cut Shoaib Bashir, left out at Canterbury and back with Somerset after his successful foray into Test cricket in India. As so often when a batter is caught behind cutting a spinner, the first indication of a wicket came when James Rew threw his arms in the air in support of the appeal. Surrey 167 for 1. Burns 75. Deficit 118. Then on went Surrey, for a few overs at least. Ollie Pope opened his account with a clip through midwicket off Pretorius which slammed into the boundary boards in front of the Galadari Stand. Sibley drove Bashir through the onside and through the covers in successive balls, both for four. But, when Pope pulled Aldridge, he failed to keep the ball down and Alfie Ogborne, fielding as substitute, took a good catch running along the boundary in front of the Archbishop Tenison School. Surrey 192 for 2. Pope 11. Deficit 93.

Sibley meanwhile had pushed on, reaching his century, ground out in just over four hours, with a ball guided off Bashir to fine leg for two. In those four hours, he had found the boundary 17 times, an indication of the selectivity of his hitting. Then, when Goldsworthy replaced Bashir, Sibley attempted to loft his third ball to the long on boundary. Instead, he edged it into his ankle from where it bounced and rolled back unerringly into his stumps. It brought a combination of disbelieving groans and chuckles, but Sibley had to walk off applauded to the Pavilion for a steady job effectively done.

Jamie Smith took a different approach to Surrey’s hitherto steady advance. He drove Aldridge to the boundary four times in two overs, twice straight. He was joined by Ben Foakes who took charge of the anchor. Against Smith, Gregory suffered to the tune of a four steered past the slips to the Vauxhall End and two sixes pulled over midwicket, one going straight over Renshaw’s head and landing in the third row of the Galadari Stand. The second six took Surrey to 240 for 3, an overall rate of three and a quarter runs an over, an indication that Somerset had indeed not let them get away. Smith had 38 from 45 balls. By comparison, Foakes had four from 21.

In the lead-up to tea with the new ball approaching, Smith reined himself in. Eight came off his bat in seven overs while Foakes took a slightly more assertive role, twice driving Bashir, now bowling opposite Lewis Goldsworthy, through the covers for four. Surrey reached tea on 263 for 3, those 22 runs behind. With the afternoon session over, my friend decided to make his way home and I fell to chatting to a couple of Surrey supporters. It wasn’t long before it became apparent that we had, for several years during my Eastern exile, lived within a quarter of a mile of each other on the other side of the Thames. That realisation produced enough subject matter to keep the conversation going through the remainder of the interval.

Throughout the evening session the Somerset bowlers continued to constrain Surrey. In 31 overs, they were kept to 95 runs, barely three an over. It was an exceptional performance from tiring bowlers against a side that had several times tried to accelerate its scoring rate, and each time been pulled back. In the third over after tea, Smith opened the face to Overton and guided the ball wide of the slips to the Vauxhall End for four to register his fifty. Two balls later, as if replicating the day in microcosm, his off stump cartwheeled. Overton had hit back with an angled in ball which passed the outside edge as Smith desperately stabbed down. Surrey 272 for 4. Smith 51. Deficit 13. When Dan Lawrence tried to play Aldridge into the on side and the ball struck the pad Surrey were 291 for 5. Lawrence 6. Lead 6. Somerset’s persistence was gradually pegging Surrey back.

When Lawrence walked off, Foakes had progressed to 34, a stunning back foot cover drive to the Galadari Stand off Bashir and a peremptory pull for four off Goldsworthy to the other end of the Galadari Stand perhaps the pick of his six boundaries. Now, Cameron Steel picked up Smith’s role, although not at quite the same rate. Somerset’s bowling on the other hand remained as accurate as ever. “Aldridge has looked the most likely to take a wicket,” someone said, as he bowled with some pace and consistently so.

By now, Somerset’s two slips were well spread out, but Steel still managed to edge a drive beyond them. “I don’t think he meant that,” the comment. Meanwhile Foakes, after driving Bashir through the air on the on side for four, hooked Pretorius in front of square for four more to register Surrey’s fourth score of fifty or more. But when Gregory angled a ball into him he was tucked up and struck on the pad as he tried to play behind square. He charged up the pitch in the face of Gregory’s appeal while the umpire stared steadfastly back down the pitch before slowly and deliberately raising his finger. The wait for the decision seemed interminable. Perhaps it felt like that because Somerset needed the wicket, but it left Surrey on 339 for 6 with a lead 54 and Foakes departing on 57 made in two and a half hours. By the close they had extended their score to 358 for 6, a lead of 73. Somerset had held their own through a long day, but so had Surrey. Championship cricket at its best. A tough two days lay ahead, and after Somerset’s first day collapse, the prediction of the Surrey supporter at the end of the first day that the match would be over in three days was far from fanciful.

Close. Somerset 285. Surrey 358 for 6. Surrey lead by 73 runs with four first innings wickets standing.