Fifteen wickets fell on the first day of Surrey’s crucial Second XI Championship clash with Glamorgan at Guildford – leaving the match evenly poised going into the second day.
Glamorgan won the toss and elected to bat first and may have been regretting this decision as Tom Jewell ripped through their batting line-up early on. Will Bragg was the first two go in the second over when the ball popped to the slips and he was quickly followed back to the pavilion by David Lloyd who edged the ball to Rory Hamilton-Brown at second slip again off the bowling of Jewell.
Chris Cooke was next to the crease but after edging the ball for four he was bowled in the same over by Jewell to leave the visitors on 16-3 after four overs. Three quickly became four as Mike O’Shea edged Jewell to the slips for a duck in the sixth over, with Hamilton-Brown taking the catch at second slip to leave Glamorgan 18-4.
With four early wickets taken in an impressive spell by Jewell, Glamorgan needed stability and they found it in Aneurin Norman and Nick James. After the pair settled in James took the game to Surrey scoring quickly off Winslade.
James hit the Surrey bowler for four fours in his opening two overs to take the visitors to 54-4. George Edwards was brought on at the other end but James hit him for two identical fours in the fourteenth over through mid-wicket.
The left arm spin of Freddie van den Bergh was brought on at the opposite end and this slowed the run rate down. However, James continued in a similar vein against the seamers, hitting Edwards over the covers and bringing up his 50 off just 53 balls, taking Glamorgan to 93-4.
Hamilton-Brown and the leg spin of triallist Usman Tariq were brought on just before lunch and managed to break the high scoring partnership by trapping James LBW for 80 to reduce Glamorgan to 134-5.
Hamilton-Brown stayed on after lunch and soon had the wicket of Norman who was caught by Tariq for 30 after slicing the ball up in the air.
Jeremy Lawlor and Andrew Salter was the next partnership for Surrey to deal with as the Welsh pair looked to take the attack to the home side. Lawlor hit Hamilton-Brown for four through mid-wicket and then in the 43rd over he smashed him for six through mid-wicket to take the visitors to 171-6. Van der Bergh came back into the attack but also got hit over the boundary rope for a six, this time by Salter.
Surrey finally broke the partnership when Matt Dunn came back into the attack at got an edge from Salter who was caught by stand-in wicket keeper Harry Stephens for fifteen. Lawlor was quick to follow Salter back to the pavilion as he was bowled by Van der Bergh in the 53rd over for 39 to leave Glamorgan 198-8.
Dan Lewis-Williams fell six overs later trying to hit Tariq to mid-on but could only find Edwards. Chris Ashling was the last man in and hit a big six, followed by a four before being bowled by Dunn for 11. Glamorgan were 253 all out with Jewell taking an impressive 4-41.
Surrey were to also suffer the same bad start as their opponents, seeing Dominic Sibley go for a golden duck in the second over, caught behind off the bowling of Reed, before fellow opener Tariq also found an edge from Ashling to depart for four and leave Surrey 4-2.
This brought Hamilton-Brown to the crease and, as ever, he played his natural game. He smashed Ashling for a six over mid-wicket before hitting Reed for three fours in the over before tea.
After the break Hamilton-Brown continued to go for big shots and reached 48 before being bowled by Reed to leave Surrey 61-3.
Jewell came to the crease and Surrey took a more reserved approach to the game, scoring just nine runs in the next seven overs. However, Jewell went in the 22nd, trapped LBW by Salter, to leave Surrey 83/4.
Harry Stephens came in and shared a good partnership with Tom Lancefield as the pair stuck around to see the home side over 100, before Lancefield smashed a six to take them to 121-4.
However, just two overs later and shortly before the rain shower which ended proceedings for the day, Stephens was caught at mid wicket for thirteen.
The day’s play ended in wet conditions with Surrey 125-5 off of 36 overs. They will be looking to continue chasing down the Glamorgan total on day two before once again taking advantage of a good bowling wicket.
Report by Jacob Greenwood
