Ben Geddes’ authoritative knock of 82 off 122, inclusive of five sixes and seven fours, complimented by Nico Reifer’s assertive 48 off 48, meant that Surrey finished day one of their Second XI Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol on 174/3, despite losing two sessions and over 60 overs of scheduled play.
After no cricket was possible in the morning and afternoon sessions due to ground-related complications, captain Geddes walked out with Sheridon Gumbs at 4 pm to begin the visitor’s innings at Bristol.
Having been put to bat first, Surrey’s openers negotiated Jared Warner and Zaman Akhter’s opening burst with relative ease, pushing the Three Feathers to 37/0 from the first nine overs.
However, a bowling change brought trouble for the visitors as seamer Will Naish broke through Gumbs’ defence and bowled him for 16.
On 37/1, right-handed batter Reifer joined Geddes at the crease, and the duo stepped on the accelerator and got Surrey motoring.
Embarking on a free-flowing 88-run partnership from just 89 balls, where either of the batters played several imposing shots off the front and back foot, they took Surrey to 125/1 inside 25 overs.
During his second-wicket stand with Reifer, Geddes crossed his half-century with a thumping six – his third of the day – over mid-wicket off pacer Luke Charlesworth.
Reifer, having already struck nine fours and one maximum, fell short off his fifty by two runs when Charlesworth got him caught behind by wicketkeeper Tom Lace.
With Surrey 125/2, Josh Blake then walked out to the middle, but a change of partner had no impact on Geddes’ imperious form. Using the leg side very profitably, the right-handed batter went on to smash two more sixes, taking his tally to five, with four of them being pull shots.
Late in the evening session, against the run of play, Louis Shaw got Geddes lbw and ended his fantastic knock of 82, but by the time Geddes and Blake had added 49 more runs to Surrey’s total.
Academy player Stuart Van der Merwe was the next batter in. However, without another run being scored, the day’s play was called off due to bad light.
Going at a rate of 4.97 runs per over, Surrey closed on 174/3 from 35 overs, with Blake and Van der Merwe on unbeaten 8 and 0 respectively.
Play will resume tomorrow at 11 am.
