Josh Blake hit an unbeaten century on a solid opening day for Surrey in their Second XI Championship opener at Northamptonshire.
Captain Yousef Majid won the toss and elected to bat first on a warm Monday morning at Dunstable Town CC. Opening pair Adam Thomas (67) and Josh Blake started positively, finding the boundary with regular ease. The pair raced to 65/0 from the opening 13 overs.
Thomas played the aggressor role brilliantly, moving to his half-century from 62 balls with Surrey 101/0 in the 24th over. At the lunch interval, the pair took the score to 113/0 at lunch.
Adam Thomas departed for 67 (96) – well caught at first slip off the bowling of Greer, with Surrey 134/1 in the 31st over.
Ollie Pascall’s stay at the crease was short, as he was caught strangled down the leg-side off the bowling of left arm seamer Tiaan Louw for 6.
Blake moved to fifty from 117 balls with Surrey 150/2. All-rounder Ralphie Albert was next to depart, as he was pinned lbw to left arm spin bowler Haddow from around the wicket for 10.
Nathan Farmer found the boundary frequently before being pinned lbw off the leg spin of former Surrey pathway player Krish Patel for an encouraging 39. Farmer and Blake had put on 90 for the fourth wicket, with Blake moving into the 90’s.
Daz Ahmed (South Asian Cricket Academy) joined Blake as Surrey reached 263/4 from 68 overs as thunder and lightning came with Blake agonisingly unbeaten on 99. The players had to leave the field for a minimum of 30 minutes due to the lightning.
Play resumed at 5:38pm and it took just two balls for Blake to reach his century from 198 balls. Surrey reached 280/4 at the close of play, with Blake 105 not out and Daz Ahmed 16 not out.
