England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes anchored his side’s first innings with 76 and two other Surrey batters made fifties as the visitors recovered from 77 for four to have the best of the opening day of this LV= Insurance County Championship Division One match against Lancashire.
By the close, Rory Burns’ side were 340 for seven, with Cameron Steel, who batted as well as anyone, unbeaten on 86 and the visitors already have a total that will give their high-quality seam attack plenty to bowl at.
For their part, Lancashire could take comfort from a wholehearted effort on an easing pitch and from the three wickets taken by Tom Bailey, the most successful member of a four-man seam attack lacking both James Anderson and Saqib Mahmood.
But anyone expecting the opening exchanges of this game between two of the title favourites to copy the tempo of England’s recent Test cricket were disappointed. The first session was one that Cyril Washbrook and Ken Barrington would have recognised and understood.
Having inserted Surrey on an unexpectedly dry pitch, Lancashire bowled tightly and reduced Surrey to 85 for four at lunch, two of the wickets falling to the impressive Will Williams, whose opening nine-over spell from the James Anderson End cost just 16 runs.
Williams took the first wicket in the fourth over of the day when he had a clearly aggrieved Surrey skipper, Burns, caught behind by George Bell for a single, but it was Bailey who claimed the prize scalp of Ollie Pope for 13 when the England batter was lbw for 13 after a 38-minute innings in which he had looked to take the attack to the bowlers.
Three overs later, Ryan Patel was trapped in front by Williams for a three and Lancashire’s fine morning was completed when new signing Colin de Grandhomme nipped one away off the seam to have Dom Sibley caught behind for a 69-ball 35 in his first competitive innings since his return from Warwickshire.
But after dominating the morning’s play, Lancashire’s bowlers didn’t look like taking a wicket for much of the afternoon session as the ball aged and the pitch lost its early venom. Jamie Smith stroked the ball around easily and had put on 87 with Foakes when he edged a leg-side catch to Bell off Bailey and departed for a 92-ball 54.
In the next over, Foakes inside-edged Matt Parkinson for a single to reach his own fifty off 111 balls and Surrey resumed their relatively serene progress towards respectability. That task was eased by Steel, who played himself in with unnerving ease and was 25 not out when Surrey came in to tea on 196 for five with Foakes unbeaten on 55.
The England wicketkeeper continued to bat with serene precision after tea and it took a brilliant piece of cricket to remove him for 76 when de Grandhomme dived to his left to intercept a full-blooded pull off Luke Wood in his left hand.
That vital wicket ended Foakes’ 75-run stand for the sixth wicket with Steel and the home side received another boost, this time with the new ball, when Jordan Clark was leg before to Bailey for 14.
However, Sean Abbott gave the increasingly confident Steel sound support for the final 12 overs of the day and the balance of the game was encapsulated when he pulled Wood’s penultimate delivery over the long leg boundary to end the day on 34 not out. Bailey finished with three for 67 from 20 overs.
Lancashire seamer, Tom Bailey, said:
“It was a tough first day. The pitch was a lot better than we thought it was going to be. It was so cold and so windy out there it was tough.
“I thought the boys worked hard to try and get wickets and hopefully we can those last three (wickets) early tomorrow morning. That’s probably the flattest wicket I’ve played on here on the first day of the season considering how wet it has been so it’s understandable we bowled first.
“I thought we started well. There was a bit of moisture in that pitch at the start. But it seemed to just completely change after lunch. The ball had got a bit softer and pitch had got harder.
“Plugging away is something we are good at as a team. You just bowl stump to stump, just be boring, and let them make a mistake. There wasn’t enough pace to try and bowl in the channels and get those edges. We had one slip for most of the day.
“The best time to bat here is normally day two a bit of day three so if we get get those wickets early hopefully the batsmen can cash in.”
Surrey batter, Cameron Smith said:
“I think it’s been a pretty good opening day. We certainly would have taken 320 at the start of the morning’s play.
“It was certainly very tough in the first session and I think we were a bit unlucky with a couple of the wickets at the top of the order. I just hope it’s as tough when we get the new ball.
“I haven’t got big runs for a long time and so it’s extremely pleasing to repay the trust that Gareth Batty and Rory Burns have placed in me.
“I’d like to credit the moustache but I think it’s down to the hard work I’ve put in.
“The first thing to concentrate on tomorrow is that extra batting point and then to push on as hard as we can past that.”
