A look at everything that happened on the second day of play between Surrey and Leicestershire at The Kia Oval in the LV= County Championship.
WHAT HAPPENED
Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes shone in Surrey’s top order with an unbroken stand of 160 that prevented Leicestershire from taking control of the LV= Insurance County Championship match at the Kia Oval.
Surrey had found themselves at 93 for 3 in reply to Leicestershire’s 375 before England pair Pope and Foakes rallied them to 253 for 3 following the dismissals of Mark Stoneman for 24, Hashim Amla for 22 and Rory Burns for 36 on the stroke of tea. Pope is on 92 not out from just 117 balls, and Foakes is unbeaten on 68.
Stoneman flicked at a legside ball from Gavin Griffiths to be caught behind, and Amla was undone by an inslanting yorker from the same bowler that hit him on the boot. Burns, having just skipped out to drive slow left armer Callum Parkinson wide of mid on for four, was then leg-before sweeping.
Pope batted with great style, stroking 13 fours, but Foakes was badly dropped by keeper Harry Swindells off seamer Ben Mike on 33 with Surrey’s total 171 – a moment in the game that Leicestershire might end up regretting even more than losing their last seven wickets for 77 runs in 24 overs.
Day one century-maker Sam Evans reached 138 and Lewis Hill made 70, their fourth wicket stand raising 122 in 33 overs, but Leicestershire’s first innings fell away in disappointing fashion from 298 for 3 once Evans had been deceived by a lovely piece of bowling by Amar Virdi, the off spinner clipping the top of off stump after beating the opener’s forward defensive on the outside edge. Evans had shown superb concentration across six and a half hours – coping particularly well with the regular weather interruptions on day one – and hit 16 fours from 280 balls.
Hill was then bowled by Jordan Clark, playing on as he aimed to cut, and Leicestershire only managed to secure a fourth batting point through some jaunty strokes from Swindells and Mike, who swung Virdi for four and six in the 110th over to clinch it.
By then, however, Swindells had gone for 20, his middle stump uprooted by Kemar Roach, and the West Indian Test paceman also had Parkinson fending to slip on 2 in a fiery pre-lunch spell.
Virdi, with his first ball after lunch, saw Mike edge an arm ball to slip to depart for 20 and then bowled Dieter Klein for a duck with a quicker ball. Leicestershire’s last pair at least stayed for a while, adding 22, before Chris Wright was run out for 16 in a mix-up with Griffiths, who sent him back.
SCORECARD
Click here to see the full scorecard.
WICKET OF THE DAY
WHAT A PEARLER!
LIVE STREAM ➡ https://t.co/ZpcIhumSMm pic.twitter.com/BWlNxdfTYn
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) April 16, 2021
INNINGS OF THE DAY
TEAM LINEUPS
Surrey XI: Burns, Stoneman, Amla, Pope, Foakes, Smith, Clark, Overton, Roach, Dunn, Virdi
Leicestershire XI: Azad, Evans, Dearden, Ackermann, Hill, Swindells, Mike, Parkinson, Wright, Griffiths, Klein
ELSEWHERE IN GROUP 2
Hampshire and Middlesex are meeting at the Ageas Bowl where Hampshire have batted first.
Every Surrey home match will be available to view either on kiaoval.com or Sky Sports this season.
The best way to get your seat at The Kia Oval when restrictions allow is with a 2021 Membership, starting from £69 for adults and £20 for U16s.
