The outstanding Dan Worrall spearheaded an excellent Surrey bowling performance with three for 24 from 17 overs at the Kia Oval as Yorkshire struggled to 133 for seven on a rain-shortened opening day
Worrall was well backed up by Tom Lawes, who took two for 22 from 13 overs, and Matt Fisher (two for 42), with only the fourth wicket pair of James Wharton and Matt Revis making any headway under grey clouds.
Wharton (45) and Revis (40) battled hard to put on 91 in 37 overs after Yorkshire had initially lost their first three wickets for only one run in the first 2.3 overs of the match.
It was a good toss for Surrey to win, in a Rothesay County Championship fixture crucial to teams currently languishing in seventh and eight places in a congested Division One table, although morning rain meant they had to wait until a 1.10pm start before unleashing their pace attack on a well-grassed surface.
But the explosive start to the game saw Surrey clinch a first bowling bonus point in just 15 balls, with Yorkshire’s top three all falling to the swinging ball.
Adam Lyth shouldered arms to Fisher’s third ball, in the second over, and was out leg-before for one and fellow left-hander Sam Whiteman also saw the umpire’s finger go up when he propped half-forward two balls later to a fuller delivery that swung back into his pads.
Worrall then struck with the third ball of his second over, Will Luxton edging an outswinger and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes leaping to his right to take a fine catch in front of first slip’s face.
Luxton had gone for a four-ball duck and Yorkshire, tottering at 1 for 3, were grateful for the grit shown by both Wharton and Revis as they fought to get their side back into the game.
The ball beat the bat with some regularity, in the helpful bowling conditions, with both Fisher and Worrall producing some unplayable deliveries, but both batsmen stuck to their task and – gradually – began to rebuild the innings.
By tea, with Wharton greeting the brief introduction of Rahul Chahar’s leg spin by punching him delightfully to the extra cover ropes for four, Yorkshire had recovered to 86 for three – but, shortly after the interval, another clatter of wickets left them suddenly up against it once more.
Revis flicked Lawes to mid wicket in the 40th over and Jonny Bairstow, having survived one strong shout for leg before against the same bowler on two, fell to Worrall in the next over.
On three, he was drawn into a nervy poke at another Worrall outswinger and edged to Ollie Pope at second slip.
And at the start of the next over, the 46th, Wharton’s three-hour vigil was ended when he tried a push-drive at a full, swinging ball from Lawes and edged low to Pope.
Yorkshire’s 101 for six soon became 113 for seven when, seven overs later, George Hill thin-edged Worrall to Foakes.
Dom Bess, however, dug in and had reached 21 not out from 49 balls when bad light ended play with 12.1 overs of the re-scheduled 72 still unbowled. Auqib Nabi, the India A seamer on championship debut for Surrey, was wicketless but bowled a tidy 11 overs for 25 runs.
