Surrey fell to a 100-run defeat against Kent in their Second XI Championship fixture at New Malden, as off-spinner LS Birdi took six wickets to spin the visitors to a victory.
Resuming on 120/6, with a lead of 113 runs, Birdi (35) added a useful 23 runs in the morning alongside BJ Burgess (19) before Jack Martin had the former caught at mid off by the captain Ralphie Albert.
Another 20 runs later, Surrey struck again, this time Yousef Majid pinning Burgess lbw with a yorker as the right-hander attempted a reverse sweep. Right-handed A Nair continued to stick around, facing 56 balls for his 18, before Ollie Sykes found some spin and Ollie Hunt grabbed a sharp catch at short leg.
Sykes picked up his second and Kent’s final wicket as J Singh holed out to Oliver Gibson at square leg. The visitors finished on 189 and set a target of 182 for the Three Feathers, with Martin taking 3/26 while Majid and Sykes chipped in with two wickets apiece.
Kent got the start they would have been after when Josh Blake, who replaced the injured Ryan Patel in Surrey’s County Championship match against Notts later in the day, edged one to second slip off EJ Rice.
Nikhil Gorantla and Ollie Sykes shared a promising partnership of 35, which ended when the right-hander getting caught at cover for 16 off Evison. Shortly after, Skyes also was caught out, handing Birdi his first of six wickets.
Albert was the next to depart, edging one to short leg off Birdi’s, with the off spinner also removing left-handers Majid and Hunt in quick succession.
After seamer CW Jones had Oliver Gibson caught behind, Birdi completed his five-wicket haul, getting wicketkeeper RT Herath caught at mid on.
Jones and Birdi shared the remaining two Surrey wickets of Alex French and George McLoughlin respectively, to finish off their 100-run win in LSE.
