Surrey Second XI are playing their Hampshire counterparts in a behind closed doors friendly at Guildford CC from 12-15 April.
Ten members of the professional squad are taking part in the game and this article will be updated daily with a short report on the action from each day. To follow a live scorecard, including video clips, please click here.
Day 1
Surrey lost the toss and were inserted by Hampshire and after a delayed start due to snow on the the field and arctic conditions at Woodbridge Road, batsmen throughout the order struggled to find momentum as Surrey were dismissed for 197.
Academy player Ben Geddes (68) top scored but only Will Jacks (35), Nico Reifer (25), Laurie Evans (24) and James Taylor (21*) were able to top 20 as James Fuller, who took a hat trick against the Surrey First XI at Arundel last summer, took 3/56 for the visitors.
The Surrey bowlers will hope to have similar impact on Day 2 and received a good start when Matt Dunn had Hampshire captain Felix Organ caught behind by triallist wicket keeper Billy Mead as his side ended the day 26/1 with Rikki Clarke putting four abstemious overs for just four runs.
Day 2
Hampshire started the day positively, Fletcha Middleton (28) and former Durham batsman Cameron Steel (134), carefully increasing the total to 112 before Middleton fenced at one that went away from James Taylor was caught by Ryan Patel in the slips.
Tom Prest (24) joined Steel but fell to Dan Moriarty, also caught Patel, before Toby Albert (92*) became the latest batsman to form a good partnership with Steel, adding 69 for the fourth wicket, which saw the opener taken behind the stumps by Billy Mead from a lifting delivery by Conor McKerr for a well made 134.
Saf Imtiaz (62*) was next in and saw out the remainder of the day with Albert, taking the visitors to 348/4 at close. At the close of play, Matthew Dunn was withdrawn from the game to go back to the First XI squad at the Kia Oval and Academy bowler George Ealham was brought into the Surrey side in place of Jack Winterbottom.
Day 3
After early success when Rikki Clarke had Saf Imtiaz (65) nicely taken by wicket keeper Billy Mead, Hampshire batted through the morning session, reaching lunch on 442/8 with Toby Albert (125) becoming the second centurion of the innings before edging behind off the off spin of Will Jacks.
The visitors’ innings ended early in the afternoon session on 473, a lead of 276, and the Hampshire bowlers set about their afternoon’s work vigorously.
Laurie Evans (10) was the first Surrey man to fall, playing on to Scott Currie and – after Will Jacks (79) had formed partnerships with both Ryan Patel (37) and Nico Reifer (29) – Hampshire continued to take wickets throughout the afternoon.
As in the first innings, Academy batsman Ben Geddes (42*) emerged with credit, keeping his head whilst wickets were falling around him and scoring quickly on both sides of the wicket as Surrey slipped to defeat by an innings and 47 runs.
Surrey Second XI are next in action on Monday April 19th against Essex in the Second XI Championship, which is now played across four days rather than the previous format of three day matches.
