Surrey fell to an eight-wicket defeat against a combined team of Essex/Kent in the Second XI Championship match at Billericay CC.
Resuming their second innings on 17 without loss, 108 behind their opponents, Surrey openers Ben Geddes and Ollie Hunt started well, adding 49 runs to the overnight score, before J Singh (4/22) struck twice in three balls.
Geddes was trapped lbw by the right-arm seamer for 22 before Josh Blake fell to a similar fate and departed without scoring. Singh, bowling in great rhythm, found further success in his spell, getting Hunt caught at first slip for a well-made 39 and bowling Adam Thomas for nought, leaving Surrey 73 for four.
17 runs later, Ashane Wijesuriya became the fifth Surrey batter to depart, caught off the bowling of Arafat Bhuiyan for 11. From there on, Ollie Sykes and Yousef Majid joined forces to steer Surrey into the lead with an attacking 66-run partnership, with the left-handed Sykes hitting his third six to bring up his half-century from 34 balls.
With Surrey leading by 31 runs, the burgeoning alliance was broken as Richards bowled Sykes for 54. Noah Thain removed the newcomer Tommy Ealham (1) immediately and followed that by ending Majid’s 75-ball resistance for 23.
Richards added two more wickets to his bag – having James Taylor caught for seven and bowling Matt Dunn without scoring – and Surrey were all out for 171.
Needing 49 runs for victory, Essex/Kent lost a wicket each to Seb Stuart-Reckling and Taylor before an unbeaten 30-run stand between Nick Browne (13*) and MK O’Riordan (22*) took them home.
