Surrey played out an absorbing draw with the Sri Lanka Development XI at Guildford after a burst of five wickets in quick time had threatened to crack the game open for the hosts.
Beginning their second innings 184 in arrears, the Sri Lankans had progressed to 66/0 when Nathan Barnwell found Lasith Croospulle’s edge and Ryan Patel took a stunning one-handed catch at slip.
Brett Hutton, signed on a one-game loan deal from Nottinghamshire, then trapped Avishka Perera and Nuwanidu Fernando lbw in quick succession to leave the visitors 84/3 before Gus Atkinson continued his impressive all-round performance by nipping in with two wickets of his own, finding Nishan Madushka’s edge before dislodging the off bail of Santhush Gunathilake.
Here are the highlights from the final day at Woodbridge Road – a match in which several Surrey youngsters seized their opportunity to shine ⭐ pic.twitter.com/55RI2zQJCm
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 23, 2022
At 113/5, Surrey appeared to be on the victory charge but a defiant sixth-wicket partnership of 177 between Avishka Tharindu (103*) and the skipper Nipun Dananjaya Perera (81) took their side to safety.
Amar Virdi’s dismissal of Perera, to another smart catch at slip by Patel, prompted the two captains to shake hands on a draw in which several Surrey youngsters seized their opportunity to shine, most notably Ben Geddes, who struck a sparkling maiden first-class century.
Earlier in the day Surrey had added 74 to their overnight score, Barnwell (22) and Dan Moriarty (29) each playing enterprising knocks, clearing the ropes five times between them, to take their first-innings total to 556.
