Warwickshire exploited perfect batting conditions to make 665 for five on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One match at Edgbaston.
Tom Latham struck 184 (319 balls), Ed Barnard made a career-best 177 not out (254) and Zen Malik reached a maiden century – 105 not out (119) – as batters made hay on a pitch prepared to nullify the champions’ bowling threat.
Surrey then embarked upon the long haul towards the follow on figure of 516 and reached 98 for one at the halfway point of the match. Just two wickets fell from a full quota of overs on the second day.
After Warwickshire resumed on the second morning on 364 for four, Latham and Barnard extended their partnership to 169 in 37 overs. Latham reached 150 from 263 balls and, after 400 minutes at the crease, was chugging towards a double-century in untroubled fashion whenhe edged Tom Lawes to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.
Barnard then advanced to his ninth first class century as Malik, playing only his second first class game, settled in alongside him. Malik’s maiden ton arrived in the last over before tea.
After the teatime declaration it was the turn of Warwickshire’s bowlers to suffer. Ethan Bamber (9-2-14-0) bowled an excellent spell and Barnard’s day out continued when he trapped Rory Burns lbw. But Ryan Patel got off the mark by pulling Beau Webster for six and, alongside Dom Sibley, saw it through to the close to lay a solid foundation for tomorrow’s grind towards that lofty follow on figure.
Surrey assistant coach Jim Troughton said: “The lads have had five sessions in the dirt and put in a big shift there. There were periods of play when you had to be inventive to try to prise out wickets. There were some pleasing spells – it was great to see Nathan Smith get his first bowl for us and he looked very handy on a docile wicket, so I’ll be looking forward to watching him charge in at The Oval. Lawesy and Cam Steel have got plenty of overs in after coming back from injury so that’s good and I thought Dan Lawrence held an end really nicely and got a great wicket with a lovely ball through the gate.
“You always wait to see what happens when both teams have batted and Warwickshire’s bowlers came out there with fresh legs so to get to the end of the day 90 for one is a solid start.
“It’s going to be tough for either team to take 20 wickets but we have got to earn the right to stay in the game. We’ll take it session by session and try to get as many batting points as we can but once Warwickshire batted past 550 you knew it was probably going to be one of those games which is about getting as many bonus points as you can.”
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