A truncated second day’s play at the Kia Oval allowed Surrey only to move to 153 for 4 in reply to Hampshire’s first innings 254 in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash, with England’s Ollie Pope unbeaten on 48
Surrey lost the wickets of Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Ryan Patel and Jordan Clark in the 43.3 overs bowled across four separate sessions before play was eventually called off at 6.10pm – just over half an hour after the players had left the field for what proved to be the final time.
Rain meant only 25 minutes’ play was initially possible in the morning session, ahead of an early lunch, in which Burns and Sibley added just five more runs to Surrey’s overnight 37 without loss.
But a restart at 1.25pm almost immediately brought a first success for Hampshire’s quicker bowlers with Sibley (16) edging the metronomic Mohammad Abbas to Liam Dawson at second slip, from the seventh ball of the afternoon.
Pope was comprehensively beaten by the second ball he faced, from Pakistan international Abbas, and on 4 edged Keith Barker at catchable height straight between first and second slips.
Surrey captain Burns, who had resumed on 23, fell for a well-made 45 when Abbas came from around the wicket to produce a fine ball which forced the left-hander to thin-edge to keeper Ben Brown.
New batsman Patel initially struggled to get going against tight bowling from both Abbas and Kyle Abbott, but he then took ten runs from three balls off Ian Holland’s medium pace and also produced a lovely extra cover driven four off Abbott.
On 20, however, Patel edged a drive at James Fuller and saw James Vince cling on to a sharp tumbling catch at chest height at first slip.
Pope, having flipped Fuller’s first ball off his pads for his fourth boundary earlier in that over, was joined by Clark, who almost chopped his second ball – from Holland – into his stumps just before the players went off for a second time at 3.15pm.
After resuming at 3.45pm, following an early tea, only two more overs were bowled before bad light intervened again, with Clark’s clip past mid wicket off Abbas for two the only scoring shot.
An hour later, at 4.55pm, the players emerged again for a final mini-session of 9.3 overs in which Clark was leg-before to an Abbott nip-backer for 3 before Pope and Jamie Smith (9 not out) hung in determinedly while also playing the two strokes of the shortened day to take Surrey to within 101 runs of Hampshire’s total.
Smith clipped Abbas powerfully wide on mid on for four and Pope then danced down the pitch to drive Abbott with a flourish to the extra cover ropes, but the light soon became unplayable again and no more cricket was possible.
Abbas, with figures of 21-7-39-2, bowled testingly throughout in the bowler-friendly conditions and Abbott was not far behind him with 1 for 35 from his 15 overs overall.
