Surrey ended a gripping second day at Edgbaston with a lead of 61 after Jamie Smith ended the day 58 not out
After bowling out the home side for 150 (Dan Worrall four for 38, Kemar Roach three for 33) the champions closed on 211 for eight – 61 ahead – in reply.
Jamie Smith’s compact unbeaten 57 (114 balls) has lifted his side into a position of strength on a pitch still offering some help to the seamers.
At 99 for four, Surrey had plenty of work to do to get ahead but they did it diligently as Smith added 44 with Ben Foakes, 32 with Cameron Steel and 35 with Jordan Clark – small partnerships but, in the context of the match, of high value.
Surrey captain Rory Burns has been in poor form at the toss of late, this was only the third of 17 that he has won, but this was a huge one to win. Perfect seam-bowling conditions on the first day gave way to blue sky and a flattening pitch on the second. Surrey have had much the better of the conditions and, like all good sides, taken advantage.
It has been engrossing cricket of high quality and intensity and a superb advertisement for the County Championship. Between them these teams have won the championship 28 times and it could well be 29 come September. If Warwickshire have their best players available, they could challenge but Surrey look very well-equipped to retain their crown.
After an hour’s delay for the grass to dry on the second morning, Warwickshire resumed on 143 for eight and added just seven in five overs as both remaining wickets fell to Worrall. Dan Mousley did not add to his overnight 55 before scooping to deep mid-wicket. Olly Hannon-Dalby raised the 150 with one of the most elegant leg-glances ever seen at Edgbaston, but the next ball trapped Chris Rushworth lbw.
With diminishing cloud cover, batting conditions eased when Surrey replied, though they were still not easy against a demanding attack. Rushworth brought Dom Sibley’s return to Edgbaston to an early end with the assistance of Rob Yates at slip and Hasan Ali’s second ball trapped Ollie Pope lbw.
Rory Buns batted resolutely for 106 minutes for 32 but then left a Rushworth inswinger which would have knocked out middle. When Ryan Patel edged Hannon-Dalby to second slip it was 99 for four and the match was finely balanced, but Smith batted beautifully for a 95-ball half-century which wrested the initiative his team’s way.
Warwickshire’s seamers persevered admirably, Ed Barnard and Hannon-Dalby taking wickets in the last two overs of the day to keep their side in the game. Against the opposition against which he made his championship debut at Edgbaston in 2007 (his first victim: Scott Newman), England all-rounder Chris Woakes remained wicketless but bowled well only to beat the edges rather than find them.
