With Surrey’s latest trip to Scarborough on the horizon, Richard Spiller looks back at the Three Feathers’ history at the seaside venue, including the famous victories in 2018 and 2022.
Beating a path to Scarborough has become almost second nature to Surrey’s players and supporters in recent times.
When the Rothesay County Championship returns on July 22, Rory Burns and his men will take on Yorkshire at North Marine Road before heading on to Chester Le Street for the clash with Durham on their tour of the north.
It will be Surrey’s fifth trip to Scarborough in eight seasons, the previous four encounters being packed with action and a delight for those who relish a few days on the Yorkshire coast at one of England’s great seaside resorts. Like many of its kind, it may possess a certain faded grandeur, but for scenic delights, there are few to match.
If the road or train journey through the Moors isn’t enough to whet the appetite, the sound and sight of the sea is a reward for undertaking the long journey.
The county’s visits to the town had been few and far between until 2018, the first coming in 1957 when, as champion county, they took on The Rest as part of the Scarborough Festival. It was particularly memorable for Micky Stewart, his team winning by six wickets.
Between 1969 and 2000, Surrey made five visits there in the County Championship but Yorkshire played on many other grounds around the county in that era, so they were just as likely to find themselves at Headingley, Bradford, Sheffield, Harrogate, Hull or Middlesbrough.
By 2018, that 18-year gap felt like a lifetime and it ended just when Surrey were on the hottest of streaks. They had started a run of three successive innings victories against Yorkshire at the Kia Oval, adding Hampshire and Somerset before heading north for the return clash.
The home side’s 342 all out after choosing to bat first owed much to a seventh wicket partnership worth 100 between Jonny Tattersall (70) and Tim Bresnan (48). Surrey then found themselves replying in much harder batting conditions on day two thanks to a sea fret, ironic given much of the country was roasting in temperatures of 30C. Despite skipper Burns making 59 early on, it required the cool head of Ollie Pope (69no) – principally helped by Morne Morkel (29) in an eighth wicket stand worth 56 – to restrict the deficit to 75.
Having helped to keep his side in the game, Morkel was in full cry with the ball and enjoying having the sun on his back again as he dismantled the Yorkshire top-order. Alongside Jade Dernbach, who added three wickets to the four he had taken in the first innings, the South African speedster claimed 5-39 to dismiss Yorkshire for 152 and leave more than a day to make 228 for victory. By the close of the third day, 89 had been chalked off without loss, Burns going on to make 97 and Scott Borthwick 62 as victory was achieved by seven wickets in early afternoon.
It was the fourth of nine which saw Surrey skate to their first Championship title in 16 years.
Less than a year later they were back at North Marine Road but this time the magic was missing. Yorkshire had followed on at Guildford earlier that month in a rain-wrecked encounter and Surrey then claimed their first Championship win of the summer in between, beating Warwickshire, at their seventh attempt.
Could a late run recover lost ground?
Will Fraine’s 106 dominated the opening day, putting on 116 with opening partner Adam Lyth, newcomer Jordan Clark’s 5-77 restricting the hosts to 327 all out.
Mark Stoneman (100), chiefly aided by acting captain Ben Foakes (40) and Sam Curran (43) earned Surrey a modest lead of 45, pressing hard second time round but seen off initially by Lyth (68) and then a stubborn 10th wicket stand of 57 between Coad (48) and Duanne Olivier (11no) which stretched into the final morning.
That left Surrey needing 318 from 83 overs, their batting prone to collapses, yet an opening stand of 93 on the way 136-1 – needing four an over – offering an opportunity.
But a fatal mix-up just before tea saw Dean Elgar (71) run out to prompt a slide of 5-10 in six overs. Suddenly, it was a bid for survival, entering a tense final hour at 175-7. Clark’s miscue to deep square leg and Morkel slipping when looking for an unlikely single to be run out left Jamie Smith and last man Gareth Batty with the task of securing a draw. Just five minutes were left when Batty was caught in the slips to give Yorkshire victory by 123 runs.
By the time Surrey returned in 2021, life had changed dramatically.
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic had all kinds of ramifications and one of them was that cricket grounds were pretty much off limit for the whole of 2020 and early stages of the following season.
In the weeks preceding the Royal London Cup, there had been doubt whether competition would take place, so many players being taken by the new Hundred tournament, not least with a number of overseas signings finding it impossible to travel and thus needing to be replaced.
But after it was given the go-ahead, Surrey’s opening game was at North Marine Road, Hashim Amla leading a patched-together team as both sides fielded four List A debutants.
Surrey proved well up to the task that day, dismissing Yorkshire for 165 with Gus Atkinson claiming 4-43 from 10 overs in a fiery display while Conor McKerr and Dan Moriarty took two apiece, the home side’s best coming from Matt Revis (43) and Gary Ballance (39).
Matt Pillans – against his old county – led the fightback by claiming four wickets but Mark Stoneman’s 73 was supported by Amla (29), Jamie Smith (25) and Nico Reifer (26) to ensure victory by four wickets with 10.5 overs in hand, a modest crowd relishing the opportunity to watch cricket again in the sunshine.
Normality, or about as close as we’ve got to it, returned by the time Surrey headed back to Scarborough just a year later, this time in the Championship and back on top of it.
They didn’t have the look of prospective champions on the opening day, reducing the hosts to 125-5 but then proving unable to separate Lyth and Tattersall despite the latter narrowly surviving a run out attempt. Both had reached their centuries by the close at 364-5 and were not prised apart until taking their alliance to a mammoth 305 – a Yorkshire record – when Lyth departed for 183. Tattersall would finish unbeaten on 180, his maiden first-class century, Tom Lawes (4-51) working his way through the tail to dismiss them for 521.
That did not make them fireproof, Surrey cruising to 191-1 by the end of the second day as Burns (132) and Amla (79) kept their side in the game. Australian Aaron Hardie’s 46 and Jamie Overton’s 32 added ballast, but Ben Foakes was the key man in shepherding Surrey to 515 all out, finishing unbeaten on 86, including a priceless 10th wicket stand worth 48 with Dan Worrall (26). Off-spinner Dom Bess finished with 5-126.
Yorkshire sat uneasily at 55-2 going into the final day but it seemed Surrey had too much to do to force victory. Yet pacer Overton chose the ideal occasion to claim his best Championship figures of 6-61 from 17.5 overs, reward for his winter work, only Matthew Waite’s unbeaten 59 delaying things as his side were bowled out for 220.
That left Surrey with just 44 overs to make 227, a mid-innings spell by West Indies pacer Shannon Gabriel leaving them in trouble at 147-6 but Foakes (42no) and Hardie (40no) fashioning a fine partnership which stole victory in the final over.
Can the drama be repeated this time?
