After two days of neck-and-neck cricket, Surrey’s Second XI clash against Derbyshire went down to the wire, with the Three Feathers emerging victorious by 11 runs.
It was spin to win for Surrey as left-arm spinner Yousef Majid (3/65), off spinner Harry Gardner (2/22) and leg spinner Cam Steel (3/59) shared eight wickets amongst each other. Steel was at the centre of the winning moment as number 11 Haydon pulled him straight into the hands of Nikhil Gorantla, with Derbyshire needing 12 runs for victory.
The Three Feathers could not have asked for a better start to the day, Matt Dunn finding a feather and getting Tarrant (24) caught behind on the first ball of the third day.
The visitors, however, fought back and put themselves ahead in the game with a 74-run partnership for the second wicket. Surrey snapped back at their visitors as Gardner got the crucial breakthrough when he bowled left-hander Wagstaff (52) from behind his legs before Nathan Barnwell dismissed Basra (37) from the other end.
Derbyshire’s new pairing absorbed some of the pressure and were beginning to develop another partnership, but Steel deceived Bin Naeem (13) with a looping leg spinner and Adam Thomas brilliantly held on to a diving catch at slip.
Bowling in tandem with Steel, Majid struck four balls later as the opposition skipper Donald (21) edged his cut short straight to point before Steel collected his second scalp when Cliffe (0) edged behind to Josh Blake. Majid found more joy in his spell 10 runs later, breaching through the defence of right-handed Old for six.
In another turn, Potts and Green threatened to take the game away from the hosts, adding 38 runs for the eighth wicket as Derbyshire pushed past 200, chasing 238. Gardner picked up a timely wicket as Potts flicked aerially to silly mid on, where Ollie Sykes pouched a sharp grab.
The game was still in the balance as Derbyshire slowly moved towards the target, reaching 223/8 when Majid nicked off Green for a gutsy 44 and Thomas grabbed an athletic diving catch at first slip, turning the tide in Surrey’s favour.
With 12 runs required, Steel got the job done for Surrey as the Three Feathers secured a thrilling victory.
