Surrey produced another impeccable day of red-ball cricket in the Second XI Championship and built on their strong first day by adding 126 runs to their overnight score before limiting Somerset to 187 and enforcing the follow-on at Taunton Vale.
Yesterday’s centurion Stuart van der Merwe put on a tally of 151 runs with Ollie Sykes and finished on an impressive 136 before his batting partner was bowled over by JF Thomas for 73, leaving Surrey 435/5 after 102.3 overs.
Soon after, van der Merwe’s brilliant knock was also ended when Blaise Blaker got him caught by Thomas Rew but the visitors still managed to increase their total by 68 runs and end on 517 after the centurion’s dismissal. JF Thomas was the most profitable bowler for Somerset, returning figures of 4 for 77.
Having already posted a mammoth score on the board, Surrey gave no leeway to their hosts and continued their clinical display in the field, restricting Somerset to 187 all out.
Seamer Conor McKerr took the new ball and made it talk, getting AM Vaughan caught behind for 4 before disturbing the furniture of Somerset captain K Aldridge for nought, which left the hosts in trouble on 2 for 18. The situation became worse the very next ball from the other end when Luke Griffiths also got involved in the action and found JR Terry’s (10) outside edge that was comfortably held by Josh Blake.
GW Thomas and JF Thomas took the hosts to 45/3 when left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty picked up his first of four wickets in the form of JF Thomas for 9, getting him caught at slip with a well-looped delivery.
GW Thomas and Rew then combined for the hosts’ highest partnership, adding 74, before Griffiths pinned Thomas lbw for a well-made 67, reducing Somerset to 119 for 5 and breaking open their batting order.
From there on, it only cost Surrey 68 more runs to bowl over Somerset, collect a lead of 330 runs, and enforce the follow-on, with Griffiths and Moriarty sharing the final five wickets. The 17-year-old pacer returned impressive figures of 4/46 and the left-arm spinner got 4/50.
When the hosts returned to bat, Surrey’s new ball bowlers – Griffiths and McKerr – were again on song and gave the Somerset openers a hard time, with Griffiths eventually claiming his reward when he got JR Terry caught at short mid-on by Moriarty for 6.
After 13 testing overs, Somerset closed day two on 20 for 1, trailing Surrey’s first innings total by 310 runs.
