After an absorbing game against Hampshire, Surrey were back at New Malden for their fifth Second XI Championship fixture of the season, taking on their London rivals Middlesex in this round. However, rain decided the fate of day one, with only 91 balls bowled before the umpires called stumps.
Captain Ben Geddes won the toss under overcast London skies and decided that Surrey will have a bat first. Geddes walked out with Ryan Patel to face MK Andersson and N Sharma’s new-ball burst.
The left-and-right combination of Surrey’s openers started assertively. By the end of the eighth over, Surrey had raced to 42/0, striking five fluent fours and a six. All the fours came from the bat of Geddes – three through the off-side and two on the leg-side – while Patel pulled an Andersson bouncer over square leg for the solitary six.
The first ball of the ninth, however, brought an end to the promising opening stand as BJ Salter got Geddes caught by Andersson at mid-off for 24.
With Surrey on 42/1, Cam Steel strolled out to join Patel in the middle. The duo safely negotiated Middlesex’s bowling in cloudy overhead conditions and added 27 runs together before the rain started pouring at New Malden, and an early lunch was taken just after noon.
In their unbeaten stand in the morning session, both Patel and Steel played a few cracking cover drives, with three of those shots crossing the ropes.
By the afternoon, with no indication of the rain stopping down, the early lunch was converted to the end of the day. Patel (33 not out) and Steel (7 not out) will resume Surrey’s innings tomorrow morning, with Surrey on 69/1.
