Surrey need nine wickets for the victory on the final day of their Second XI Championship match with Middlesex at LSE, New Malden
Surrey captain Josh Blake declared on the third day, with a lead of 466 runs at New Malden. The Surrey bowlers will return on the final day needing nine wickets, while Middlesex require 312 runs for victory.
Arjun Gill and Josh Blake started the third day with the Three Feathers 204/2. Gill was the first depart, caught at point off the bowling of Luke Hollman for a well made 75. 19 runs later, captain Blake had to head back to the pavilion for gutsy 91 from 193 deliveries. Martin Andersson took a brilliant one-handed catch at slip off the bowling of leg spinner Hollman.
Ollie Sykes – the Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year for 2023, continued to attack as Surrey looked to accelerate the run-rate in order to set up a declaration. Sykes struck two sixes to continue a promising start to the season. Stuart van der Merwe was the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 308 , caught in the off side for 11.
Sykes scored 54 from 66 balls before he was trapped lbw by Walallawita to leave Surrey 318/6. The wicket of Sykes meant that McKerr took the role of lead aggressor from his partner. His brutal assault of 45 from 46 balls, supplemented by Tommy Ealham’s 37 took Surrey close to the 400 mark.
Ealham was dismissed caught in the off side after mis-timing a Kaushal bouncer. Majid added 6 before he was caught at deep square leg off Kaushal with the score on 401/8. At this point, Josh Blake declared with a lead of 466.
Middlesex’s openers Josh de Caires and Luke Hollman set about chasing the huge target. Surrey’s opening bowlers Matt Dunn (0/20) and James Taylor (0/11) each bowled a tight opening spell, but were unable to find the breakthrough. As the ball went softer and the sun shone on New Malden, the Middlesex opening batters went on the offensive.
Late in the day, Tommy Ealham removed Hollman for 80 in the 40th over to leave Middlesex 146/1. They added nine more runs to leave Middlesex 155/1 at stumps, with de Caires 64 not out and Noah Cornwell 0 not out.
The equation is simple heading into the final day. Middlesex require 312 runs for victory, with Surrey requiring nine wickets.
