Amar Virdi (6/49), James Taylor (3/33) and Ben Geddes (81*) were the pick of the players for Surrey on day two of their Second XI Championship match against Warwickshire at Guildford, as this tightly-contested fixture moves towards what looks like an exciting finish.
Surrey showed great promise on the field and bowled out the visitors for 231 before putting 127/2 on the scoreboard themselves and leading Warwickshire by 118 runs going into the third day.
After Warwickshire’s steady start last evening (62/0), the Three Feathers didn’t allow the opening pair of Amir Khan and Hamza Shaikh to settle down again, breaking the partnership in the very first over of the morning.
Without disturbing his overnight score of 19, Shaikh was caught behind the stumps by Josh Blake off James Taylor, who got one to nip away from good length and found the outside edge of the opener’s bat.
26 runs later, with the visitors on 88/1, Taylor reaped rewards of his impressive opening spell as he got Ethan Brookes caught behind by Blake for a score of 13.
Chris Benjamin then joined Khan in the middle as the duo anchored the visitor’s innings for the time being. After combining for 64 runs and taking the Bears to 152/2, Khan’s well-constructed knock of 83 was ended by Virdi in the 49th over.
It was in the afternoon session when Virdi started turning the screw and fully imposed himself on the game as Warwickshire lost seven wickets for 72 runs.
In quick succession, the off-spinner dismissed Callum Nicholls and DA Khan in identical fashion, both caught sharply at short-leg by Gumbs for 0.
With the Bears on 167/6, the duo of Taylor and Blake was in action again as the former removed George Maddy for nought, carving the batter open and inducing an outside edge that was grabbed smartly by the wicketkeeper.
Amidst the batting collapse, wicketkeeper-batter Benjamin was holding one end for the visitors and crossed 50 with a flick off the hips in the 60th over. Shortly after reaching the milestone, the 23-year-old was beaten by Yousef Majid’s flight and dip and caught at slip by Conor McKerr for 51, with Warwickshire 180/7.
From the other end, Virdi took his fourth when he trapped captain Danny Briggs lbw on 13, scorecard reading 188/8 before tail-enders Henry Brookes (31) and Craig Miles (16) offered resistance and added crucial runs, dragging the Bears just beyond Surrey’s first innings total.
Ultimately, Virdi dismissed both and concluded with excellent figures of 6/49 as Warwickshire trickled to 231, leading the hosts by 9 runs.
Surrey openers Geddes and Gumbs navigated the new ball carefully and strolled steadily to 48 in their second innings before the first wicket fell to Haydon as he found the edge of Gumbs’ bat for 12.
Geddes, playing assertive cricket, then shared a 50-run stand with Nico Reifer during which the captain completed his half-century with a glorious on-drive for four off Brookes. The duo took the Three Feather to 98/1 before Reifer was caught in the slips off Miles’ bowling for 13.
Next to the crease was the in-form Blake (13*), who added an unbeaten 29 with Geddes as Surrey closed a fascinating day of cricket on 127/2 from 42 overs, leading Warwickshire by 118 runs.
Geddes captain’s knock of unbeaten 81, brimming with elegant shot-making, was the highlight of the evening session.
A match report of day one can be found here.
