Bears closing in on victory

Warwickshire are in pole position after Day three of the LVCC Division One match against Surrey at Edgbaston, after bowling the visitors out for 286 and enforcing the follow on.

After their 83 run partnership yesterday, Harinath and Burns were split up as the former edged behind without adding to his overnight score. A good innings from Arun, but it was disappointing that he went so early this morning.

De Bruyn and Roy barely troubled the scorers either side of a rain break, as Burns was losing partners at the other end. After lunch, Davies was the first man to go, for just 13, and Surrey were 6 down when Burns was caught behind for 77. A great innings from the young keeper, who is increasingly showing his credentials, as he became the first Surrey batsman to hit consecutive half centuries in the LVCC this season.

After bowling erratically, Jordan didn’t do much to impress with the bat, as he was trapped in front for 15. Batty and Meaker put on a good partnership for the 8th wicket to make sure we got one batting point, as they went to the tea interval on 224-7, trailing by 347. 

Straight after the break though, the skipper was out LBW to Barker for 28. Even though his bowling has gone downhill, Lewis batted as well as he has done this season, putting on a partnership to take us to a second batting point. 

But Meaker went on 41 to give Rikki Clarke a 4th wicket. Good stuff from Meaker though, showing much more grit and determination than some upper order batsman. After Lewis and Kartik took part in some late order hitting, the Indian spinner was caught in the gully, and Surrey had been bowled out for 286, 285 behind the hosts first innings score. Apart from Burns and a couple of the lower order, no real fight from the batsman, which is extremely disappointing to see.

Unsurprisingly the follow on was enforced, and Burns and Ansari had to try and survive 18 overs. They did so, finishing on 38-0, to give us some chance of forcing a draw tomorrow.

To be honest, it is a very slim chance however, as we have a host of batsman either out of form or too inexperienced to stick it out in a situation like this. de Bruyn and Davies haven’t been anywhere near their best form all season, and they’re are most senior batsman at the moment. Jason Roy lacks consistency, and Burns, Harinath and Ansari only have a small amount of First Class games between them.

So overall, it doesn’t look good does it? We have a tough task to come out of the game with a draw, and an even stiffer task to stay in this division next season. Durham have finally won their first game of the season today, when they skittled out Middlesex. The one time you want Middlesex to win and they don’t. If we do manage to come out with a draw, then it would give us some much needed confidence for the massively vital game at Chester-le-Street in a couple of weeks time.