Hosts in control but Surrey stand firm

Warwickshire are in control after Day 2 of the LVCC Division One match against Surrey at Edgbaston after scoring 571, but Surrey have stood firm ending the day on 109-1.

At the start of the day, the Surrey bowlers would have been looking to bowl out the hosts for less than 350, and bat before lunch. However, the Warwickshire pair of Troughton and Woakes had other ideas, as they batted extremely comfortably. They both went past personal milestones, with Woakes passing fifty and the skipper completing his second hundred in successive matches. Surrey finally made the breakthrough on what turned out to be the last ball before lunch, when Troughton was caught behind off Kartik. But it was certainly the host’s morning, as they went to the break 429-7.

In his first over after the break, Kartik picked up his 3^rd wicket of the innings when Barker was caught behind without scoring. However, Woakes was still there, and with New Zealander Jeetan Patel, they confirmed to everyone that there batting line up was very strong, and very deep. They put on the record 9^th wicket partnership for Warwickshire against Surrey, as Woakes completed his 6^th First Class hundred, and Jeetan Patel a quickfire half century.

With the partnership on 127, Patel was caught and bowled by Murali Kartik off a top edge, but with the score passing 550, Surrey had been well and truly batted out of the game. The innings finally came to an end when Boyd Rankin was run out, and 571 looked a formidable score. Kartik finished with 4 wickets and was the pick of the bowlers, but it was disappointing how much the last 4 wickets accumulated.  Another negative was the amount of extras we gave away, with a ridiculously large total of 60, including 10 no balls from Jordan.

Burns and Ansari opened yet again, and started well, but with the score on 29 Ansari was trapped in front by Woakes for 10. Once again a start for Zaf, where he looks comfortable at the crease, but then he gets out. He needs to start getting more meaningful scores, but I still don’t think that he is the answer to our opening problems.

Arun Harinath completed the triplet of Academy graduates at the top of the order, and he and Burns set about digging in for the final session of the day. They batted calmly and positively, with the 50 partnership coming up inside 17 overs. Burns went to his fifty with a single of Rankin. It had come off just 70 balls with 9 fours, and it was his second successive Championship half century.

They took us to the close on 109-1, with Harinath 6 short of his first 50 of the season. A very good unbeaten partnership of 83 between the two youngsters, who looked at ease at the crease even though Burns was dropped on the first ball of the innings. However, he has so far capitalized on that and Harinath has looked as good as he ever has in the first team, as he tries to earn a contract for next season.

We obviously can’t win the game, and with a follow on score of over 400, we have a tough task to save the game. However, if Burns and Harinath can kick on tomorrow morning, and if the other batsman can back them up, we would be hoping to get maximum batting points and try and avoid the follow on.