Harinath and Ponting star on Day 3

Sumptuous centuries from Arun Harinath and debutant Ricky Ponting have dominated the third day’s play of the County Championship game between Derbyshire and Surrey.

Harinath hit 154 and Ponting is unbeaten on 120 as Surrey closed on 362-4, trailing Derbyshire’s first innings score of 452 by 90 runs.

With us starting the morning on 35-1, Derbyshire knew that early wickets would put them into a great position considering we were still over 400 runs behind. However, Harinath and Solanki made sure that that wasn’t going to happen, by batting sensibly on a pitch that was still really suited to the batsmen. Harinath was scoring fluently, taking a liking to the spin bowling of David Wainwright throughout the morning session, but Solanki found things a bit tougher. After being struck on the side yesterday by Mark Foottit, he suffered a barrage of short stuff and was clearly uncomfortable at the crease.

However, he managed to get through that spell and helped Harinath to his half century, but in the last over before lunch Solanki was caught off Durston for 35. A rather fortuitous wicket for the hosts, as the ball rebounded off ‘keeper Johnson and into the gleeful hands of short leg; not the greatest time to lose a wicket. We started the afternoon session on 137-2, and off just his second delivery Ponting got off the mark with a couple off Durston and immediately looked at home.

The Aussie legend ticked along at his usual effortless pace and supported the stubborn Harinath who didn’t give the Derbyshire attack a chance. He eased his way towards three figures and brought up his first century of the summer in perfect style with a six over long on off Durston. It had been a splendid innings and had come off 224 balls with 13 fours to accompany that maximum.

Around the time that Harinath reached 3 figures, it became somewhat clear that a few of the Derbyshire players were ill as they had to leave the field at numerous points. Umpire Nigel Cowley also fell unwell and Ian Salisbury had to stand at square leg in his place for a quarter of an hour or so. Ponting didn’t let that affect him though as he moved to his half century with a pull through midwicket off Wainwright; finally an overseas signing immediately making an impact. The partnership went past 100 and a second batting point was achieved just before the tea interval in which we went in on 255-2.

The pair continued on their merry way in the evening session, as Harinath found the boundary at regular intervals, bringing up a brilliant 150 40 minutes after tea. Attention then turned to Ponting who was heading towards his century, but before he could get there Harinath looked to pull Wainwright and was bowled for 154. A top knock from the young man, coming when it was very much needed by his side. A couple of overs later the moment came, when Ponting inelegantly pulled Durston to the boundary. His hundred had come off 149 balls with 13 fours and had been a pure master class like many we have seen before.

Zander de Bruyn joined Ponting and the pair took us towards the close before Wainwright bowled the South African for 11. It was a perfect time for Zander to get some runs but once again he has failed. Davies joined Ponting to take us to the close just the 4 down.

So what a day for Harinath and Ponting. Firstly, it is fantastic to see Arun get rewarded for his hard work. He has always been able to bat time at the crease, but has often batted at too slow a pace to get a substantial score. However, that wasn’t the case in this innings as he batted at a good tempo and showed huge confidence by bringing up his century with a six. In regards to Ponting, what more can you want from your overseas batsman in his first game? Simply superb throughout but that’s what you expect from the second leading run scorer in test history, right?

Looking at the game as a whole, it is very unlikely that a result will come out of it. After Derby reached 452, our job was just to make sure we didn’t lose the game, because if we did we wouldn’t only be bottom of Division One, but it would have seriously dented what confidence was left in the dressing room. I don’t think Derby will want to try and set up a game tomorrow because the pitch is still good to bat on and claiming 10 wickets in say 2 sessions, looks a tough ask.