Surrey threaten unthinkable before drawing with Somerset

Surrey 428 (Sibley 100, Burns 75, Foakes 57, Smith 51, Aldridge 5-64) and 123 for five (Lawrence 53*) drew with Somerset 285 (Lammonby 100, Renshaw 87, Gregory 50, Metal 4-50) and 351 (Gregory 80, Goldsworthy 58, Overton 52*, Lammonby 51, Metal 5-96)

There are almost 5,000 miles between The Oval and the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and whereas one venue was packed out on Monday night, the opposite was virtually empty. However for eight overs, Surrey saved tempo with the record-breaking scoring charges posted by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, giving Somerset an actual scare before this match petered out right into a draw.

Smith, who performed the shot of the day when he swung Craig Overton into the third tier of the Micky Stewart Pavilion, holed out to Matt Renshaw at long-on off Gregory’s first ball however Ollie Pope appeared an excellent accomplice for Lawrence, slicing Kasey Aldridge over the brief level boundary for six at the same time as one hand got here off the bat.

However after Pope misplaced his leg stump trying to slash Aldridge away by the off aspect as soon as extra, Surrey misplaced their bearings: Jamie Overton miscued a return catch to Aldridge, Rory Burns picked out deep sq. leg and Dom Sibley top-edged an tried pull again to Gregory. Lawrence reached a 30-ball 50 however could not maintain the strike, and the gamers shook arms with 5 overs unbowled.

The wild conclusion was out of kilter with a quiet closing day, during which Gregory had virtually single-handedly saved the sport with his second half-century of the match, his second as everlasting captain. Somerset’s in a single day lead was simply 61 with 4 wickets in hand, however stands of 94 and 89 with Aldridge and Overton respectively took trip of the sport.

It appeared clear that the second new ball can be the lacking ingredient for Surrey after the primary one had misplaced its spice. Kemar Roach broke by shortly after lunch, within the fifth over after the changeover, with a magnificence that took Aldridge’s outdoors edge on its approach by to Ben Foakes.

Surrey used their spinners from one finish and their seamers on the different, attempting to create probabilities and breathe some life into the sport on a bitterly chilly afternoon. They appealed desperately for leg-before wicket and caught-behind probabilities, always creating half-chances with no breakthrough.

However Gregory batted on, surviving an opportunity on 69 when Roach dropped a skier at deep sq. leg off Gus Atkinson’s bowling. He finally fell for 80 to Cameron Metal’s legspin, slapping to backward level, and Metal accomplished his second five-wicket haul of the season when Migael Pretorius skied him to cowl and Shoaib Bashir was pinned lbw.

Metal is an unlikely man to be main the wicket-taking charts in Division One after two rounds, with his 14 wickets already greater than double the quantity he managed final 12 months (six). However he has labored laborious on his bowling by the winter, coaching with New South Wales and Sydney Sixers in Australia, and has loved the chance to be Surrey’s foremost spinner with Will Jacks on the IPL.

Somerset’s first-day collapse of seven for 20 left them behind for the remainder of the sport, however their coach, Jason Kerr, mentioned he was happy with the “resilience” that his aspect confirmed. “Other than about 40 minutes on day one, we have now been excellent on this sport, notably on days two and three with the ball after which in the present day, the resilience that the blokes demonstrated.

“You thought we have been attending to the purpose the place we have been shutting the sport down – however then we gave them a sniff. However equally, the best way Lewis and Kasey bowled particularly to close the sport down… I feel the draw was a good end result. Lewis has been excellent. He is in nice kind, and main brilliantly. Lengthy could it proceed.”

Surrey have been disenchanted to not recover from the road, however will welcome Dan Worrall again into their squad once they face Kent on Friday and their seamers will probably be happy to have a Dukes ball again of their arms. “It was a tricky slog for us,” Metal mentioned. “All credit score to them for the best way they performed on pitch.”