Friday 25 May 2012

Bears closing in despite Batty's 10



Warwickshire are closing in on victory in the LVCC Division One match against Surrey at the Kia Oval, largely thanks to a hundred partnership between William Porterfield and Tim Ambrose. They will require a further 41 tomorrow morning, with 5 second innings wickets left.

The morning started with the game in the balance, with Rudolph and Maynard looking to build a competitive lead, and Warwickshire looking to remove one or both of the overnight batsman early. And it was the visitors who made the perfect start, when Maynard was caught at silly point in the second over of the day, and Rudolph was bowled not long after by a good ball from Jeetan Patel. It was Rudolph’s last innings for Surrey, and he hasn’t been at his best, scoring just 229 runs at and average of 22.90.

Batty then looked to hit Patel over the top, but could only find Woakes at mid-wicket and went for 0. A poor shot from Batty, and we had fallen to 165-7 with a lead of just 140. Warwickshire would have been looking to wrap the innings up quickly but Jordan and Lewis had other ideas, as the pair batted sensibly to get the lead up to some respectability. Lewis was holding back a bit from his usual type of innings, but still found the boundary off the bad balls, and Jordan played a watchful innings looking to hold the whole thing together.

On 31, Lewis looked to work Patel over the leg side but found Porterfield and the partnership had been broken. It had been worth 54, and was vital to give Surrey any sort of chance when they had their turn to bowl later. Jordan was taking Surrey towards lunch 8 down, but in the last over before the break, he was trapped in front by Patel for 40, the New Zealander’s 6th wicket. He has had his critics but it was a gutsy innings from Jordan, and if he had got out for next to nothing, then the lead wouldn’t of got anywhere near 200.

And the innings was completed when Woakes bowled Dernbach with a yorker, as he looked to launch the England bowler down the ground. Surrey all out for 245, and Warwickshire had 222 to get.

Jade Dernbach got Surrey off to a fantastic start, when on the 5th ball of the innings, he trapped Chopra in front without scoring. A big wicket, considering how well he played in the first innings. The bowlers stopped the Warwickshire batsman from getting off to a quick start, with Dernbach and Lewis applying firm pressure. And the pressure proved dividends, as Batty was introduced into the attack, and made an immediate impact, having Westwood caught fantastically by Maynard at slip.

In his very next over, Batty had Troughton LBW as the opposition’s skipper looked to sweep and missed. And the off spinner had his 9th in the game, when Maddy looked to launch him down the ground but struck it back at the bowler, who held onto a sharp catch. Warwickshire 37-4. However, Ambrose and Porterfield got together and started to build a partnership that could prove to be match winning.

They took their side to the tea break 4 down for 82, requiring a further 140 for victory. RHB opened up with himself after the tea break, but didn’t cause many alarms, apart from a stumping appeal which was turned down by umpire Milns. Whatever Surrey chucked at the batsman, they had an answer for it, looking at relative comfort at the crease, showing that if you can get in on this pitch, run scoring is pretty easy.

Batty was working hard from the Pavilion and eventually had further success, when he trapped Porterfield LBW for 66, to claim his 10th wicket in the match. It was his first 10fer for Surrey, and even though it may be in a losing cause, it is a heck of an effort. The seamers were rotating from the Vauxhall end but RHB surprisingly held Meaker back after the tea interval, but with the wicket of Porterfield, he was brought on.

However, the Porterfield wicket was the last of the day as not even Meaker could dismiss Clarke or Ambrose, who took their side to the close on 181-5, requiring a further 41 to win.

A very disappointing end to the day then, as at 37-4, we were firm favourites to win the game. However, our batting has let us down again, and not just in 1 innings, but in both. Davies, de Bruyn, Rudolph, RHB and Maynard all failed to reach a half century, on a pitch that looked good to bat on if you could get in. Massive credit to Gareth Batty though, as he always work extremely hard on his game, and often comes up with a big wicket or two, so deserves his current match figures of 10-129.

The way Ambrose and Clarke were playing, it seems that they will knock the runs over comfortably tomorrow, but you never know, and if Batty could nip one or two early, then it will certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons. 

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