Wells puts Sussex in strong position

Luke Wells has been at it again for Sussex against Surrey, as the visitors have taken up a good position after Day two of the Championship game at the Oval.

He scored two centuries against us last season in the two Championship games, and has registered another today, with his team reaching 204-2 at the close, trailing by 147.

Starting the morning on 301-7, the tail did well to take us to a 4^th batting point, with Batty hitting 37 and Tremlett 34, but the final 3 wickets were all taken by Chris Jordan, registering figures of 5-92. You wait years for a Championship 5-fer, and two come along in the space of two matches. Something’s not right there.

The bowlers started tightly, and to what turned out to be the last ball before lunch, Linley had Chris Nash LBW to make it Surrey’s session. They continued to restrict the run rate into the afternoon, and it was great to see Tremlett with the ball for the first time in 9 months or so. However, Wells was at the crease, and he and Michael Yardy patiently took themselves towards tea, before Batty had the former England all-rounder caught by Burns with the score exactly on 100.

The conditions were perfect for batting. The weather hot and tiring for our bowlers, the pitch not proving many difficulties for the batsman, and Sussex took advantage in the final session of the day. New skipper Ed Joyce was Wells’ partner, and the pair gradually began to up the Sussex run rate to over two an over, with Wells reaching his century off 230 balls with a boundary off Solanki’s part time spin. It certainly hadn’t been the most fluent hundred you will see, but vital for his side, as they closed on 204-2.

After getting to 350 this morning, I would have thought Graeme Smith would have been disappointed that his bowlers could only get two wickets in the remaining 2 and a half sessions. But it shows that the pitch is good to bat on, and if you don’t pick up wickets early with the new ball, then you will struggle.

We can take a new ball first thing tomorrow morning, which will prove a very important passage of play in the context of the game. We have to make inroads, or a first innings deficit would be likely, but one positive from today is that Sussex haven’t got away from us. They’ve scored at a slow rate throughout their innings, meaning that 2 or 3 early wickets tomorrow would change the complexion of the game, but if they can stave off the new ball, we could be in trouble.

We can take inspiration from our innings, where we lost 5 wickets in the final session mainly due to the new ball, and hopefully can replicate that tomorrow morning and restrict them to below 300.