3 wickets in an
over from Boyd Rankin late on Day 3 has put his side into a winnable position
heading into the final day of the Championship game at Guildford.
Surrey had eased
their way to 262-3 as the end of the day drew close, but Rankin stormed in from
the railway end and picked up de Bruyn, Meaker and Wilson in the space of 4
deliveries as we closed on 269-7.
Unexpected
morning rain meant that the start of play was delayed, and even though it
wasn't particularly heavy, it was persistent and wiped out the entirety of the
morning session. Play finally got under way at 2:30, with Burns and Harinath
resuming on 49-0 in reply to Warwickshire's 631-9 declared.
The pair had no
problems in reaching our first 50 opening partnership of the season, but the
visitors made an early breakthrough when Barker got one to leap at Burns, and
the left hander could only fend the ball to Clarke at slip for 34. However,
Vikram Solanki immediately looked at home at the crease, unleashing a variety
of boundaries around Woodbridge Road.
He overtook
Harinath in no time at all, and was seemingly dealing in fours, bringing up his
half century at just under a run a ball. The pair moved their partnership
beyond 100, but as he did at Derby last week, Solanki got out in the last over
of the session, LBW to Javid for 69, as we went to tea on 169-2.
Ponting came to
the crease and he and Harinath continued from where they left off at Derby last
week, with the former Australian skipper immediately looking comfortable at the
crease by hitting back to back boundaries off Jeetan Patel early in his
innings. While the crowd were fixated on Ponting, Harinath continued on his
merry way at the other end and brought up his half century with a smash over
extra cover for 4 off Javid.
Ponting then swept Javid over the temporary stand for a huge
six to get the crowd going, as Surrey were frustrating the Warwickshire
bowlers. However, Rikki Clarke was brought on and immediately made an impact
when Harinath drove in the air to Troughton at cover point to end his dogged
innings on 65. That brought the out of form de Bruyn to the crease who started
well with a cover drive and a flick down to fine leg off Wright to give him a
couple of early boundaries to build the confidence.
However, as they looked to take us to the close 3 down,
Rankin had other ideas. He first bowled de Bruyn for 17, before doing the same
to night-watchman Meaker two balls later, and then trapped Wilson LBW for 2
second ball to really put a cat amongst the pigeons. Ponting was watching
helplessly at the non-strikers end, and that wasn’t the last of the wickets, as
Roy was caught for 2 in the last over of the day off Barker, to leave us on
269-7 at the close.
With half an hour left, I thought that we had done well
today, but that has completely changed now. Harinath and Ponting were so
comfortable, and even de Bruyn was looking solid before he got out so the pitch
is still good for the batsmen, but they failed to apply themselves to the
situation. Losing 4 wickets in an over against Essex last Monday felt bad, but
losing 3 in one over tonight was arguably worse, as we have now got to hold
onto dear life to get a draw out of this game. Once again de Bruyn can’t find
form, and you can’t say the pitch is seaming around corners because it isn’t;
the last two he has batted on have been superb but he has a combined 28 from
those 2 innings.
Another missed opportunity for Roy, who had a chance
there to prove he has what it takes to dig out a much needed innings, but
falling late on means that he will probably go back out of the side unless he
can get runs tomorrow.
Ponting’s still there, unbeaten on 50, but with only
Tremlett, Dernbach and Keedy to come, we will most likely be batting for a
second time come 12 O’Clock tomorrow morning, with a big job on our hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment