Dernbach bowls Surrey to nerve shredding win

27 May 2009

Jade Dernbach bowled Surrey to an extraordinarily tight victory as they won a low scoring match at the Brit Oval by just one run.

Dernbach, playing his first competitive game for two and a half weeks, was called upon to bowl the final over with the Hampshire Hawks needing 14 to win. It came down to the opposition requiring a boundary off the final ball and all Hamza Riazuddin could manage was a heave down to James Benning at deep cover.

In Benning’s attempt to catch the ball, he almost lost it, but did superbly to get to his feet and throw the ball to Gary Wilson who removed the bails at the bowler’s end to hand the Brown Caps the slimmest of victories.

The day did not get off to the best start for Surrey though, with Usman Afzaal and Mark Ramprakash both dismissed early with the score on just 22.

Stewart Walters and Scott Newman managed to rebuild the innings but when Newman was caught in the deep by Michael Carberry, Surrey were still only on 43 and were not scoring quickly.

Walters was the next man to go, bowled by Dimitri Mascheranas for another good knock of 30 off 22 balls and the score was on 66/4.

Grant Elliott was next down, run out by a direct hit from Liam Dawson going for a quick single and Spriegel was soon following, also run out, this time after a misunderstanding with Chris Schofield.

Schofield went next, caught behind off Billy Taylor but James Benning and Gary Wilson, two fine batsman to be coming in at numbers eight and nine, combined very well to take 20 runs off the final two overs, Benning in particular was impressive as he punted Taylor into the OCS Stand for six and followed it with a very well run two.

He was dismissed off the first ball of the final over but Wilson scored a crucial four off the penultimate ball and scampered through for a final single to end the innings on 125/8.

Skipper Usman Afzaal took a leaf from the Hawks’ own book when he put on off spinner Matthew Spriegel as an opening bowler and the tactic paid dividends straight away with Michael Lumb advancing up the pitch and being stumped by an alert Wilson.

Hampshire were soon two down when Jimmy Adams, anxious to get off the mark, pushed an attempted single to Chris Schofield but saw the stumps thrown down as he made a dramatic dive to the stumps at the bowlers end.

Sean Ervine was looking dangerous before he was next to fall, well caught by James Benning in the deep as he was attempting to smash Jade Dernbach into Oval tube station.

With Chris Benham and Michael Carberry at the crease, Hampshire then looked to be cruising to an easy victory but Grant Elliott’s slower ball once again proved the undoing of a Brown Cap opponent. He tossed one up to Carberry and the former Surrey player smacked it down the throat of Andre Nel at long off, who made no mistake.

Benham was still the danger man and with him at the crease, the Hawks were still confident. However, Chris Schofield came back on the next over and bowled him with a jaffer that drifted away, spun back and hit his off stump.

Surrey may have broken the partnership but Hampshire still had the likes of Mascheranas, Liam Dawson and Nick Pothas to turn to in their hour of need.

The first of the three to go was Dawson, who saw his stumps flattened by a viciously quick full delivery from Andre Nel with the score on 95.

Mascheranas and Pothas then built a mini partnership and seemed to have the visitors back on track again. Afzaal returned to Dernbach though and after narrowly missing out on a wicket with the first ball of his over, the Guildford seamer claimed Mascheranas with a quick, accurate off stump delivery that clean bowled him trying a brutal leg side slog, Hampshire were 107/7 and Surrey had the momentum.

Pothas was still dangerous though and was only dismissed by a genuinely breathtaking bit of fielding from Schofield. New man at the crease Hamaza Riazuddin pushed the ball to mid on, but the Greek wicket keeper had backed up too far from the bowlers end and Schofield, with one stump to aim at, was unerring in his accuracy as he sent him packing and leave Hampshire 108/8.

Imran Tahir joined Riazuddin and the two set about trying to drag their county over the line, running hard and taking runs however they came and with two overs to go, Hampshire needed nineteen.

Grant Elliott was called upon to bowl the penultimate set of six and delivered in spades. His first delivery was a dot; his second the perfect slower ball to clean bowl a slogging Tahir; his third was simply blocked by new man Billy Taylor; his fourth and fifth went for singles and his sixth was pushed to long off with Hampshire opting to preserve the strike rather than take another single.

This left Dernbach with fourteen to defend off the last and the first ball was inside edged for four – despite a despairing chase from Gary Wilson, who could be the only wicket keeper to attempt a desperate boundary pull back this year.

His next was left well alone by Taylor, who hoped for a wide and got nothing and the next was just sent down to Benning at deep cover for one – Hampshire needed nine off three. That equation then became more simple when Riazuddin clunked the fifth ball hard into space on the off side for a boundary. Four off one.

However, he could not repeat the feat off the final ball and when Wilson gleefully raced to the other end to remove the bails, a famous victory was completed.