Ramprakash Century the Highlight on a Slow Day at Lord's

2 July 2009

Mark Ramprakash scored century number 106 against his former county to give Surrey a narrow seven run advantage after the first innings. An attritional day of cricket at Lord’s leaves the game edging towards a draw after Middlesex closed on 38 for none at stumps.

Mark Butcher added only one to his overnight score of 48 before he was caught at first slip off Chris Silverwood, when the seamer found some good bounce from the Nursery End. The remainder of the first hour saw Surrey score just 21 runs as Middlesex bowled well, but Surrey batted very cautiously. Mark Ramprakash and Usman Afzaal were both very patient and did not force proceedings against a still fairly new ball. The Middlesex attack does not lend itself to swinging the ball and caused the batsmen little concern, but what they did was bowl a consistent line. When Murali Kartik came back into the attack it was more of the same from him, as per day one. He had no interest in trying to bowl Ramprakash out as he bowled into Ramprakash’s legs and the Surrey number three had little option but to pad most away. Usman had more chances to score and the pair had an easier time once the new ball was taken after 87 overs and the quick men were bought back. The pair took Surrey to 260 for three at lunch as Ramprakash had managed just 23 runs in the session after some negative bowling.

In the fourth over after lunch Ramprakash had a scare on the third ball from Steve Finn, when he inside edged just wide of David Nash behind the stumps for four. The false shot though appeared to focus him more as he then pulled the next ball to the boundary, as he jumped on a slightly short ball to move onto 97. Then two balls later he finished the over with his 106th First-Class century, when he clipped a full ball off his stumps through mid-wicket to the boundary once more. After an extremely patient innings he went to 101 in a flourish and raised his bat for the nineteenth time at Lord’s in his career.

Usman would reach fifty when he guided his eighth four to third man off Silverwood shortly after Ramprakash brought up his hundred. Usman did not go on like his partner though and after the second hundred partnership of the Surrey innings of 109, Usman would depart when he pulled Finn to deep square-leg when on 58.

Kartik then went more aggressive and moved to around the wicket as Middlesex had the breakthrough. Kartik would then pick up a few quick wickets from the Nursery End to make the game more even. He was finding turn from the pitch, but it was his drift that caught Stewart Walters on the crease, LBW for six. Ramprakash had upped his scoring rate after he had reached 100, but he would be dismissed in the same manner as Walters, for 136. It was a patient and disciplined innings, in which he struck 17 fours and had been at the crease for 306 balls. The score was 349 for six and it would be 349 for seven just two balls later when Alex Tudor went for a duck to Kartik.

Chris Jordan came in at number seven and was playing a very mature innings as runs were hard to come by. He had reached 18 by the time tea had come around as he waited for anything with width from the spinners and cut well to the fence on two occasions. He was taking Surrey towards 400 with Murtaza Hussain, but it was not quick enough to gain maximum batting points. Murtaza would then be Kartik’s fourth wicket, caught at slip by Shaun Udal for 13 with the score on 378. Andre Nel came in and smashed two boundaries off Finn, but was caught by Nick Compton on the boundary for nine after giving Surrey the lead.

Kartik finished with five wickets when he had Simon King caught behind for a duck, leaving Jordan 34 not out. All of his wickets coming from around the wicket and forcing the batsmen to play, if he used this tactic earlier perhaps Middlesex could have done better with the ball.

Surrey had 18 overs to bowl at Middlesex before stumps on the third day, and they bowled very well. Andre Nel and Chris Jordan were again very consistent and gave the openers nothing to hit. Billy Godleman and Nick Compton were both looking to be that at the close and played very defensively. The pitch offered little help to the seamers and so Mark Butcher turned to the spin of Simon King and Usman Afzaal. However, Godleman and Compton saw out the day comfortably taking the total to 38 and gain a lead of 31 runs.