Second XI draw with Leicestershire after nail-biting climax

22 May 2009

Surrey Second XI drew with their Leicestershire rivals after an exciting climax to a rain affected match at Grace Road this evening.

Although Surrey 2nd XI’s three day friendly match against Leicestershire at Grace Road was badly affected by the weather, it managed to produce an exciting finale.

Chris Murtagh won the toss and batted first. On a sporting bouncy wicket Surrey lost wickets through the morning session to be 116-6 at lunch. James Benning was the mainstay of the innings with a boundary-laden 70 from 77 balls but the only other resistance came from debutant Chris Cheslin who scored 42 not out. Frequent showers caused interruptions to the play and only 64 overs were possible on the first day. Surrey reached 187-9 at stumps. One wicket caused some amusement as George Edwards was stumped while sitting on his posterior having been bumped by the bowler.

On the second morning Surrey declared their innings on the overnight score. Only ten overs were played before lunch during which Leicestershire advanced to 26-0. Play did not resume until 5o’clock. The Leicestershire openers Josh Cobb and Sundeep Patel got their side off to a good start with an opening stand of 65 but afterwards wickets began to clatter. Cobb was out for 62, caught by keeper Jon Batty to give Daryl King his first wicket for the 2nd XI and at the close the home side was 114-5. Wickets were shared out among the Surrey bowlers with Daryl King taking 2-15, Tim Linley 1-19 from 11 overs, James Benning 1-12 and Chris Cheslin 1-40.

The weather looked more promising on the last day and Leicestershire declared their innings closed to set up an opportunity to play the match to a conclusion. Surrey openers Jon Batty (30) and Chris Jordan, whose 54 came from only 55 balls, provided an stand of 83 and with skipper Chris Murtagh adding his now almost customary half century (51 from 66 balls) Surrey declared on 182-4, leaving Leicestershire to chase 256 for victory.

With knocks of 29 from Cobb, 45 from Patel and 45 from Alex Roberts with two enormous sixes the home side paced their way towards the required score. They had, however, reckoned without a fine spell of controlled menace from Tim Linley. His 6-66, a career-best for Surrey seconds, brought Surrey to the edge of victory as, assisted by Simon King who took 2-74 in 16 overs, he reduced Leicestershire to 243-9 at stumps. Leicestershire were 13 runs short and Surrey were one wicket short of victory but interest and tension in the match went to the last ball in this nail biting finish.

Report by Second XI scorer Jennifer Booth