Tense Draw for Second XI at Charterhouse School

20 June 2009

The Surrey Second XI narrowly failed to secure an excellent victory against their Middlesex counterparts at Charterhouse School, fighting all the way on the final evening of their three day match before coming away with a good solid draw.

Against the backdrop of the imposing façade of Charterhouse School, Captain Chris Murtagh won the toss and elected to bat first. When he was out at 39-3 less than an hour later he may have wondered whether he had made the right choice as an experienced Middlesex attack of David Burton, Tyron Henderson and Alan Richardson ripped open the top order.

Surrey’s cavalry arrived in the form of James Benning and Laurie Evans who added 53 for the fourth wicket before a misjudged run terminated Benning’s innings, run out for 58 from 84 balls with a six and eight fours.

Evans featured in two more good partnerships, sharing stands of 71 with Stewart Walters and 48 with the Sri Lankan Test player Malinga Bandara. Evans was eventually caught at slip for 72, a patient innings from 159 balls while Walters scored 56 from 133.

Bandara entertained the spectators with a breezy 58 from 65 balls with nine fours and with contributions of 28 from Alex Tudor and 30 by Simon King Surrey were able to take their total to 330 all out and maximum batting points.

For Middlesex, seamers Henderson took 2-43 and Richardson 2-10 while the spinners Dawid Malan and Sam Robson finished with 2-75 and 2-35 respectively and the first day closed with the Middlesex openers, Billy Godleman and Sam Robson on 28-0.

On the second morning Robson was trapped lbw by Tim Linley and Simon King bowled Daniel Housego, but with Godleman apparently unmoveable Middlesex came into lunch on 117-2.

A stand of 165 between Godleman and Dawid Malan ended just before tea when Godleman fell lbw to Linley for 124 from 248 balls with eleven fours. Malan also completed a century, 125 from 172 balls with 16 boundaries before he was caught at long on by George Edwards to give Bandara his first wicket for Surrey.

The Surrey bowlers had made both centurions work hard for their runs and although neither batsman seemed in much difficulty they did not find it easy to score quickly.

After tea a quick 46 from Ben Scott allowed Middlesex to declare the innings closed on 350-6. Linley took 3-99 from 26 overs, bowling with his usual enthusiasm and Bandara 2-101 from 25.3 overs.

The Middlesex declaration, 20 runs ahead of Surrey, left the home side an awkward 13 overs to negotiate before the close and the day ended with Surrey on 11-2. Benning and Evans again rescued the team with a partnership of 108.

Evans was stumped for 38 with the score on 179-6 but Benning batted on adding 53 with Alex Tudor (39 from 53 balls) before he was bowled by Malan for 82 from 131 balls.

Surrey were all out for 234, setting Middlesex 215 to win in a minimum of 32 overs and were soon among the wickets as Middlesex faltered to 24-3 against the opening attack of Linley and Tudor.

The introduction of spin bowlers, Simon King and Malinga Bandara, further reduced them to 73-6 but John Simpson and Kabir Toor then steadied the Middlesex innings, taking the away side to 144-6 for the draw at the close. Pick of the bowlers were Linley (2-14) and King (2-30) as Surrey took ten points from the game.

Report by Second XI scorer Jennifer Booth