The second team was away on its travels for the second week running – this time to the County Ground at Taunton to take on Somerset. The skipper for this match was Stewart Walters who won the toss and asked the home side to bat.

There had been a good deal of rain in the West Country, the ball swung early on and the outfield was sluggish. Somehow the Somerset openers Neil Edwards (29) and Arul Suppiah (44) managed to put on 56 for the first wicket when Edwards was bowled by Tom Glover. There was an early blow for Surrey, however, when Jimmy Ormond limped off the field with a hamstring injury after he had bowled only four overs. Towards the end of the morning a tidy spell of bowling by James Benning and Tom Glover and a wicket for Chris Schofield in his first over put Surrey in a strong position with Somerset on 113 for five at lunch.

The new batsman after lunch was 18 year old Mike Johnson. He joined wicket-keeper Sam Spurway at the crease and together they changed the impetus of the innings with a stand of 163. Spurway fell to Schofield (two for 71) for 70 with ten fours after an innings of two and a half hours but Johnson continued to attack the Surrey bowling until he ran out of partners with an unbeaten innings of 124 (187 balls 17 fours). Tahir Afridi mopped up the tail taking three for 40 and the innings came to a close on 355. Tom Glover finished with two for 60 and James Benning three for 52.

Eleven overs of the first day remained for Surrey to bat. Walters was unfortunately out lbw for 22 and the day ended with Surrey 34 for one. On the morning of the second day Surrey seemed to struggle against the seam bowling of Mark Turner and Gareth Andrew, loosing Alan Cope, night-watchman Tom Glover and Rory Hamilton-Brown in the first thirteen overs of the day, to be 99 for four. The situation was changed by the first of two extraordinary innings by James Benning who was in sparkling form. He thrashed the opposition bowling for sixteen fours, reaching fifty in 27 balls and was out, bowled by Turner, for 77 from 43 deliveries. After Benning’s dismissal his role was taken on by Chris Schofield who scored 75 not out from 141 balls with two sixes and eight fours. With good support from the lower order batsmen Schofield shared 50 run partnerships for the seventh and eighth wickets with Peter Young (20) and Jak Martin (27) and added 65 with Jade Dernbach in an unbroken ninth wicket stand. Dernbach’s innings of 37 not out was short and sweet. In 40 balls he hit three sixes and three fours and displayed a number of original shots not normally recommended in the coaching manuals! With the fourth batting point secured, the Surrey innings was declared, 49 runs behind, at 306 for eight. The Somerset bowlers had had to toil during the second part of this innings with Turner (three for 54), Andrew (three for 97) and Woodman (two for 60) the wicket takers.

Somerset started their second innings after tea and some-one seemed to have pressed the self-destruct button. After Jade Dernbach (three for 36) and Tahir Afridi (one for 14) had made early inroads to reduce the home side to 27 for three, Carl Gazzard (33) and Sam Spurway (20) dug in to add 45 for the fourth wicket. Then Tom Glover was brought in to the attack and he accounted for them both to take the score to 81 for five. The closing overs witnessed a little procession of batsmen to and from the middle. Schofield produced two excellent deliveries to dismiss the first innings centurion Mike Johnson and Daniel Davis and at the close Somerset were in trouble at 118 for eight.

On the third morning Surrey lost the services of Jade Dernbach who had to return to London to seek treatment for an old injury he had aggravated. In his absence Tom Glover took the first over of the day and snapped up the remaining two wickets quickly to finish with a Surrey career-best of four for 33. Somerset had crumbled for 151 all out and Surrey needed 201 to win.

Alan Cope and Stewart Walters opened the innings and put on 25 before Cope was lbw to Abbott for 15. Rory Hamilton-Brown followed him back to the pavilion 17 runs later but his place was then taken by James Benning. Walters and Benning formed a brilliant partnership. Benning was, once again, in scintillating form hitting five powerful sixes and 13 fours as he raced to 102 from an astonishing 59 balls. Walters’s innings was no less valuable. Batting throughout the innings he made 73 with two sixes and 11 fours from 120 balls. Together they took the visiting side to 201 for two – victory by eight wickets with the maximum 22 points to Somerset’s seven.

This report was written by Second Team Scorer Jennifer Booth

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