Scrapping Surrey go down in Bath
Published 10 June 2007
A superb spell of bowling by Chris Schofield in the middle of Somerset’s innings could not save Surrey, as James Hildreth guided the home side to victory by three wickets with 13 deliveries to spare.
Somerset won the toss and asked Surrey to bat first. In the absence of James Benning, Scott Newman joined Ali Brown at the top of the order and together the pair gave Surrey their typical fiery start.
However with the score on 45 Somerset struck in consecutive overs to have Brown caught behind before trapping Newman lbw for 12. Mark Ramprakash and Rikki Clarke went about repairing the damage until Charl Willoughby struck again as Cameron White plucked a Ramprakash trail blazer out of the air at backward point.
Surrey’s wickets were falling in pairs as Clarke followed his captain caught behind in Willoughby’s next over, with the score on just 75. Jonathan Batty played in his typical fashion as Rory Hamilton-Brown started to find his feet. They took Surrey up past 100 when Hamilton-Brown smashed a ball on the up to extra cover to be caught for 17.
A similar partnership between Batty and Azhar Mahmood followed and Surrey looked as though they were going to post a useful total as they went past 150. However continuing the trend both players were out in the space of four runs to leave Surrey 174 for seven.
It was thanks to some late innings scrapping from Schofield and Matthew Nicholson that Surrey managed to get up past 200 and eventually post 214.
In reply Marcus Trescothick got Somerset off to the best possible start, smearing the ball through the covers with regularity. At the other end however it was a different story as Peter Trego struggled to fulfil his pinch-hitting role. The introduction of Nicholson brought about Trego’s demise for just eight.
Trescothick reached a run-a-ball half-century but went almost immediately after with the score on 74. This wicket gave Surrey the impetus and as such they began to squeeze the Somerset batsmen. The pressure showed as Justin Langer was caught in the deep off Clarke for just 18.
Although Hildreth and Cameron White put on a partnership of 49, it was not in quick time, as Schofield and Nayan Doshi bowled well in tandem. White struggled and eventually went lbw to Schofield and shortly after Ian Blackwell was caught for just five. Somerset continued to score slowly but Hildreth always made sure they were up close to the rate.
The match swung in Surrey’s favour when Schofield picked up Craig Kieswetter. Nevertheless a sprightly partnership between Hildreth and Stephan Jones saw the home side to victory with 13 balls to spare.
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