Late wickets restore equilibrium with Surrey
21 August 2015
A topsy turvy day at the Bristol County Ground finished with Gloucestershire taking two late wickets to check a strong start by Surrey's openers in the final 90 minutes play on day one of this LV County Championship fixture. At the close Surrey were 74-2 in reply to Gloucestershire's first innings total of 233.
The two Gloucestershire batsmen to trouble the Surrey seam attack the most both played positively in different ways. Gareth Roderick's 71 showed in orthodox fashion that conditions were not exclusively bowler friendly, while James Fuller's 48 was made with some brazen aggression as the ball got older. Tom Smith shared two half century stands with Fuller and David Payne before running out of partners as Surrey's Tom Curran finished with 6-61.
Listen to Gareth Roderick's thoughts on the day here :
It was overcast and muggy when Surrey captain Gareth Batty won the toss and decided to bowl first, and four wickets had gone with barely an hour played as the Curran brothers both made the new ball move off the pitch.
Their first breakthrough came with the seventh ball of the match, Will Tavare being trapped in his crease by Sam Curran's brisk left arm medium pace. Curran did also offer up some loose deliveries which Roderick in particular was quick to punish, but Chris Dent then went to leave a ball outside the off stump only to find it came back, clipped the bottom of his bat and knocked back his off stump.
With the pitch a long way across the square away from the Mound stand, the shorter boundary proved profitable for Roderick, who picked off three boundaries in James Burke's first over, while at the pavilion end a long and economical spell for Tom Curran finally brought reward as he cleaned bowled the fit-again Hamish Marshall without scoring and also removed Benny Howell, who edged a routine catch to Jason Roy at second slip.
When Kieran Noema-Barnett walked out at 63-4, Roderick had made 43 by punishing the bad ball and scoring almost exclusively against the bowling from the Ashley Down Road end. His fifty, which contained nine fours and came off 57 balls, contained only five runs off Tom Curran.
As lunch approach the frenetic start had subsided to a period of relative calm as Roderick and the patient Noema-Barnett tried to build a stand of some substance. Noema-Barnett in particular showed commendable patience, and at the interval Gloucestershire had reached 103-4, with Roderick's share a hugely important 68, although even he could not survive another clatter of wickets after the resumption.
Surrey wicket keeper Gary Wilson picked up five catches in the Royal London Cup game on Tuesday, and he added another three here in quick succession. Noema-Barnett pushed at the first ball after lunch from Jade Dernbach to depart for six, Jack Taylor went in the next over to Tom Curran for two and Roderick's resolute contribution came to an end when the same bowler picked up his fourth wicket as he was also caught behind for 71, made off exactly 100 deliveries with a dozen boundaries.
James Fuller then joined Tom Smith and fresh from a career best List A score of 45 earlier in the week, the New Zealander decided the best approach was to go for his shots. He used his feet twice to loft Tom Curran to the boundary, and clipped another from a rare Dernbach half volley. Burke's re-introduction was greeted with a straight six from his first ball.
The pair added 57 before Fuller, who had made 48 in just under an hour, was beaten by a full and straight delivery from Tom Curran, giving the son of former Gloucestershire all rounder Kevin Curran his fifth wicket.
Smith, however, continued to bat with composure and with David Payne offering measured support at the other end, Gloucestershire reached tea at 203-8 after two sessions of ebb and flow.
In the end, their partnership became the second in succession to pass fifty before Payne was caught at slip by Burns off Tom Curran, and Smith just failed to reach a deserved fifty himself as Liam Norwell by bowled by Batty for five, leaving the former Middlesex spinner undefeated for the third match in a row and Gloucestershire 233 all out. Tom Curran's final figures were 6-61 from 25 overs.
It left Surrey 22 overs to bat until stumps, and openers Burns and Harinath looked like negotiating them unscathed until a double breakthrough in the last five overs. First Harinath, who had nearly played on to Norwell moments earlier, was caught down the leg side by Roderick for 39 and then Burns clipped Benny Howell to mid on in the penultimate over, where James Fuller gleefully took the catch to even up the balance of the day.
