Match Report | Surrey v Glos | Day Two
28 May 2021
On a used pitch expected to turn on days three and four, off spinner Amar Virdi removed Gloucestershire captain Chris Dent for 14, pulling to mid wicket, soon after opening partner Kraigg Brathwaite survived a straightforward caught and bowled chance to slow left armer Dan Moriarty on 24.
Brathwaite remained, on 27, when rain ended play 15 overs early but Surrey will surely be confident they can force a victory that would haul them into contention for Division One qualification, with games against Hampshire and Somerset still to come.
Earlier Hashim Amla’s 173 from 347 balls, with 16 fours, and a powerful 65 from Rikki Clarke, with two sixes and eight fours, had kept Gloucestershire in the field for five sessions.
Surrey, resuming on 285 for 5, added 188 more runs in 62 overs before the innings ended on the stroke of tea. It was often a hard slog on a sluggish surface, but Amla was content to accumulate steadily in search of an intimidating total while both Sean Abbott and Clarke did their bit to raise the scoring rate against disciplined Gloucestershire bowling.
Abbott came in to face the second ball of the day after Jamie Overton (50) edged behind off David Payne and hoisted Tom Smith’s left-arm spin over deep mid wicket for six in a well-made 40. Abbott’s last scoring shot was also a six, a magnificent strike over long off Higgins from a couple of steps down the pitch.
The seventh wicket pair added 61 in 24 overs, with Amla scoring just 33 in 30 overs before lunch, but the great South African did crash Payne through extra cover and hit Smith over the top for fours as a further 82 in 28 overs was put on with Clarke.
Amla’s eventual dismissal, after almost eight and a half hours at the crease, would also have pleased Surrey’s spinners. Miles Hammond, an occasional off spinner, made one turn and bounce to force Amla to chop into his stumps.
With clouds rolling in and floodlights on, Clarke attacked – taking four successive fours off left arm paceman Matt Taylor and then, in the next over, hitting Hammond for 4, 6, 4 over extra cover, long off and to third man with a reverse sweep.
Ryan Higgins, replacing Taylor, immediately bowled Clarke with an off cutter which kept low and the all-rounder finished with 4 for 69 when also bowling Moriarty for 4.
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