It's that man again

By Rogers and Out
September 5 2013

Rogers and Out reports on a fabulous and dramatic day at the Oval with runs, wickets, and late afternoon drama as Friday weather loomed. A great read to finish off a massive day and match. And we just had to have an excuse for that headline!

Ollie Rayner’s magnificent 15 wicket haul propelled us to a 146 run victory at the Oval,ensuring that we moved up to third place in the table, with our hosts languishing at the bottom of the pile. Just an hour earlier, a draw had looked the likeliest outcome with a washout predicted for Friday by the meteorologists and Surrey looking relatively comfortable at 188/4, with an 86 run partnership between Hashim Amla and Steven Davies seemingly leading them to salvation. However, in just over 12 overs, they managed to lose their last 6 wickets for 50 runs, and consequently, the match.

The day started with the news that the Northern Line was effectively not operational so I made my way to the ground via Vauxhall station and arrived in the top tier of the pavilion halfway through the first over from Keedy at the Pavilion end. With Batty operating from the Vauxhall end, it was a spin attack for the rest of the innings and Harris and Malan nudged the score along with a series of singles and twos.

Harris brought up the 150 with the first boundary of the day, pulling Keedy square for four in the 39th over and Malan played a sumptuous straight drive for a similar result in the same over. Three overs later, Mala brought up his own 50 (and the fifty partnership) by edging Batty to third man. He was then put down by De Bruyn at first slip before Batty trapped him LBW for 51 with the next ball, leaving us on 170/6.

Joe Denly was next to the crease after his bout of migraine and he looked to increase the tempo. He hit Keedy for three fours in the 45th over, then clubbed Batty over long on for another four in the next over before being dropped by Solanki at first slip in the 47th over. However, his luck did not last as after taking another boundary to third man off Batty, the Surrey captain snared him leg before with the very next ball. Denly’s contribution was 31 runs from 20 balls and we were 204/7.

Bowling hero Ollie Rayner was next up and continued in the same vein, driving Keedy to the mid-wicket boundary for four, then dishing out similar treatment to Batty, pulling him for four more. James Harris, who had batted quite steadily, then tried to enter the big hitting fray but was caught on the square leg boundary by Harinath off the bowling of Keedy for 24 leaving us on 216/8. Ollie hit another 3 fours before falling LBW to Batty for a quickfire 28, and we then declared on 235/9 after 53.3 overs, leaving Surrey a target of 385 runs to win. Keedy ended up with 6/101 and Batty 3/86.

Corey Collymore opened our bowling from the Vauxhall end with James Harris doing the honours from the Pavilion end. Burns clipped Corey for four through mid-wicket to open the scoring for Surrey during the first over, and Harinath drew ironic cheers from the crowd in the next over when he hit Harris for runs into the covers, and was nearly run out completing his second run. It would appear that he’s not been in the best of form of late.

The pace bowlers had completed just two overs each before spin was introduced in the form of Ollie from the Vauxhall end and Ravi from the Pavilion end. It was easy to see how Ollie had done so much damage the day before with the prodigious amounts of turn and bounce he was getting. However, the ball was often doing too much and the batsmen survived, reaching lunch at 37/0 after 13 overs.

Like some of our other correspondents, I am a fan of watching from the pavilion at the Oval. However, I was not so lucky with the topics of conversation around me at lunch, having had to listen to a detailed analysis of the contents of one Surrey fan’s lunch and then an in-depth assessment of its packaging. It almost came as a blessed relief when the conversation moved on to the merits of various brands of cider.  

With cider chat complete, we moved into the post-lunch session with the Surrey openers stoicly dealing with the turning and bouncing deliveries served up by our spin twins. Ravi drew first blood when a sharp turner trapped Harinath leg before for 23, although some thought the ball had done too much. Surrey’s 44/1 then became 56/2 when Burns was adjudged LBW to Ollie for 24.

The experienced Amla and Solanki were now at the crease and the bearded South African looked set for a long stay, playing each ball on its merits although he was often beaten by both bowlers. Joe Denly  replaced Patel in the 32nd over and bowled a couple of excellent deliveries to Amla, bamboozling him with the turn he managed to get.

The first ball of the 41st over saw Ollie take his 10th wicket of the match with Solanki guiding him to Rogers at leg slip for 14, with Surrey 88/3. De Bruyn survived a very confident leg before appeal the very next ball, but looked to increase the scoring. However, he soon fell victim to a marvellous sharp low catch at short leg by Robbo off Ollie, and our hosts were 102/4.

Surrey reached tea on 123/4, with Amla on 46 and Davies on 7. Amla reached his fifty (from 108 balls) in the 55th over driving Ollie through extra cover for four with the score on 132/4. The partnership grew slowly but steadily, with the introduction of Dexter for Rayner and Malan for Patel making little difference.

The new ball was taken as scheduled after 80 overs with the partnership having reached 82 and the score 184/4. With the third ball of Corey’s second over with the new ball, a vital breakthrough was made when Davies edged a fullish delivery to Ollie, who took an excellent diving catch to his left at second slip, with the score now 188/5.

A couple of overs later, the spinners were re-introduced and then came the crucial wicket. The excellent Amla was grasped by Buck at leg slip off Ollie for 84, and with just the fragile Surrey tail left, we had a chance to clinch the win tonight and avoid the bad weather predicted for Friday, with the South Londoners now on 207/6. Meaker did not last long, giving Buck catching practice at leg slip off Ollie for 1 – 209/7.

Three balls later, to my delight and the despair of Surrey fans, Batty slapped an Ollie full toss to the Iceman at mid on and they were 212/8, with us now claiming the extra half hour. Linley then edged Ravi to Bergy at first slip via the gloves of Simmo, and we were one wicket away from victory.

Having said that, Surrey were still just 15-20 minutes away from salvaging a draw if the weather reports could be believed. Jade Dernbach obviously didn’t believe them as he then proceeded to launch an attack on our bowling, smashing a couple of fours and two maximums before he eventually miscued Ollie, and Corey took a well judged catch in the covers leaving the tattooed one out for 22. Surrey ended up 238 all out, with seven wickets for Ollie, two for Ravi and one for Corey. Ollie’s match figures of 15/118 were the best by a Middlesex bowler since Fred Titmus took 15/95 at Bath in 1955 and the seventh best in Middlesex history