By Gary Watton
July 11 2016

The dastardly cotton-picking rain spoiled any chances of a result yet again, although Surrey batted well enough at the start of their second innings to suggest that the champions might have had an awkward run chase or else more scoreboard pressure to negotiate on a final afternoon, if the unco-operative weather had permitted. Consequently, the Tykes have now drawn six of their nine Championship fixtures. Regrettably, Middlesex sneaked home in their skirmish with Somerset, rendering the Londonders the team to catch in this summer's rain-sodden race. However, Durham have matches in hand which could potentially propel them to the summit, so Yorkshire are besieged by Championship contenders, and this season's competition may go down to the wire, with our visit to north London in September very crucial indeed.

Surrey versus YORKSHIRE; in London; Monday the eleventh to Thursday the fourteenth of July; Surrey elected to bat first.

Surrey first innings: 267 (S. Curran 59*, Davies 56, Finch 52; Patterson 3-58, Willey 3-59)

YORKSHIRE first innings: 407 (Lyth 202, Gale 61, Patterson 51; Meaker 3-66)

Surrey second innings: 106 for one (Sibley 54*)

Match drawn. Surrey ten points, YORKSHIRE thirteen points.

Lyth - Adam helped himself to five sixes and seventeen fours in his 291-ball innings. He really needs to instruct his young partner on how to build a lengthy knock.

Lees - Fifteen runs from 28 minutes at the crease seems to be par for the course for the dreadfully inconsistent Lees. He needs to take a leaf out of Lyth's book.

Leaning - A duck egg was the last thing he needed. Jack is fast becoming surplus to requirements. It looks like he needs to be downgraded to the second eleven.

Gale - He toiled for almost three hours, as befitting someone low on confidence, but the captain did finally, in mid-July, record his first half century of the year!

Patterson - I questioned the need for him to be a nightwatchman, but he batted like he really is number five in the order. He also bowled quite satisfactorily too.

Rashid - He chipped in with two wickets, costing eighty-four runs and made sixteen runs when we needed to accelerate the score, so his contribution was average.

Bresnan - Tim failed with the bat, scoring only three, but at least bowled very accurately in their first innings, as his ten overs only yielded twenty-two runs.

Plunkett - LP smashed 37 runs off twenty balls and even bowled tidily, as his ten overs only cost 27 runs, so that was a good all-round effort from the big guy.

Willey - David removed three of their top order batsmen in the first innings which was commendable, but he made much less impact with bat in hand.

Hodd - Hoddy took a couple of first innings catches, but was out very quickly for five runs, as his team were in hot pursuit of quick runs and a possible declaration.

Rafiq - Azeem took two wickets in the match, costing 58 runs. His second innings stint was considerably less expensive than his first innings efforts.

BATSMAN CHARTS (minimum of one hundred runs)

Bairstow: average - 88.83; 533 runs; two hundreds

Root: average - 80; 240 runs; one hundred

Bresnan: average - 48.83; 293 runs; three fifties

Plunkett: average - 45.75; 366 runs; one hundred, two fifties

BEST BOWLERS (minimum of ten wickets)

Patterson: average - 25.53; thirty wickets

Rashid: average - 35.53; twenty wickets

Brooks: average - 37; twenty-two wickets

Bresnan: average - 40.9; ten wickets