A riveting, fast-forward opening day of 14 wickets ended with Tom Lawes touching 90mph in a spell of three for six and Surrey, entering the County Championship’s final furlong nine points ahead of their nearest challengers, grateful to two of the few uncapped members of a star-studded squad (Mark Baldwin writes).
Lawes, at 22 a probable England bowler of the near future, followed up Dan Worrall’s fifth-over removal of Rob Yates by dismissing Alex Davies and Sam Hain in consecutive balls before firing a near-yorker into Zen Malik’s pads to win a third lbw appeal.
It meant Warwickshire had initially stumbled to 47 for four in reply to a Surrey first-innings total that owed much to Ryan Patel’s unbeaten 67-ball 72.
By the close, however, and with New Zealander Will Young dropped on ten at second slip off Matt Fisher, the visitors had battled to 132 for four to leave the champions in need of further inspiration on day two of a game that offers them the chance to pull further ahead of second-placed Nottinghamshire, whom they meet in a potential title-decider at the Oval next week.
Warwickshire, in fourth place at the start of play, are mathematically not out of title contention themselves and were boosted by Young and Ed Barnard’s battling 35 and 48 not out respectively in an unbroken partnership of 85 as the south London shadows lengthened.
Patel, meanwhile, Surrey’s underrated man for all seasons, epitomises both the club’s enviable strength in depth and the tight-knit core of homegrown talent on which they have built three successive County Championship titles, and four in seven summers.
Surrey’s first-innings total owed much to Patel’s unbeaten 67-ball 72
PAUL DENNIS/TGS PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
At 27, and with 73 first-class appearances, Patel has never been on England’s radar but is still a valued, regular member of a Surrey team otherwise packed with proven internationals. Even without an overseas player in this match — plus Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton all away on England white-ball duty — Surrey’s entirely English-qualified XI contains eight players with international experience.
Barnard made 48 not out as the south London shadows lengthened
PAUL DENNIS/TGS PHOTO
Two of those, Rory Burns and Ollie Pope, also scored half-centuries of note on a day when batting was a tricky prospect on a seaming surface and Surrey, who habitually insert the opposition on home turf, were put in by Davies to face a dose of their own medicine.
Pope’s counterattacking 55-ball 50 lit up the morning session after Dom Sibley’s early departure, although he and Burns also rode their luck at times in a 97-run partnership that was perfectly judged in its aggression and probably worth even more in the conditions.
Warwickshire fought back hard either side of lunch through their own five-pronged seam attack, led by Ethan Bamber and new signing Nathan Gilchrist, on loan for the last three championship games before a winter move from Kent.
Burns pulled to deep mid-wicket on 52, and 168 for four became 188 for eight when an out-of-sorts Dan Lawrence was quickly followed back into the pavilion by Jordan Clark, Gus Atkinson and Lawes.
Patel, however, found in Fisher a determined partner while reaching his fifty from 54 balls, pulling Michael Booth for six and hitting 11 fours besides, before leaving the stage first to Lawes, and then to Young and Barnard.
Worcestershire’s old boys keep Notts in title hunt
Worcester (first day of four; Nottinghamshire won toss) Nottinghamshire, with nine first-innings wickets in hand, are 136 runs behind Worcestershire
The success of Worcestershire’s academy can be gauged, in part, by the strength of Nottinghamshire’s first team. So much was plain on the first morning at New Road when Dillon Pennington and Josh Tongue bolstered their side’s hopes of a first title since 2010 by sharing five wickets to wreck the home side’s first innings inside 90 minutes (Paul Edwards writes).
Pennington and Tongue are two of the four Nottinghamshire players in this match who learnt at least some of their cricket here under senior academy coach Elliot Wilson’s tutelage and their fast bowling punished every error as the home side subsided to 37 for five.
The pair’s efficacy made it all the more surprising that having had Jake Libby caught behind and bowled Brett D’Oliveira with successive deliveries, both of them fine balls, and having nearly had Gareth Roderick leg before wicket to complete his hat-trick, Tongue was not recalled to the attack until 11 overs after lunch.
Perhaps Nottinghamshire’s skipper, Haseeb Hameed, was still warmed by his own direct hit that had run out Ethan Brookes for ten to leave Worcestershire on 53 for six. But by the time Tongue had Tom Taylor caught at mid-on by Mohammad Abbas for 40 when hustled into a pull, Worcestershire had recovered from 53 for six to reach 157 for eight.
Tongue just missed out on a hat-trick after dismissing Jake Libby and Brett D’Oliveira with successive deliveries
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY
Predictably, Roderick was at the heart of his side’s recovery and was undefeated on 43 after 139 minutes’ granitic resistance when thunder, lightning and rain stopped play for 2½ hours.
But while the crowd at New Road sought safe refuge, visiting supporters were encouraged by Surrey’s failure to collect any batting points from their game against Warwickshire, whose loss of early wickets disappointed them in equal measure.
On the resumption, Pennington pinned Ben Allison and finished with four for 50 but Roderick completed his fourth fifty of the season before being leg-before to Liam Patterson-White for 61.
And Worcestershire’s 182 represented riches when set against their previous travails, so the mood of most in the crowd improved further when Hameed was bowled by the second ball of the innings when playing crookedly to Taylor. But Ben Slater and Freddie McCann took their side safely to 46 for one at the close and at least the title rivals know what they’re fighting for.
With the debate about the structure of domestic cricket unresolved, Worcestershire have no idea whether they will be among the 12 sides in the proposed conferences or relegated to the second tier.
In other words, with less than three weeks left in this season, we still do not know the structure for 2026. You shouldn’t run a shove ha’penny league like that, let alone a professional sport.