Surrey took charge of their Vitality County Championship match against Durham on the first day at the Banks Homes Riverside. Fifteen wickets fell in a spectacular show of hostile pace. By the end of the day, Surrey had established a lead of 29 runs over Durham, finishing at 182 for 5 in their reply to Durham’s total of 153.
Daniel Worrall proved the pick of the attack for Surrey. He took incredible figures of 4 for 31, a shocking result leading to the crashing down of Durham’s batting order. Colin Ackermann played a true captain’s innings, scoring a well-compiled 51 runs. Durham found it difficult to build alliances and eventually subsided to a disappointing total being bowled out for 154.
The first day played out with consistent early breakthroughs for Surrey. His partner Graham Clark was dismissed cheaply, for four runs, caught at slip by Rory Burns off the bowling of Worrall. Following that, Bas de Leede fell victim to Kishore’s lbw for a duck, further intensifying Durham’s woes. Codi Yusuf could manage only an edge for a single before being bowled by Jordan Clark, leaving Durham in deeper trouble at 36 for 3.
Ackermann’s innings offered a temporary bubble of calm for Durham, wickets continued to fall around him in rapid succession. Neil Potts, with 32, was caught behind by Ben Foakes to finish the innings. The hosts were now looking at a total that was far from intimidating given Surrey’s formidable bowling line-up.
Surrey’s response was also on very shaky legal ground from the start. Dom Sibley went behind off Ben Raine for only 12 runs, adding to their worries about a brittle batting line up. Dan Lawrence and Ryan Patel jumped in to ice the game. Their important partnership turned the tide in Surrey’s favor. Lawrence finished the day undefeated on 68 runs. At the other end, meanwhile Patel proved the foundation with an important 58 before falling to Raine.
As play ended, it was Surrey’s turn to be in charge as they powered to 182 for 5. Their lead looked more and more important on a Day 1 pitch that offered heaps of help to the bowlers. Callen Worrall put in a sensational performance, with Josh Lawrence and Tejas Patel backing him well. Collectively, they have left Surrey awesome to capitalize and continue to build on their lead in the next few days.
Leave a Reply