Late wickets check Surrey progress against Bears
Vitality County Championship Division One, The Kia Oval, (day two)
Warwickshire 343: Barnard 108; Clark 4-65
Surrey 327-6: Smith 98*; Miles 5-43
Surrey (5 pts) trail Warwickshire (5 pts) by 16 runs
Jamie Smith’s brilliant 98 not out and a 139-run fourth-wicket stand with Ben Foakes propelled Surrey into a strong position at the halfway stage against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval.
But it could have been better for the champions, with Craig Miles taking three wickets in three overs with the second new ball to peg Surrey back to 327-6 at the close in reply to Warwickshire’s 343.
Miles, who boasted superb figures of 5-43, bowled Foakes for 52 with a ball that kept low and followed that up by pinning Dan Lawrence lbw for three and, three balls later, having nightwatch Kemar Roach magnificently held low by Rob Yates at second slip.
Smith remained unbeaten, however, with some imperious strokes so far bringing him two sixes and 14 fours, and in addition to Cameron Steel (four not out), Surrey have all-rounders Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott still to bat as they bid to turn a slender 16-run deficit into a potentially match-defining lead on day three.
The late drama involving Miles also included him rolling his right ankle in celebration at Roach’s wicket – with what was his final ball at the end of the day’s penultimate over – before limping immediately from the field for treatment.
Ollie Pope, meanwhile, is still searching for his first sizeable score of the season after contributing a middling 44 to Surrey’s first innings after openers Dom Sibley (64) and Rory Burns (40) had laid a strong foundation.
The day started with Warwickshire, on 318-8 overnight, seeing 28-year-old all-rounder Barnard quickly score the four runs he needed to complete a sixth first-class hundred – and his first for the club since leaving Worcestershire at the start of last year.
Barnard lost Miles for 29 and the centurion was last man out for 108, skewing Lawrence’s off spin to cover.
Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.
